Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 11/29/13

Food coma.  I don't know about y'all but I'm still very much in one today.  I stuffed myself full of as much food and beer as I could fit for about 10 hours yesterday and it all finally came crashing down on me around 8:30 when I passed out on the couch and missed the first 3 quarters of the Steelers-Ravens game.  I woke up to see the last quarter and I was still so full at that point that I couldn't really get back into a good sleep pattern.  I can still feel how heavy and bloated my body is today, but that's what Thanksgiving is all about, right?  Justifiable and enjoyable gluttony.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Chad Jennings of LoHud compared new leading OF target Carlos Beltran to the other top players available at the position.

- El duque of It Is High... lamented the added confusion that the Brian McCann signing brings to the Yankees' future plans.  I think he's being a little too negative in his assessment, but there are some valid points there.

- Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits broke down just how big an upgrade Brian McCann will be both offensively and defensively.

- Jason Evans of Yanks Go Yard questioned how real the "limited time offer" to Cano is.  Fair question based on how the Yankees have handled some of their other big re-signings in the past.

- Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily listed his top 5 first base prospects in the Yankee system.  Yeesh, that's a pathetically short list after Bird.

- On Tuesday, Mike Axisa of RAB wrapped up his 2013 season review by looking at the good and the bad of all the spare parts used by the Yankees this year.

- On Wednesday, Matthew Provenzano of Pinstripe Alley profiled Matt Kemp as a potential trade target.

- SJK of NoMaas showed how much the Yankees and Cano need each other and why it's in both sides best interests to speed up talks and get a deal done.

- Domenic Lanza of IIATMS/TYA put together some free agent pairing options the Yankees could pursue with the money they'd otherwise give to Cano.

This Friday's jam is "Come A Little Closer", the new song from Cage The Elephant.  I heard it once or twice on the radio in the last week and now I can't get the hook out of my head.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Yanks Lose Mike Harkey To The D-backs

It was rumored to be a possibility weeks ago and now it's close to becoming reality.  Via Jack Magruder, the Arizona Diamondbacks have tapped Mike Harkey to become their new pitching coach.  They're expected to formally announce the signing on Monday.

Harkey had been the Yankee bullpen coach since 2008 and he was one of the few coaches who had served on Joe Girardi's staff since Joe took the manager job.  He was well respected in the clubhouse and in the bullpen and he's actually a pretty cool dude, evidenced by him tossing my friends and I a ball from the bullpen before the Saturday Yanks-Sawx day game in September and then laughing off our drunken razzing when he dropped another ball somebody had thrown him to sign.  With Harkey leaving, the Yankees will need to find a new bullpen coach for 2014.  Expect Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred to be the leading candidate.