BBA Linkfest - Spring in General

Well, spring has arrived where you are. But it's still a dream here in northern Maine where we got another foot of snow dumped on us last night. So have a care on Twitter when you share how nice a spring day it is where you are. The writers that make up the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance must be toasty warm though because they are still cranking out great reading material for their followers. As we do here every Thursday, here are links to the best of their work over the previous week. So, relax, click a few links that strike your fancy and thanks as always for making what we do so rewarding.

Let's start with Old Time Family Baseball which brings us some information on the highest bidder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hint: He has a lot of dough. The proprietor of OTFB is headed to Spring Training, the lucky bum!

Matthew Mahaffey of the Pop Fly Boys has a very informative post on bulging discs and how they differ from herniated discs. The reason of course, is because of the Chris Carpenter situation.

Carlos Beltran got a raw deal from the press in New York for his days playing for the Mets. And Bill from The Platoon Advantage reminds us of what a great player Beltran has been. And just in case you think Beltran's contract with the Mets was a bust, check out this piece by yours truly.

In a long and delicious post, Replacement Level Baseball Blog culled opinions from three of our favorite baseball writers to form its AL East preview. A must read.

Sully of Sully Baseball tells the tale of two Rays pitchers that clinched playoff series for that team. And predicts the Rays will be in the playoffs again in 2012.

Rob Harris of Through the Fence Baseball remembers Kirby Puckett and one of the best World Series ever.

Mike Cardano has some interesting thoughts on Bryce Harper over at his X-Log site. Good stuff.

Yeonis Cespedes is the real deal. So says Jeremy over at The Wolf's Den. We'll see, Jeremy, we'll see.

Eugene Tierney of 85% Sports lists his top 20 prospects in the Houston Astros organization. That couldn't have been an easy task.

Ryan Braun's possible suspension and eventual overturning of that suspension has thrown off many fantasy baseball draft boards. Ryan Sendek of Analysis Around the Horn has the details.

This site had a 2012 preview of the Rockies this past week. The post was over a thousand words long. Sooze of Babes Love Baseball sums it them up more succinctly and with much greater entertainment value in her latest Haiku.

Daniel of The Ball Caps Blog received his alumni newsletter this past week and was pleasantly surprised at who the graduation speaker would be this year.

Baseball Unrated has a great piece this week on how young stars are taking over the game.

Justin has a great series going at his BaseBlog site ranking the positional players for each of the NL Central teams. This one ranks the center fielders. 

Tim Holland of Call to the Pen considers Albert Pujols in light of some great seasons in 1966, 1977 and 1988. Great stuff, Tim.

Matt Whitener has a twelve part series going on the St. Louis Cardinals for his Cheap.Seats.Please. The series is in conjunction with his other work at St. Louis Sports 360 where you can finish the rest of the articles. This link is to part six. You should read them all.

There's always great writing going on over at Crum-Bum Beat. And you should check out their sleeper picks for 2012 if you haven't already. But this picture the site shared induced nightmares.

Dugout 24 has a post this week on the art of base stealing. You'll need to translate the German.

The Baseball Index has the latest on a gastronomical feast happening this summer in Washington, D.C. And like the pitcher it's named after, the dish will stay with you like his 12 to 6 curve.

Over at the The Golden Sombrero, Griffin Phelps give Houston Astros fans some reasons to celebrate their team in 2012. 

TheNaturalMevs is not a fan of Fredi Gonzalez. And that's putting it mildly. Check out Diamond Hoggers for the details. Perhaps we need a new blog called, "Fire Fredi."

Your favorite Fan is admittedly also a fanatical fan of American Idol. Yes, that isn't cool. But we all have our  weaknesses. The Hall of Very Good scratched that itch this week.

It's a tough job but somebody had to do it. Theo of Hot Corner Harbor previews the 2012 Baltimore Orioles. 

Who says us baseball men aren't romantic? Left Field shares a wonderful love story on the occasion of his second anniversary. Congrats, mate, but you do know that you have the second best wife in the world. The best lives right here.

MLB Dirt has added another great writer. His name is Troy Kocur. Check out his great preview of the 2012 Kansas City Royals. 

In the Fan's best post of the week category, Sam Evans of MLB Reports celebrates the legacies of Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa.

Nik has gotten into the spirit of things based on MLB's Top Ten. He shares his top ten Detroit Tigers over at Niktig's Baseball Blog.

There you have it! May your spring have sprung wherever you are. This Fan is thankful that these writers hold the promise for days without snow sometime soon. Have a great week, everyone.