BBA Linkfest - General snow drifts

Welcome to another edition of the BBA Linkfest, where I scour the earth for links from my fellow members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance general chapter. "General," here means that the sites that make up our chapter do not focus on one particular team, but all of baseball and in some cases, all of life. The title of this post comes from staring out my window at another gray, wintry day where the wind is howling and it seems like I live in the frozen tundra. Reading these writers at the very least makes me think of spring and better times when baseball again will be here.

Before I start linking to our sites, special mention has to be given to Michael Clair and his Old Time Family Baseball. Clair, a hilarious individual who gives me great pleasure from his writing and his Twitter persona, completed his third annual blogathon last weekend to benefit Doctors Without Borders. Not only did Clair exceed his goal by a landslide, but he also brought together hundreds of the best baseball writers in the land who submitted work for him for the weekend. I salute Michael Clair and all those writers that made the goal just a stopping point on the final total. Great work, everyone. And trust me, you could spend an entire day reading all those excellent posts. So do it! I also love his recent post on one of his favorite players of the past.

And here we go with the links!

Justin Miller is a good baseball guy and I like his articles and his prospect scouting reports. This post talks about the recent signing of Grady Sizemore, a guy who most of us are rooting for in his comeback. InsideTheMLB is the site's heading.

Over at the Baseball Hot Corner, Jason Leary has a great post titled, 5 Tattoo Ideas for Tortured A's Fans. You have to check that out, right?

I am so pleased that High Heat Stats has joined the general chapter. This is a world class site that started on baseball-reference.com as that site's blogging crew. They have only gotten better as they left B-R and have gained new writers (many from our crew here in the general chapter!). Their post I am featuring today is written by Doug and is so packed with information, you need to set aside some good quality time. But read it!

David, over at Baseballroundtable.com has a great post about prospects to watch in 2014. Great stuff.

Over at Know Hitter (I love that title), there is a suggestion for what the Mariners' new acquisition, Corey Hart, should play.

Kenneth Matinale of Radical Baseball has an interesting post in which he takes issue with the Yankees' off season strategy. I'm not sure I agree, but that's what makes baseball so great!

The Playoff Pitch site has had a series going with breaking down 2014 teams, which is always a fun exercise. The latest one is on the 2014 Red Sox.

Off the Bench is an interesting and fairly new site not afraid to make bold stances. Take, for example, this post and then the response gotten from that post. Makes for fun reading.

I enjoyed the post over at Baseblog94 on the Cubs' new manager, Rick Renteria.

Even though it is not a recent post, I am constantly moved by Stevo-sama's post about his father over at The Baseball Enthusiast. It was reposted from Baseblog94 with additional pictures. Very moving.

One of the great things about my affiliation with the BBA is watching all these folks who become friends who go on to better things. Chris Carelli is a great guy and a great writer whose The Baseball Stance featured his stuff. The site now provides summaries and links to his work for Yahoo Sports along with the occasional full piece. Very cool and I am happy for him.

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please takes a stab and listing the top ten shortstops in the Major Leagues today. How many do you agree with? Matt and I definitely agree on the number one name.

In his latest post, Grubby Glove talks about where he has been. I'm just glad he's back!

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor has another of his usually thoughtful posts on predicting the Hall of Fame. Interesting stuff.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, For Baseball Junkies compiled a list of the most questionable votes by the writers.

Chuck Booth of the always reliable MLB Reports talks about the the first week of the season and Australia. BTW, I always appreciate the site's #FF support each week.

My buddy, Bryan O'Conner, of Replacement Level Baseball also talks about the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Stats. Did you know that he is better looking than Ben Affleck?

Through the Fence Baseball has really continued to expand and get better each year I have done this. They have become a don't miss site! For example, here is one-of-a-kind content on the best freshmen college baseball players of 2014.

Dan at The Ball Caps Blog had an interesting take on Richard Sherman's bombastic interview. But if we stick to baseball, his amusing take on Phillies fans is a fun read.

Call to the Pen is another site that has grown tremendously since I have been doing this. They are now part of the Fansided network. Cool on them. Dan Zinski's report on Tony La Russa's HOF logo is a case in point of why they are where they are.

Italy's Che Palle! by Mario Salvini shares an amazing picture he found on Twitter. It is amazing too.

Another site that has come a long way is MLB Dirt, which is now part of the Field Rush network. Alas, I used to write there semi-regularly and have great guilt that I no longer have the time to do so. Jonathan Mitchell is one of the greatest guys on the planet and his feature recently covered Grant Balfour returning to the Rays and that C-word.

Another great bud is Dan from the Left Field site who also writes for High Heat Stats. Dan is a real interesting guy with a great family and what I like about his site is that it features baseball, his favorite music and his love of craft beer. Check out his recent playlist.

The Sisco Kid of Baseball Sisco Kid Style hit the nail on the head with his HOF picks, which is pretty amazing. Whether I agree that it should have only been three or not is neither here nor there.

The always interesting Sully of Sully Baseball has probably the best solution I've heard to the problem of which hat to wear to the Hall of Fame for those chosen. Good solution! Interesting post!

Ben's Baseball Bias salutes the three HOF inductees.

If you've ever wondered how a baseball is made, Dugout 24 has just the video for you!

The Sports Banter posted some interesting, sometimes hilarious and random thoughts in a recent post.

Clint of Diamond Hoggers is part of one of my favorite baseball podcast teams. And I don't just say that because they invited me to join them once. The latest installment is linked here.

Mike Hilywa has a real fun post over at Off Base Percentage on Australian baseball. I love the pic and the heading too.

Apparently, Jack Morris is tired of getting scrutinized by baseball writers. Shawn Anderson of The Hall of Very Good gives us all the details.

There are the links, but before I go, I figured I would leave you with one toot of my own horn. Your favorite Fan recently garnered his first ESPN byline. Very cool for me!

See you next time and stay warm! Baseball season will get here eventually.

BBA Linkfest - around the horn in general

Hey! Got a few minutes? Hope so because what follows is a group of links to some of the best baseball writing on the planet. This is a tour of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and we think we have a lot to offer you. So click some links, read some great writing and enjoy. You're welcome.

As always, we go alphabetically and start somewhere in the middle of the pack and work our way around again.

Let's start with Call to the Pen since they always have lots of great content every week. This week's link there is from Lew Freedman, a colleague from the e-magazine, Big Leagues Monthly. Lew wrote this week how Tim Lincecum is looking a lot like his old self lately.

One thing to love about Mario Salvini's blog, Che Palle! is that it reminds us that baseball is a global sport. Here is an example from that site.

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. celebrates the return of Chris Carpenter to the St. Louis Cardinals.

TheNaturalMevs celebrates that his favorite team is the first to clinch a playoff spot. Congrats, Mevs. Enjoy. Celebrate with him at Diamond Hoggers.

Dugout 24 is excited about the World Baseball Classic. We obnoxious Americans are about the only people not excited about it.

For Baseball Junkies continues its fine series on comparing a team's all-time team with their current team. This week featured the Mets. That aught to be interesting, no?

Full Spectrum Baseball has gathered themselves quite a few really good writers. A post that was particularly enjoyed this week was Will Emerson's collection of baseball facts, intriguing or useless or other wise. Which player is the only player this season with double-digit steals while also grounding into at least 20 double-plays. Click and find out.

The Hall of Very Good, a site whose name should change to The Site that's Very Good, has a great piece on five ballplayers that should have their own reality shows. And yes, Roger Clemens is one of them.

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor celebrates his 200th post. Congrats, buddy! Of course, he had to ruin it by writing about Ben Zobrist. [grumble] Hate that guy. But you probably like him, so go read it.

Left Field is a very cultured site with great writing. Our favorite writer writes about baseball, beer and music. Cool, eh? In this post, he writes about music tracks he has been spinning lately. Hope you don't mind the non-baseball post. It's worth it.

Michael Holloway is fascinated by Randall Munro's "What If" series. After this, you will be too. Michael Holloway's Baseball Blog.

Andrew Martin not only disagrees with the Fan's NL MVP choice, he doesn't even think Buster Posey is the best catcher in the National League. Read it all at MLB Dirt.

The terrific Chuck Booth of MLB Reports writes a thesis on the Coors Effect and baseball as played in Denver, Colorado. Fascinating. It is the third part in a series, so you might as well read parts one and two also.

Nik wonders if the Brewers can actually make it as the last wild card team in this post over at Niktig's Baseball Blog.

Old Time Family Baseball was kind enough to provide us with the trailer for the new movie about Jackie Robinson. Looks like a must see.

Jeremy Sickel of the Pop Fly Boys great anticipates the debut of a Royals prospect.in a really well-written piece.

In a week filled with firestorms about baseball's role in American life, Cee Angi of The Platoon Advantage wrote this very thought provoking piece you should all read and think about.

Like most of us, Replacement Level Baseball Blog cannot wrap its mind around the season Mike Trout is having. And TPA and TTF are right, Trout is still the MVP. Sorry Miguel Cabrera fans.

Jackie Micucci of Through The Fence Baseball is amazed the Yankees are still where they are in the standings. The closing line of the piece is killer. One of the best ever.

HitMoreLineDrives.com has an interesting article on pitch limits for youngsters. 

Eugene Tierney, as usual, has another great piece for 85% Sports this week. This one is on whether the Cardinals promoting Oscar Tavaras is a good thing or not.

Nobody...N-O-B-O-D-Y...writes better game recaps than Stevo-Sama like this one over at his The Baseball Enthusiast site.

Baseball Unrated has their fantasy baseball wrap-up for the season. 

Have a great week everyone and enjoy the final rush of the season!

BBA Linkfest - generally topical

Welcome to another edition of the BBA Linkfest where we travel around the world to our general chapter members and catch up on some great reading. The regular season is heading down the home stretch and our writers are tearing the roof off the joint with their excellence. Click a link, post a comment and simply enjoy yourself for the biggest, baddest and best chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

Let's start with some of our newest chapter members. Welcome and great to have you.

Hit More Line Drives bills itself as your one stop source for hitting instruction. And true to its mission statement, the site is chock full of tasty instructional information. But they also interview young players like in this post with one of the top Texas high school prospects.

Payoff Pitch is a promising site that gives really great breakdowns of things. For example, check out their breakdown of the Dodger's huge deal with the Red Sox.

Full Spectrum Baseball has been with us for a while now and they crank out great content every day. Now this is a post idea that hasn't been done before. Dennis Lawson explores the "All Expandables Team."

Jed Rigney of Through the Fence Baseball writes that the Baltimore Orioles have had a steady date with Lady Luck.

Sully of Sully Baseball writes that the Bobby Valentine joke is getting old.

The author of The Sports Banter hates his favorite team.

Replacement Level Baseball Blog wonders aloud how the Oakland Athletics keep winning.

The terrific Jason Wojciechowski of The Platoon Advantage wonders why the Dodgers would want more of Nick Coletti.

Jeremy Sickel of the Pop Fly Boys is ticked off at the Kansas City Royals about a prospect.

Totally loved this post as Old Time Family Baseball tries to get inside the head of Jhoulys Chacin on his infamous play.

MTD of Off Base Percentage apparently weathered the hurricane and wrote a happy birthday post...to himself. Yes, he is an only child. Oh! And happy birthday, ya lark.

Nik's latest power rankings are up on his site at Niktig's Baseball Blog.

Sam Evans of MLB Reports has a great preview of the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Several members of the great MLB Dirt staff got together to give us a rundown on September call ups we should keep an eye on. Great stuff.

Are there really PED rumors swirling around A.J. Pierzynski? That's silly and Peter Verniere of MajorLeagueAholes.com tells us why.

It has mentioned here before, but the writer of Left Field is simply delicious to read. Check out his round up of the best players of the history of the Royals for example. But his post about Pawtucket is just about the best thing this compiler has read in a long time.

Theo's retired numbers series over at Hot Corner Harbor has been terrific from beginning to now. Check out the latest.

The Hall of Very Good reports on something that is absolutely unthinkable. It's...blasphemy. 

Grubby Glove has started a new series celebrating the 1962 New York Mets. Oh, man, this series is going to be tasty.

For Baseball Junkies compares this year's Blue Jays to their all-time team, which isn't fair and that's the point.

Dugout 24 calls the Dodgers' recent spending spree, "Hollywood's Moneyball II." That's pretty funny right there.

Over at Diamond Hoggers, TheNaturalMevs writes that he is watching the beginning of a legend.

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. writes about baseball's youth movement and then lists the 25 best players under the age of 25. Great read.

Mario Salvino of Che Palle! has a post about Michael Clarke Duncan and Disco Demolition Night. Potent mix there.

Lew Freedman of Call to the Pen fame writes that Brandon McCarthy is lucky to be alive. Agreed. Scary.

How far can the Nationals go without Stephen Strasburg? That is the question pondered by Christopher Carelli of The Baseball Stance.

Everyone has an opinion on the fiasco that is this year's Boston Red Sox. Here's one from Baseball Unrated.

Stevo-sama of The Baseball Enthusiast is back with another baseball game recapped. Nobody does it better.

What do you know, the author of The Ball Caps Blog is the same age as this compiler. No wonder this compiler likes him so much.

In this week's post of the week, Russ Blatt of 85% Sports went to see a game in the brand new Marlins Park and gives a thorough and enjoyable review.

Have a great week, everyone.

BBA Linkfest - General stretching

Hello! And welcome to another links post from around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. We are called the, "General," chapter because we write about anything our little hearts desire instead of focusing on one team, one division, one league or stuff like fantasy baseball. But our generalists are top rate and as you will see from these links, worth every visit time will allow you to make. So click a few links and leave us some comments. We general folks like that.

Here we go:

We'll start over at 85% Sports, whose baseball writer, Eugene Tierney, is excellent. For example, read his take on the Stephen Strasburg situation.

The Ball Caps Blog got a great idea from Rolling Stone Magazine (of all places). Which game would you go to?

The Baseball Enthusiast has probably the weirdest take on the recent PED shockers. But weird is a good thing. At least this compiler thinks so.

Baseball Unrated glories in Felix Hernandez's perfect game.

Christopher Carelli is a terrific baseball writer. His last two posts over at his The Baseball Stance are excellent. The last one ponders the Nationals without Strasburg.

The PED suspensions seem to take a lot of Latino players and Baseballism has some excellent thoughts on that matter.

Justin Jabs is back! Most excellent. He was doing important work this summer and is returned after that successful venture. Welcome him back on his sweet new post on Baseblog.

Spencer Hendricks of Call to the Pen takes an in depth look at the surprising Oakland A's.

An Italian pitcher made his debut in Japan. This is a world sport, folks. Check it out on Che Palle!

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. writes about how baseball has been saved in Pittsburgh. So glad about that!

In this compiler's favorite post of the week, TheNaturalMevs of Diamond Hoggers gives nicknames to every member of the Cincinnati Reds. Loved it!

Dugout 24 is quite taken by Roger Clemens pitching a game at the age of 50. This compiler hopes he throws a no-hitter. Take that, HOF voters!

Your Flagrant Fan had one of his posts quoted by Deadspin this week. That's pretty cool, no?

The OCP of For Baseball Junkies writes that teams should take some responsibility for players who violate the drug policy. Agree.

This compiler had an absolute blast with Chris Caylor's list of 25 Random Thoughts about Baseball, over at Full Spectrum Baseball. A must read.

Nate Jones throws with some serious gas as Mike Rosenbaum shows us over at The Golden Sombrero.

The Hall of Very Good, one of this compiler's favorite destinations, has six sick stats for Aroldis Chapman.

Hot Corner Harbor has a great series of reports on the Cape Cod League. The latest is about the league champions.

The Houston Astros may be way down on their luck now with a team that nobody would recognize. But as Left Field shows us in his latest segment of his wonderful all time team series, they have had some great players over the years.

Peter Verniere of MajorLeagueAholes.com really enjoyed two sweeps this past week.

Want to know what Michael Holloway sounds like? Here is your chance. Check it out at Michael Holloway's Baseball Blog. This compiler might check out that app too.

The post of the week goes to Andrew Martin of MLB Dirt, who discusses and gives us a link to an interview given by Lou Gehrig shortly before he died. Fascinating!

Jake Dal Porto is just a high school kid. But he writes like a veteran baseball writer for MLB Reports. Check out his analyse on a Cubs extension for Starlin Castro.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog presents his picks for the ten best pitchers in baseball. Agree? Disagree?

The always entertaining Old Time Family Baseball has a new look at Tommy Lasorda and fashion. Huh? Well...go look.

The talented Jeremy Sickel of the Pop Fly Boys tries to look into the future and see the 2013 starting rotation for the Kansas City Royals.

In a terrific post, Cee Angi, the great writer for the great site, The Platoon Advantage, is sick of shaming fan bases for attendance.

Love this one! Replacement Level Baseball Blog shares a piece he wrote for another site about the last bad Red Sox team (before this one).

Sully of Sully Baseball does most of his writing for The Bleacher Report now. But he does link his articles there to his site. Here is one example.

Jed Rigney has a great piece on Through the Fence Baseball on closers. Great read.

Jonathan Dyer of the X-Log takes the leap and compares Mike Trout to Willie and Mickey. All that is well and good, but then you'd have start calling Trout, "Mikey."

Have a great week everybody.

BBA Linkfest - generally Thursday

Welcome to our weekly adventure around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Normally, this post comes out every Thursday. So it is a day late. But it is not a dollar short as our chapter features great writers from around the world. Steep a little tea, have some toast and enjoy some great baseball writing.

Let's start by stopping by The Platoon Advantage. The site has long been one of this compiler's favorites. Amidst the curmudgeons is the wonderful Cee Angi who writes a completely unbiased (not) post about two left-handed pitchers. By the way, spellchecker is saying that, "Amidst," is not a word. Do tell. 

Replacement Level Baseball Blog had two terrific posts this week, so it was hard to choose between them. The decision was to go with the one on why the Orioles keep winning. Nice analysis. 

As you may or may not know, our friend, Sully of Sully Baseball is now a featured writer for The Bleacher Report. Fortunately, he links some of those posts to his site. This one was particularly liked.

Jake Mastroianni of Through the Fence Baseball introduces us to Mike Fiers. Super.

The X-Log's fine writer, Jonathan Dyer, ponders whether the Angels cost themselves a championship with their April.

Eugene Tierney of 85% Sports is at it again with another wonderful idea. This time he has a DFA Tracker. Awesome.

Daniel of The Ball Caps Blog riffs on a fun idea from the magazine of riffs. Enjoyed this one.

Love these kinds of posts. Baseball Unrated writes about the biggest surprises of 2012.

Christopher Carelli has a great piece this week on the Tampa Bay Rays being poised for another late season run. Check out the post at his The Baseball Stance site.

Brian Vaughan has an interesting look at the American League MVP vote this season over at Call to the Pen.

You may or may not know that a former big league pitcher has a daughter in the Olympics. Mario Salvini of Che Palle! has the story.

TheNaturalMevs of Diamond Hoggers has a tribute to the MLB Network. Perfect.

Dugout 24 has an interesting post because it talks about the bad reputation baseball bats have in other countries. And it includes Barack Obama.

Might as well toot the compiler's own horn. This post set a weekly hit record for this site.

The post of the week goes to Blake Murphy of Full Spectrum Baseball that is a full-court press on the topic of BABIP. Read it.

Mike Rosenbaum, who is always the most encouraging guy to this compiler, has a video of Mike Trout in high school. Yeah, he was pretty good. On The Golden Sombrero.

David Ross is a big league catcher. Catchers aren't known for their speed. David Ross stole his first career base. The Hall of Very Good has the story.

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor has the second part of his terrific discussion on how big the Hall of Fame should be. Great stuff.

Yay! Left Field gets back to its All Time Team series. This one is the All Time Tigers Team. Awesomeness.

Peter Verniere of MajorLeagueAHoles.com has a great post on the horse race that it is going to be between the Tigers and the White Sox down the stretch. Except one team might win by trotting.

Michael Holloway has a terrific post on keeping score with lazy radio announcers. Wonderful post on his Michael Holloway's Baseball Blog.

Michael Schwartze has some thoughts on Manny Machado's recent call up by the Baltimore Orioles. Exclusively on MLB Dirt.

John Burns, who is a high school junior, by the way, has a great article for MLB Reports on the painful rebuild of the Houston Astros. Well done, son.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog has some thoughts on the direction of the Miami Marlins.

Have a great weekend and a great week everyone!

BBA Linkfest - dog days in general

Hello! And welcome to another of our weekly edition of the BBA Linkfest where you are presented with links to the best writing around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Why the heading? Not really sure to be honest with you. People always say that we are in the "Dog Days of August." The month is among this link compiler's favorites so it makes no sense. But since this is the first linkfest in August, that was what came to mind. One thing for sure, there are no dogs in these links. So click a lot and enjoy a lot.

Today we are going to start in the middle alphabetically in reverse order (whatever that means):

Let's start over at Full Spectrum Baseball and a great article by Gary Perilloux and his thoughts about the Great American Baseball Novel. 

Over at For Baseball Junkies, The OCP has a lengthy but enjoyable read on the Phillies' luxury tax. Excellent. 

Our German affiliate, Dugout 24, has a post on the top ten MLB Twitter accounts. Cool.

Good buddy, TheNaturalMevs of Diamond Hoggers writes about when good things happen in a great baseball town.

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please writes some interesting points about the impossible situation the Phillies found themselves in with Cole Hamels.

Spencer Hendricks of Call to the Pen writes that the West just got wilder. Indeed it did!

Chris Carelli of The Baseball Stance wrote an excellent article (just today in fact) on the effect the trade deadline has on teams. Excellent read.

Baseball Unrated features a post on the dramatic fall to earth of the Milwaukee Brewers. Let's hope it is a one year blip.

Has this compiler mentioned that Stevo-sama writes the best baseball recaps ever? Here is his latest awesomeness from The Baseball Enthusiast.

Eugene Tierney's Trade Deadline Tracker over at 85% Sports has been super cool to watch. Celebrate it now in all its completeness now that the deadline is over.

Leave it to Larry Granillo of Wezen-ball to be marrying a talented writer. She's been keeping his old site warm while he writes in other important places. This piece is so good! 

Scott Engell of the X-Log has a fantastic interview with David Wright. Love it!

Jed Rigney of Through the Fence Baseball wins the post of the week award this week with his rating of the trade deadline results on his "Baldwin Scale."  Brilliant.

Sully of Sully Baseball is agog at the walk off Athletics of Oakland.

Some of this compiler's favorite people were recently part of a new project with a really long and cool title. Replacement Level Baseball Blog participated and has some thoughts on the project.

Want to have some fun? Pop over to The Platoon Advantage and play a word association game with TCM.

Wanda Fischer wrote a great piece for The Pop Fly Boys on Casper Wells as the hometown boy. Great.

Old Time Family Baseball ponders the mystery of Josh Hamilton. Good luck figuring that one out.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog sums up the needs of the contending teams.

Bernie Olshansky of MLB Reports tries to figure out if the Dodgers or Giants will win the NL West. It's going to be crazy, no?

Jonathan Mitchell of MLB Dirt has an excellent breakdown of the Ryan Dempster trade.

In a well-written piece, Peter Verniere tries to pin down his feelings on his team landing Francisco Liriano. MajorLeagueAHoles.com.

Left Field confirms his place among this compiler's favorite writers with this highly personal piece on a former Yankee captain. Well done, man.

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor has put a lot of work into thinking about what players playing today will be in the Hall of Fame some day. Here is the third part of this wonderful series.

Grubby Glove has done a fantastic job with a very cool mission.

Have a great week, everyone!

BBA Linkfest - General Olympics

Welcome to another round of links from around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. The heading honors the Olympics starting in London, but really has nothing much to do with a great bunch of baseball writers. The Olympics do not feel the same since growing up with them. For one, they are not on ABC where they belong. Secondly, there is no Jim McCay and frankly, if you've seen one floor routine in gymnastics, you've seen them all. But this compiler realizes that he might be spitting into the wind on this one. Anyway, sit right back, lift a hot beverage and click some links to terrific fare from our writers around the world.

We will go alphabetically again with the links, but start at the bottom of the alphabet and work backwards:

- There is always good stuff over at the X-Log. The Dan Plesac eyebrow piece was hysterical. But for more analytic stuff, the Bay Area's need for first basemen is covered by Jonathan Dyer.

- Jon Sumple of Through the Fence Baseball writes that Marlins fans should be rejoicing.

- Sully of Sully Baseball is a Red Sox fan. He writes their 2012 eulogy here.

- Remarkably, Bryan of Replacement Level Baseball Blog might have been watching the same game as Sully. Here is his take. Love the comment from Dan on the piece too.

- Over at The Platoon Advantage, The Common Man has some really strong words for fans of the Miami Marlins. Oh, and he thinks this compiler is a communist because of not liking pepperoni. Get over yourself. :)

- The recent wave of prospects for the Kansas City Royals brought some optimism this year only to see it go up in flames. Jeremy Sickel of the Pop Fly Boys writes that the next wave will be different. Hope he's right.

- Pablo Sandoval's injury reminded this compiler so much of the one Harmon Killebrew suffered in the All Star Game all those years ago. Anyway, Old Time Family Baseball wrote a one-act play about the event. By the way. OTFB is one of this compiler's favorite sites. But wouldn't it have been much cooler if the author had named it with "Tyme" instead of, "Time?"

- Matt Altemose writes about perfection in baseball over at Number One Baseball.

- Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog has revised his predictions for the final outcome of the standings.

- The easy pick for the post of the week comes form Chuck Booth over at MLB Reports. His awesome piece researches the crap out of a real pioneer of baseball that not many people know about. You have to read this piece if you love the game of baseball.

- There is a reason why Octavio Dotel set a record for the most franchises ever played for: He's a very good relief pitcher. Jonathan Mitchell of MLB Dirt has the details.

- The San Francisco Giants are playing great baseball. MajorLeagueAHoles.com's pverniere breaks it down for us.

- This compiler looks forward every year to Left Field during that writer's annual trek to Cooperstown. His first-hand account of the day's events is fantastic.

- Somebody had to write Jason Kendall's baseball eulogy. Theo of Hot Corner Harbor took it upon himself and does a terrific job with it.

- Absolutely love this post and this is why The Hall of Very Good is a must stop on your baseball journey. Nevermind the details. Just go there.

- Mike Rosenbaum of The Golden Sombrero has a video of Albert Almora's first professional homer. What a shot!

- Patrick Hayes of Full Spectrum Baseball puts his bright spotlight on the season of Melky Cabrera. This site always has great content.

- The OCP of For Baseball Junkies fame writes a great piece on the recent Cole Hamels extension.

- Dugout 24 wants baseball and softball back in the Olympics. Yes!

- Diamond Hoggers' TheNaturalMevs sure is enjoying the recent run by the Reds, as well he should. But never mind about the brassiere.

- Matt Whitener calls the events that led to the signing of Cole Hamels a perfect storm. Check out why over at his Cheap.Seats.Please.

- Mario Salvini of Che Palle! has some inspirational stories from the Olympics. There is a baseball player in there too!

- Okay, the line, "Big boy pants," just slays this compiler. Can't stop laughing now. Go read more from Kyle Davis over at Call to the Pen.

- Chris Carelli takes a fascinating look at whether the new MLB wild card format is accomplishing its goals. Great piece over at The Baseball Stance.

- Baseball Unrated takes a look at the Hall of Fame case of Andruw Jones.

- Stevo-sama has a different kind of post this week over at his The Baseball Enthusiast site. Knowing him, you never want to miss one of his pieces.

- And last but not least, Russ Blatt of 85% Sports has a terrific piece on some Double-A affiliates that are in flux right now. Great ending to the links round up, Russ!

And also, a big and hearty congratulations to our new BBA president, Bill Ivie (@poisonwilliam), on his marriage to @cardschic , one of the sweetest baseball writers out there. Long life and much happiness to them both.

BBA Linkfest - The patter of General beat

Another week, another links post. And there sure is a lot of good stuff to bring you this week from the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. If this links compiler sounds more like a cheerleader than the president of this august...um...May body, it is only natural because it is an honor to present these links to you every week. Pour yourself a hot beverage, have another Pop Tart and enjoy all this great stuff coming your way.

Let's start out in Left Field where our good friend has been doing a bang up job coming up with all-time teams for each franchise. Today, he features his all-time team born on this very day of May 17. Ozzie makes an appearance. No, not that one.

For Ryan Smith of Major League A**holes, this week was rivalry week in Chicago. It was a split decision.

Michael Holloway has a great piece on John Farrell's radical defensive shifts over at his Michael Holloway's Baseball Blog. Definitely worth checking out!

How many of us deluded fans think we affect the outcomes of games by what we do while watching the games from our couches? Now there is a book about it. Andrew Martin of MLB Dirt has the review.

Bernie Olshanksy of MLB Reports has a story of the Miracle Mets. No, not 1969. This year. This year!? Yup, you'll have to read this.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog put together his all-time Boston Red Sox team.

Over at Old Time Family Baseball, that author called Derek Lowe, "Merlin." Since this compiler is a sucker for anything referring to King Arthur, that scores deeply in this book. Anyway, Lowe had a performance the contact-happy Twins would just drool over. And he did it against them.

Jeremy Sickel of the Pop Fly Boys tells us that the Kansas City Royals' second wave of talent is on the way. Let's hope this wave includes pitching.

In a post singed with irony over at The Platoon Advantage, Bill wishes Jack Morris a happy birthday. The irony comes from that site skewering his Hall of Fame credentials for years now. That is entertainment, folks.

The Replacement Level Baseball Blog takes a mulligan on one of its earlier top 100 picks of the best players in baseball. Corrects an oops but it's a great read.

The proprietor of The Sports Banter shows us where he has been lately.

The Indians are good this season? Sully over at Sully Baseball is surprised. Agreed.

This compiler is a sucker for posts about baseball history. So this post on Through the Fence Baseball about the weirdest game in history is the post of the week. Terrific.

Jonathan Dyer of the X-Log wonders when Carlos Gonzalez became a singles hitter. Probably when he said on MLB.com's commercial that he would do it all.

Why isn't baseball's amateur draft as exciting as the NFL's? Never could figure that out. Perhaps 85% Sports' Eugene Tierney can rectify that with his mock draft. Excellent.

Baseball Unrated was wrong about Bryan LaHair, but at least admitted to it.

The Baseblog and Justin Jabs are celebrating their 100th post. Way to go, Justin! And what a cool way to celebrate!

Bet you have forgotten all about Manny Ramirez since he started the season on a 50-day suspension. Blaine Blontz hasn't. Call to the Pen has the details.

This article by Mario Salvini of Che Palle! does not translate well from Italian into English. But the sentiment and excitement for Alex Liddi is legit.

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. thinks it is a step in the right direction for the Cardinals to retire Tony La Russa's uniform number. But thinks the Cards have more work to do in that department.

TheNaturalMevs was thrilled about a phenom's first two MLB homers. Check it out on Diamond Hoggers.

The Baseball Index presents us with a surprise candidate for the starting NL All Star catcher. And yes, before the season, this compiler called the position a weakness for this player's team.

Ryan Bohlen of Full Spectrum Baseball has this compiler's favorite post of the week on the most exciting team in the NL Central. And it's not the team that you think.

This week's version of The Golden Sombrero "MLB Look-Alikes" is probably the best ever. Loved it.

The owner of The Grubby Glove is one terrific writer. One of our very best. Check out his latest.

In the time of the season category, The Hall of Very Good thinks Sammy Sosa is a zombie. Why is money wasted on the rich?

And last but not least, Theo of Hot Corner Harbor has an excellent read looking back at the Ryan Braun case.

Have a great week, everyone.

BBA Linkfest - Rainy day generals

Welcome to another Thursday edition of the BBA Linkfest where this site features baseball writing from around the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. The fun part about doing this every week is that several of the fine writers of these sites have become friends and that is humbling and appreciated. Humbling because these are terrific writers. You too will come to appreciate these folks if you vote with your mouse clicks and take this tour of very fine links from writers around the world. Enjoy.

We'll start at the top (alphabetically) this time with one exception:

The exception is one of our newest members, Full Spectrum Baseball. The site is new to the generals but its founders have been friends for a long time. Feel terrible here because they have been forgotten in previous weeks because the roster or list on the BBA site has not been updated since they joined. The site features several writers and it really is a full spectrum of fantasy and other general articles of interest. Check out this weekly feature that gives fantasy players a weekly planner for starting pitchers. Terrific.

One of the best stories this season have been the early contention of the Washington Nationals. In an excellent post, Russ Blatt of 85% Sports tells us how the team was built.

Babes Love Baseball speculated on baseball without Mariano Rivera. Hard to even think about. 

As its writer prepares for his four-day drive east for his new job (congrats!) The Ball Caps Blog relives the glory of Josh Hamilton's four-homer game and reminds us of another time when a player did that in Baltimore.

Has this compiler mentioned yest that Stevo-sama writes the best baseball recaps ever? Check out his latest at The Baseball Enthusiast.

Baseball Unrated contrasts catchers with husbands. If you think that sounds as nuts as it is, check it out!

Justin Jabs of Baseblog gives us a romping recap of the best game he has ever witnessed live. Terrific read.

The always reliable Call to the Pen features an always reliable Blaine Blontz who tells us that the Angels are scouring the earth for relief pitchers.

Che Palle! and its writer, Mario Salvini has a nice article this week on Adam Jones.

Matt Whitener of the excellent Cheap.Seats.Please. compares Matt Kemp and Josh Hamilton. Which would you take?

Dizzy Valance of the Crum-Bum Beat has a truly terrific post on the growing legend of Billy Hamilton. The guy has the perfect name for a ballplayer and this post is a treat.

Diamond Hoggers has a fine recap of a recent Reds game. The only thing that slightly ruined the post was that picture of Dusty Baker. Well, if printed, at least it would make a good dartboard. heh.

Dugout 24 has a post on Josh Hamilton's four-homer game from a European perspective.

For Baseball Junkies has a well-written post as a rebuttal of the Cole Hamels incident told from the perspective of a Phillies fan.

The Baseball Index has a very fine post about Daniel Murphy and compares him to other "singles machines" across time. Great stuff and well documented.

Mike Rosenbaum of The Golden Sombrero has living proof that Ian Desmond can go vertical. Amazing!

How could you not love Ozzie Smith, the Cardinals' Hall of Fame shortstop. Grubby Glove pulls out his favorite Ozzie Smith baseball card. Agree completely.

The always fascinating The Hall of Very Good has the post of the week as the Mets and MCA sort of go hand in hand.

Hot Corner Harbor speculates on the 500-homer club and thinks it will become a rarity again. Super post.

Left Field is given two links this week because you shouldn't miss either one. They are the all-time teams for both Chicago teams. The White Sox here and the Cubs here.

Speaking of the White Sox, Major League A**holes thinks this year's team is a major tease.

Andrew Martin of MLB Dirt interviews Kevin Munson, an up and coming reliever in the Diamondbacks system that may see some action on the big club soon.

Ryan Ritchey has a fine post over at MLB Reports this week and says that the Red Sox are falling apart. Though this compiler is not sure the right verb tense of "falling" was used. Heh.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog gives us his list of AL and NL all-stars through the first thirty games.

Old Time Family Baseball has some of the most fun stuff in all of baseball. In this entry, the speed of Andrew McCutchen is celebrated.

Geoff Ratliff of the Pop Fly Boys has a great post on why the Dodgers rotation is better than the Giants rotation.

Absolutely loved this post by Bill of The Platoon Advantage on six things he didn't know before. Superb. Would of included TCM's fun post on the crimes of Jon Heyman, but he left this compiler out since he always ignores this compiler. Heh.

When this season started, it was said that there were six great American League teams. Replacement Level Baseball Blog says that is down to two. And proves it.

Sully of Sully Baseball fame can't figure out the Mets and says neither can you. He is right. Try picking their games every day.

Eric Aron has this compiler's personal favorite post this week over at Through the Fence Baseball using Jered Weaver's no-hitter to talk about Bo Belinsky. Bo Belinsky!! 

Okay, that lasted about five minutes as Mike Demerges has a fantastic interview of Ron Guidry, one of this compiler's favorite players of all time. Thank you, X-Log!!!

Larry again lets @LadyWezen write a terrific post over at Wezen-ball on what the Beastie Boys teach us about baseball. Great read.

That's the round up this week. Have a great week, folks.

BBA Linkfest - Harper's Ferry Generals

Welcome to another Thursday edition of the BBA Linkfest where we travel around the world of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. The General Chapter sounds like such a boring kind of thing, but it is not! It is simply a term meaning that the writers who comprise the chapter write about general baseball topics and do not focus on one specific team. There is great writing going on here. Please click a few links and see what talented writing can be found here.

Let's start our round trip with The Platoon Advantage. This site is a must stop for baseball content. And TCM's piece about the Twins' aversion to strikeout pitchers is just one of the very many examples.

Absolutely loved this Sully piece over at Sully Baseball that gives you each teams' most recent no-hitter. Of course, the Angels had one last night.

In an absolutely beautiful piece of writing, Mike Viso of Through the Fence Baseball sees a lot of the Josh Hamilton story in Evan Gattis. 

Scott Engel of the X-Log does a thoroughly professional job with his inside look at the Detroit Tigers. Super.

Missed this last week for some reason. One of this linker's favorite follows on Twitter is @ladywezen who is Larry Granillo's main squeeze. She is also a great writer in her own right as this celebration of Fenway Park's 100th anniversary. From Wezen-ball.com.

Eugene Tierney has a fantastic piece over at 85% Sports on Minor League drug suspensions. Man, there is goods stuff around the chapter this week!

Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball has a get well card for Evan Longoria, who will miss a large chunk of time with an injury.

The proprietor of The Ball Caps Blog has a problem with the San Francisco Giants' uniform numbering system. 

Have told you once and will tell you again, nobody does game recaps better than Stevo-sama of The Baseball Enthusiast. Here is yet another example.

Baseball Unrated celebrates the arrival of Bryce Harper. The kid is off to a good start.

FHPromos of Baseballism had a Twitter debate about booing. Which side do you fall on?

Justin Jabs watched a great night of baseball and takes us along for the ride on his Baseblog site. Fun post.

Aaron Somers is back from honeymooning and caught up on some reading. His book review can be found on Blogging From the Bleachers.

Kyle Davis of Call to the Pen has a hysterical take on Tim Welke's blown call at first base. Laughed a lot reading this one.

Loved this Mario Salvini post on great uniform moments from time. Super stuff. Check it out on Che Palle!

Matt Whitener of Cheap.Seats.Please. tickled all this Fan's warm spots with a post on Derek Jeter. 

Curley Bender of Crum-Bum Beat (one of the favorite things to type each week) thinks the Atlanta Braves are really good. 

TheNaturalMevs of Diamond Hoggers has found the next Nostradamus and has the text messages to prove it. Who knew it would be another of our chapter's writers!?

Dugout24 talks about donuts...the Prince Fielder kind and the batting kind.

Hersh over at For Baseball Junkies agrees with Joe Sheehan that we should get rid of the save statistic. Disagree in the whole but they've got a point.

The Baseball Index needs to stop making MVP picks. For the second year in a row, that site's pick has a major injury.

Grubby Glove has a great post on a Topps giveaway that actually worked. Fun read.

Any article about Bo Jackson is an "in" for this reader. But The Hall of Very Good has a unique one that is indeed special. Bo knows how to give his heart.

Theo of Hot Corner Harbor ponders how history will remember the careers of Paul Konerko and Johnny Damon. Great read.

Left Field has an update on his new beers resolution. Great writing, but will never get the taste of the stuff. Blech. Then again, this superb writer also likes Crazy Horse. Brothers don't always agree about stuff.

Ryan Smith has an excellent post over at Major League A**holes stating that it is not too early to call Albert Pujols a bust for the Angels.

Jonathan Mitchell has a great piece up at MLB Dirt on NL minor league players that are begging to be called up (with their play that is).

This Fan has a love/hate relationship with other fans fortunate enough to go on treks to all 30 Major League ballparks. Navin Vaswani had a wonderful such trip a couple of years ago. Chuck Booth has done it twice! Dadgum him! But we can share his adventures vicariously in his latest report to MLB Reports. Much fun.

Nik of Niktig's Baseball Blog reports on Bryan LaHair's monster April. Happy for the guy. Paid his dues.

Old Time Family Baseball reviews a movie called "Knuckleball." Oh man, hope that comes out on disc some time! 

And last, but certainly not least, Mark Zell of the Pop Fly Boys has a super post on what teams should be panicking as the calendar rolls from April into May. 

Have a great week, everyone!