THT Links: Land of Plenty

Some days it’s hard to find good links, and I have to go through my RSS reader a couple times to dig up eight or nine. Then there are days like today, where it’s effortless to scroll down and find some quality baseball content for fans of every stripe. Hope you guys enjoy!

A couple quick updates on things. The Five Questions preview series continues, with the AL East and NL West wrapping up this week, and the NL Central and NL East scheduled to go next week. Also, the THT Fantasy League has finally been filled. I also posted this in the THT Notes, but I wanted to make sure as many people saw this as possible, since, as noted, I won’t have a chance to contact everyone who emailed me.

Eaton or Lieber to Phils Pen – Apparently, the Phillies have come to their senses and decided not to move their best starter, Brett Myers, into the pen. Instead, the lucky victim will be Adam Eaton or Jon Lieber. I have to admit, reading that article, that I don’t get the sense that the Phillies are a tremendously run organization right now.

Griffey to Right – Ken Griffey Jr. will shift to right field when he starts the season as he recovers from a broken hand. How forcing him to make longer throws with his recently broken throwing hand will help him recover is anyone’s guess.

GMs on the Hot Seat – Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman looks at general managers whose jobs are in danger this season, starting with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry. There was a point a few years ago, between the time Mark Prior broke out and Sammy Sosa imploded, when the Cubs seemed to have some of the best talent in the majors and Hendry seemed like a genius. Just goes to show that even lucking into some talent doesn’t guarantee success, despite what some Billy Beane bashers would have you think.

Free Adam Miller! – Cleveland top prospect Adam Miller will be sent to the minors despite a strong spring and impressive minor league stats and scouting reports. While the move might seem illogical, especially with guys like Paul Byrd keeping him out of the rotation, Jeff Sackmann’s article on pitching depth has really helped me see the light.

Ameriquest No More – The Rangers have ended their 30-year naming rights deal with “struggling lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co.” and will henceforth play at Rangers Field at Arlington. Speaking of struggling companies, how do the Padres still play in Petco?

Cleveland Rocks – The Cleveland Indians are looking for a (paid) summer stats intern with the usual math and computer skill. Need I say more?

Diamond Dog – Rangers top prospect Thomas Diamond will undergo Tommy John surgery and will be out for the season. Just a friendly reminder that there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

Fantasy Dollar Values – Sabermetrics giant Tango Tiger reveals his formula for valuing players in a standard 5×5 league. As always, check out the comments for interesting discussion. And don’t think for a second that I would have posted this link if the THT Fantasy League weren’t a draft.

Wells to Battle Diabetes – Padres starter David Wells has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which is controllable with diet and medication. Without editorializing too much, it seems like it could be a good opportunity for a high profile athlete to help educate the public more on the risks of obesity.

Haren to Open Season – The A’s announced yesterday that Dan Haren will be their Opening Day starter, with Rich Harden slated to start the home opener on April 9. The A’s are rewarding Haren for staying healthy and anchoring the staff the past couple seasons, but make no mistake: the A’s will live and die as Harden goes this year.

Glavine Prospect Retro – John Sickels runs one of the best prospect blogs around, and here revisits the prospect status of one Tom Glavine. It’s always interesting to see how guys got to where they are and what people thought of them along the way.

Today at THT

The Best Young Corner Outfielders of 2007 – The Royals’ Billy Butler and the Diamondbacks’ Carlos Quentin lead this list of exciting young corner outfielders.

Five Questions: Baltimore Orioles – Did you realize the Orioles have been below .500 nine years running?

The Virtual 1966 San Francisco Giants – What if the Giants of that era hadn’t been quite so efficient at frittering away their talent?

Baseball Injury Report – Rick’s latest weekly entry.

THT Links represents the best efforts of our editors in scouring the various tubes of the interweb for both relevant and irrelevant news items. If you have happened upon a story that we have overlooked or wish to give feedback of any sort, please notify us at THT Links.

Updated weekdays at noonish, ET.