THT Links: There’s Nothing On

I am officially out of television shows to watch. I had gone through a pretty long stretch where I just didn’t watch television outside of sports and over the past year has been catching up on shows that I heard were good but never watched. But now I am fully caught up on Entourage, Weeds, Dexter, House, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and How I Met Your Mother. I don’t know where to turn to next. I have an intense regimen of procrastination coming up over the next 10 days and there’s only so much FIFA ’07 I can play (well, not really). I know its pointless but right now, I would gladly tune in for bullpen sessions, bunt practice, whatever. In fact, if you just showed that plus had the players miked, it would be somewhat compelling, like how MLB.tv used to sometimes not cut out in between innings and you could hear what the announcers were like off-air. That was the best.

Where Are Thou Ex-Players? – Talking Chop has a look at where some former Braves are playing this year. I could have done without the Horacio Ramirez reminder.

Lincecum Could Make Giants Roster – A bit of early season fluff, but Tim Lincecum has a chance to make the Giants roster. I really hope some front office people got fired for passing him up on draft day.

Under the Radar – With all the Matsuzaka hype, Kei Igawa’s transition from Japan to America hasn’t been receiving much attention.

Schilling Being Schilling – Curt Schilling self-announces that he’ll start Opening Day for the Red Sox.

No Sake For You – Daisuke Matsuzaka might be in trouble from the U.S. Government for a Japanese ad he did airing only in Japan showing him drinking a Japanese beer. It’s a huge problem if the government can regulate stuff like this.

Nats Add More Flotsam – The Nationals agreed to a minor league contract with Ronnie Belliard over the weekend. Nats GM Jim Bowden has been busy this offseason snagging any player of possible interest that doesn’t cost the team anything. It wont cover up the fact that they don’t possess any starting pitchers, but they’ll provide a decent stopgap while they try to rebuild the farm system.

Jered the Boy Wonder Has Woeful Delivery – Jered Weaver is reporting shoulder tightness which will cost him any chance of throwing for the next couple weeks. That is crucial to pitchers who need the entire run-up to regain arm strength they let atrophy over winter.

Cabrera busts Marlins Payroll of $43.97 – Miguel Cabrera won his arbitration case, netting him $7.4 million. I find this notable only for the fact that Cabrera is the first player to win an arbitration hearing this offseason.

That was Short Lived – Barry Zito is likely going to scrap the new mechanics he worked on for the past month or so. Not knowing anything else, I would’ve stuck with them, because the Barry Zito who’s been pitching is highly unlikely to live up to the value of his contract.

Even More Rules to Not Know – For the first time in about a decade, Major League Baseball has publicly amended the rulebook. Among the interesting changes are…well, there aren’t any.

Gagne Not Ready – Not much substantiation, but according to Tim Kurkjian, eerily similar to 2006, Eric Gagne was not ready for the Rangers mini camp in January.

Fool Me Once, Shame on Me… – The Diamondbacks are nowhere near completing a deal with their first round draft pick, Max Scherzer. Scherzer and his agent Scott Boras (surprise!) are said to be seeking compensation equal to that first overall pick Luke Hochevar recieved from the Royals. Arizona went through this just two years ago with Stephen Drew.

Today at THT

Measuring & Managing The Value of Ballclubs (Part 1) – Ball club value and the link to payroll.

Introducing the IPORT – A way of looking at pitchers that can supplement our current methods.

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.