Weekend Link Roundup

It’s official.  Jerry Manuel has mental deficiencies.  Spring Training for Jason Bay and David Wright turns into Thunderdome with the loser starting the season protected by the ever-courageous Dan Murphy.  Meanwhile, the 500lb day-glo-colored gorilla in the room is why Manuel wouldn’t simply tool the lineup by simply place-saving for the return of Carlos Beltran.  There are three legitimate power hitters to stack behind Reyes and Castillo, in order they would be Wright, Bay, Francoeur, and you can hide Murphy in the six-hole without a second thought until Beltran comes back – which assumes that he’s coming back.  Beltran returns, and you slot him somewhere in the middle.  A lineup needs to gel, Bay is a new factor, not even considering Reyes’ clear place as one of the premier firestarter in the NL.  I’m not the only one scratching my head, I’ve found one more blogger who asks “Where’s Carlos?”

How long until a metric is invented that shows how Jose Reyes is best-suited for batting third?

Adrian Beltre is the owner of a stupefying 14.3 UZR, but can’t seem to field the baseball that stands still.  We’ll have keep a sharp eye on how many runs that Fenway hot corner swallows whole.

Looks like K-Rod isn’t the only Met with a fire in his eyes.  “Iggy” better away from those PSL campskanks, or else he’ll have a fire in his draws, too.

Phil Hughes is the latest changeup noodler on the Yankee staff, joining A.J. Burnett in experimenting with the easy-on-the-arm offspeed.

“I just tweaked it a little bit,” said Hughes, who is competing with Joba Chamberlain and three others for the final open spot in the rotation. “I’ve probably had about 29 different change-up grips in the last year and a half. It’s something that I’m constantly (experimenting) with…I feel like I have a good feel for it,” Hughes said. “It’s just a matter of consistently throwing it for strikes. It feels comfortable rolling off the fingers.”

I can’t wait for Opening Day.