Weekly Link Round-Up

Stuff to read.

• I've been doing some collaborative stuff with other NL West writers over at Rox Pile lately, so check out my chat with Chicken Friars writer Justin Hunter and one with Lasorda's Lair writers Scott Andes and Stacie Wheeler.

• Is it just me, or did the Diamondbacks' rotation just cross the line from "good" to "others in the division better run for cover"?

• Andrew Martin considers what the Rockies' recent moves say about the front office's attitude toward the players.

• Seedlings to Stars thinks Drew Pomeranz is the 29th-best prospect in baseball.

• Christina Kahrl analyzes the Ian Stewart deal with the Cubs. Most importantly, she agrees with me that Stew got the short end of the stick from the Rockies.

• James Loney rakes against the Rockies, but it turns out the breathalyzer rakes against him.

• Jayson Stark insisted to us all that there was no way Albert Pujols would sign with someone before the end of the winter meetings. And then he did.

• Fangraphs' Dave Cameron examines the Pujols deal and concludes, rightly I think, that the Angels have taken an enormous risk.

• David Schoenfield thinks the Padres lucked out with Huston Street.

• Michael Cuddyer and his twins are so cute. They just make me that much happier that he's now a Rockie.

• I am very definitively NOT a Braves, fan, but the guys over at Tomahawk Take have kind of been killing it lately. Fred Owens had the brilliant idea (which I will be copying at some point) to post a list of stats of Atlanta trade targets, minus the names. So people could decide whom they'd choose without any of the prejudice that comes with knowing who a player is. Then he did a follow-up post revealing who each player was. It was awesome.

• Also, did you know the Braves used to have a pitcher named Peter Moylan? And did you know he got into it with Nickelback on Twitter? More awesome.

• Old Time Family Baseball produced one of the best holiday gift lists I've ever seen. I personally need every single one of these items, especially that Jim Thome game, so Santa better get busy.

• Juan Nicasio is my hero until further notice. Or more like forever.

• The Mets have really rotten luck, and I think that's about 60% funny and 40% depressing. I realize it's a luxury to think it's even that funny, one that I wouldn't have if I were a dyed-in-the-wool Mets fan. But I will tell you that it totally cracked me up when I was at Citi Field last spring and the Rockies were sweeping the Mets in a 4-game series, and a bunch of guys wearing paper bags on their heads chanted "Fire Wilpon!" for at least a full inning.

• Juan Marichal is going to have a chat with Ubaldo Jimenez to try to help him figure out what went wrong last season. In other news, Juan Marichal is awesome.

• I can't think of many reasons to like the Red Sox, but I can think of lots of reasons to strongly dislike them. For starters, these.