Hunt and Peck: Links of the Week

Ty Wigginton, ravenous with desire and hunger, devoured his doughnut moments thereafter, leaving remnants of the sticky, raspberry residue on his hands and a morsel dribbling down his chin. He greedily licked what he could from his fingers and reached into his knapsack for some napkins. "Uhg... They never give me enough napkins," he said in frustration as his search, much like his at bats, came up empty. It was then that he noticed another man sitting at the back of the bus. As if he had felt Wigginton's sudden acknowledgment of his presence, the man tugged at his cap, moving it lower on his head, obstructing his face. Wigginton approached the man, still covered in jelly, and asked him if he had some napkins. Without looking up, the man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, portable pack of tissues and handed them to Ty. "Many thanks," Ty said, finally wiping the remainder of his late night snack from his face. Wigginton handed the pack back to the stranger and, not sensing his desire to be left alone, made an attempt at idle chit-chat. "So, where you headed?" he asked, sliding into the seat in front of him. The man didn't move, but merely continued to look down at the floor. Finally, after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Wigginton rethought his actions and started to get up from his seat.

"I was headed to Spring Training," the man stated flatly, "but not anymore. I get off this bus at the next stop." As if on cue, the bus began rolling to a gradual standstill. The stranger picked up his crutches, and slowly hobbled his way to the front of the bus. As he walked by, Wigginton caught a glimpse of his face, and realized he did recognize the man after-all. "Wait, aren't you - " he began.

"One more shot," Mark Mulder interrupted him as he carefully made his way down the bus stairs, "All I wanted was one more shot." - Fox Sports; MLB

Other Things Going on in Baseball...

• Former Angels, Mets, Pirates, and Rangers player, and former manager, Jim Fregosi, has died this past week at the age of 71. - Sports on Earth
• In happier news, Spring Training has begun, with games starting at the end of the month! - Cut4
• Everyone keeps talking about this "Slimmer Pablo Sandoval" but I have yet to see visual evidence of his existence anywhere... - MLB
• It is not news that Cuban free agent shortstop Aldemys Dias was spotted working out with the Cards this week - oh, this is news? My bad. But what will a player like that cost? Is the price of Cuban free agents on the rise? - STLToday
• You might remember Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, being taken by the Rangers in the Rule 5 Draft. Well, he intends on going to Spring Training. - SI
• Are arm injuries predictable? Will Yu Darvish's arm e'splode? - Sports on Earth
• Who are the new faces ready to take over the MLB? Hey, I know that guy! - Sports on Earth
• "Well, these guys won the division last year, so..." - The Atlanta Braves on giving out contract extensions. - MLB

What the Cardinals are Up To...

• With the new rules on plate collisions, the Cardinals are preparing the catchers on how to adjust. Good news, too, seeing as perhaps the organizations best player happens to be catcher Yadier Molina. - MLB
• jdogg shared this link about the tattoos of some of our favorite Redbirds. I cannot say I didn't shed a tear. The Olympics just has me really emotional, okay? - STLToday
• Langosh reports that lefty pitching, heart-breaking, Kevin Siegrist skipped a bullpen due to "minimal arm soreness" and has been prescribed rest for the common complaint from pitchers just starting to workout again after the period of rest and RIPSiegrist. - By Gosh
• Rick Hummel discusses how Pete Kozma fits into the Cardinals' plans going forward... or more so, how he doesn't fit in to the Cardinals' plans going forward. - STLToday
• You think you are going to be happy with Kozma being the odd man out? Well you are not. Here is why. - Sports on Earth
• Kolten Wong has been named the number one second base prospect. What remains to be seen is if he can be named number one in our hearts. - MLB
• Meanwhile, Oscar Taveras is proclaimed to be the greatest of everything. Well, at least hittin'. (Hey, I spelled his name correctly without even looking!) - Baseball Prospectus
• But how have the Cardinals been able to pump out prospects like Wong, and Wacha, and Taveras, and Adams? - ESPN
• Who will prevail in the "Battle for Centerfield"? Will it be incumbent Jay? New to the team and "will never be David Freese" Peter Bourjos? A combination of the two? Frankenstein's monster? Jourjos? Bourjay? - STLToday
• Want more Wacha? Why wouldn't you?! DannyMac sits down with Michael Wacha to discuss his breakout season. - Tumbr
• Aldemys. Diaz. Some more info on the Cuban stealing our hearts. - Mad em Dashes

KNOW THY ENEMY...

• The Pirates are looking to build on the success of last year. It is just really difficult to do that when you haven't gotten more materials to build with. - MLB
• THE REDS ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING! - MLB
• Meanwhile, this was the Brewers' biggest news of the offseason (maybe with the exception of the Matt Garza signing... maybe). - Cut4
• More Brewers stuff: Ryan Braun is ready and focused and moving to right field, something, something PEDs. - MLB

Viva el Stuff...

• Just another friendly reminder about VEB day. I wouldn't want anyone to miss it because they got lost or something. How horrible. - Viva el Birdos
• Don't forget to submit your Top 20 Cardinals Prospect Rankings! - Viva el Birdos
• Michael_68_1999 submits this fanshot of Jack Clark hitting a homerun - Viva el Birdos
• stlfan looks at the best and worst case senarios for the Cardinals by position. Some of them are a little scary and since I am writing this before bed, I might get nightmares (especially at catcher). - Viva el Birdos
• Need to catch up on what happened last week? Check out the VEB: Week in Review. - Viva el Birdos
• Did you miss last week's links for some unfathomable reason? Here is your chance at redemption. - Viva el Birdos

Other Things...

• The United States of America takes the lead in the medal count (at least, they had when I last checked). The speed skating events are almost over (or are over, possibly), so suck it, Netherlands. - SBNation
• Right now. Like literally right now, why are you even reading this unless it is intermission, the US of A is taking on the villains from north of the border... The Canadians. Hopefully we are winning. Good God, I hope we are winning. Wednesday saw the USA beat the Czech Republic 5 - 2. - SBNation
• We all know about TJ [redacted] Oshie (here is a cool article from Deadspin making a slight comparison to a pitcher), but the rest of the American Blues are having a pretty good Olympics, too. David "Inglorious" Backes is body checking the US to gold (hopefully), and Shattenkirk has been solid on the blue line. - SBNation; Sports on Earth; Sports on Earth; Bleedin' Blue
• For more Blues Olympic Coverage, check out St. Louis Game Time.
• For our resident Swede, Team Sweden is set to take on Finland at 6:00am CST this morning. Results should be up by the time this is posted, but in case I get busy and cannot update this, this will just have to do, okay? - NBCSports
• Team USA's women's hockey team was inches from gold. Hopefully the men are avenging this loss right now. - SBNation
• Sick and tired of hearing complaints about the journalist covering the Olympics in Sochi? Yeah, me too. Suck it up. - College Humor

7 days until the first Spring Training game, Yo!

Don't worry. My posting of numerous Olympic links will over soon enough. I just love America, is that so wrong? Anyway, send me links and stuff via Twitter @lil_scooter93 or e-mail me at lil_scooter93@msn.com.