Hunt and Peck: Links of the Weekend

Aledmys Diaz. Will his bat play in the majors? Will he stick at shortstop? How do you pronounce his name? He is the $8 million international man of mystery. The truth is, we do not know the answers to these questions, and try as we might to guess, we have no way of knowing for sure.

Until now.

We got a peek at Diaz in his Spring Training debut, and now that he has been sent to AA Springfield we will finally get to see what he can do. - Viva el Birdos

Other Things Going On in Baseball...

• The Rockies apparently passed on a deal that included Matt Adams, Shelby Miller, and Pete Kozma (LOL) for Troy Tulowitzki. This might reflect the Rockies (along with 7 other teams') win-now attitude. - Fox Sports
• Baseball is so dangerous, guys. - MLB
• Jacoby Ellsbury will sit out a few more days to nurse a calf injury. - MLB
• Vin Scully is a freakin' national treasure. - MLB
• Bunting against a shift can be very effective, assuming you know how to bunt. - Fangraphs
  How effective you ask?
  

  via cdn.fangraphs.com

  I laughed.
  
• Things have reached a new low for poor Mitchell Boggs. See why in this Spring Training Opt Out/ Release Tracker. flood sent this to me with the subject line "Irony". I think it is appropriate. - MLB Daily Dish
• If one was interested in reading about the 2014 Oakland Athletics, I would suggest this link. - Beyond the Box Score
• There is drama in Detroit. 2013 Cy Young winner and native St. Louisan is headed towards free agency after turning down the Tigers' offer. - Sports Illustrated
  Oh, but it doesn't end there. The Tigers were apparently pretty chafed about it.
  

  RT @DetroitTigersPR: Tigers Statement on Max Scherzer pic.twitter.com/F4YOv8w3pH pic.twitter.com/CfwruHjzdZ

  — Detroit Tigers (@tigers) March 23, 2014

• The Red Sox are close to paying David Ortiz $15 million for a one year. - MLB
• The Dodgers will not be boring. - Sports on Earth
• THE WALRUS IS BACK IN THE GAME. Well, sort of. - Hardball Talk
• This video perfectly depicts how I imagine Nick Swisher is in real life. - Youtube
• The Dodgers also take the Opening Series of actual baseball against the Diamondbacks. - MLB
  

  via cdn0.sbnation.com

  
  

What the Cardinals are Up To...

• Who will be the Cardinals' fifth starter? - MLB
• Weellll, apparently "Bazooka/Goggles/Dancin'/Deadfish Handshakin'/Houdini" Joe Kelly has been given the fifth starters spot, because the world is a cruel place. - Viva el Birdos
• This author writes very kindly of Cardinal prospects Tim Cooney and Alex Reyes. (Thanks, flood, for the link!) - Fangraphs
• Bernie Miklasz says Russell Martin is not better defensively than Yadier Molina and the stats pretty much agree. - STL Today
• Cardinals beat-writer Derrick Goold sits down with Will Leitch to talk Oscar Taveras, Carlos Martinez, and Kolten Wong in this podcast (warning: it auto plays). - Sports on Earth
• C70 at the Bat is continuing his Greatest Living Cardinal Tournament. This week is a heavy-weight battle between Bob Gibson and Yadier Molina. - Cards Conclave
• Every series, the United Cardinals Bloggers try to do an in-depth preview that will be sent to your e-mail (for free, of course). If this is something you are interested in, you can subscribe with this link. If you would like more info, feel free to e-mail me and I can forward you the e-mail with some samples of what to expect! - United Cardinals Bloggers
• Michael Wacha will start the home opener!
  

  Michael Wacha will start home opener at Busch. #stlcards #Cardinals

  — Derrick Goold (@dgoold) March 24, 2014

KNOW THY ENEMY...

• Here is some interesting stuff on Cubs legend Ron Santo - High Heat Stats
• I am not sure if I have linked this before, but in case you forgot, Billy Hamilton is really fast. Word on the street is he isn't so great getting on base, but he is working on it. - Sports on Earth
• The Reds are relieved (get it, relieved?) after Aroldis Chapman underwent a successful surgery after getting hit in the face by a line drive last Tuesday. Chapman seems to be doing well and is even Instagraming photos of his staples (I must let you know there is a "graphic" warning on this, but it is totally not graphic at all. It is just staples in someone's head.) - Cut4
• The Pirates are looking to sign Starling Marte to an extension, but are having... difficulties. - Hardball Talk
• The Brewers exercise their option for manger Ron Roenicke, allowing him to avoid "lame duck" status. - Hardball Talk
• The Brewers have their manager in place and Ryan Braun back, so how are they looking for 2014? - Hardball Talk

Weekend Scoreboard:

WIN ALL THE GAMES!

Today Shelby Miller and the Cardinals will take on Diasuke Matsuzaka of the Mets at 12:10pm. There is no game thread today, as this game is not being televised. A full Spring Training schedule can be found here and the broadcast schedule can be found here. Tomorrow's 12:05pm game against the Marlins will be broadcast on Fox Sports Midwest.

7 days until Opening Day, yo!

If you would like to send me some links, please do so. It is easy! Tweet me @lil_scooter93 or e-mail me at lil_scooter93@msn.com.