Some quick links to start your day...
Over at a new-to-me blog called Et tu, Mr. Destructo (blogs have the funniest names!), Jonathan Bernhardt gets into the whole Bill Conlin situation, what it means in the national discourse, and how we, the baseball loving public, should deal with it. It's a great piece, but I differ a bit with Mr. Bernhardt in that I don't see why we can't take away Conlin's Spink Award should these allegations about him molesting children be proven correct.
I don't understand the argument, propounded by Baseball Nation Godfather Rob Neyer recently, that some bad men in the Hall of Fame mean we have to ignore the heinous, awful and plain wrong deeds in our midst. Because we currently honor racists and wife beaters means we must also honor child molesters? Not to pick on Mr. Neyer of whom I'm a huge fan, but he asks, "But what if we discover that one of the players in the actual Hall of Fame did something far more abhorrent than using steroids or testosterone? Say, murder. Would the Hall of Fame seriously consider removing that player?" I'd sure as hell hope so. Who says rewards are forever? To earn the award you must do something, so it stands to reason that by doing something else the award could be taken away. That is a slippery slope I'm more than happy to go down.
And while we're talking Hall of Fame, friend of OTM Jason Wojciechowski presents some rules for those with Hall of Fame ballots to follow when discussing why they voted the way they did.
I missed this one when it came out last week, but the Providence Journal's Brian MacPherson looks into the sustainability of Alfredo Aceves' success, specifically his ungodly low BABIP. This is the kind of writing you don't often find in newspapers, and I mean that in the highest and most complimentary way possible. My only complaint is that, after doing yeoman's work, Mr. MacPherson concludes that Aceves "will still make a terrific reliever" when I'm not sure his numbers support that. As good as Aceves was last season, I'm more than a bit worried about at least a moderate course correction.
Dave Cameron of Fan Graphs argues persuasively in favor of Alan Trammell's enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Go ahead, argue against it. See what happens.
Finally, over at Joy of Sox, Allan spotlights the work of Amelie Mancini's baseball cards. The bizarre injury series has to be seen to be believed.