Daily Links - Post-Off Day Edition

The wife and I went to look at a house today. We were excited about it, then I had a conversation with my dad. My dad is one of those practical people who want others to be prepared when entering into important life altering financial decisions. In the end we decided not to buy the house. In a related story, I’m canceling my water and electricity.

Link time!

Yesterday, Theo Epstein went on the radio and said he would love to sign Jacoby Ellsbury to a long term contract. Peter Gammons went on shortly afterwards and was asked about Epstein's comments. He said he didn't think it would happen, that Ellsbury, who is represented by Scott Boras, won't sign a contract like that of Lester, Buchholz, or Youkilis which would necessitate signing away one or more years post-free agency. Allan at Joy of Sox has a great write up on the situation in which he points out, among other things, that Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, who is a Boras client, has signed a long term contract that included free agent seasons. So it isn't unprecedented for a Boras client to sign a deal that buys out a few free agent seasons.

SB Nation's Rob Neyer thinks that the Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia has "jumped ahead" of the Yankees' Robinson Cano for title of Best Preparer of Crème Caramel East of the Mississippi River Second Baseman in the American League. By his own admission, Mr. Neyer has gone back and forth on this issue, taking Pedroia two seasons ago and Cano last year. I politely disagreed with the choice last year as it was founded upon the belief that either Pedroia was all of a sudden injury prone or that Pedroia would return from his foot injury as some lesser version of his former self. This season has proven me correct, as Pedroia has recovered from a slow start to establish himself as a legitimate MVP candidate. Again. Don't bet against the Muddy Chicken.

Former OTM Podcast guest and Life of Leisure Enjoyer Rocco DeMaro is gonna like this one. I don't know if you've checked the standings in the NL Central recently, but there's a bit of an upset in the works. The Pittsburgh Pirates are a half game behind Milwaukee for first place in the division. What's more, SI.com's Joe Sheehan is a Pirates Believer. Well, sort of. At least, he's rooting for them.

In a fan post over at Fan Graphs (fitting, eh?) something called The Nicker looks at Jose Bautista's season and where it fits in with other like seasons. He concludes the only similar seasons are by inner circle Hall of Famers, which Bautista, almost no matter how his career ends, will not be. Strange, huh?

The look on Delmon Young's face just gets awesomer and awesomer.

This is Ozzie Guillen's eighth season managing the White Sox, something I would have lost a lot of money betting against back in '04. I say this because Guillen isn't exactly the best at dealing with the pressure of a loss. I'd speculate that one of these days Guillen's toes to shoot off one by one like a Gatling Gun. The White Sox are only 4.5 games back in the AL Central but to listen to Guillen and pitching coach Don Cooper, who recently hung up during a paid radio interview, they're enduring rougher seas than the toy boat in the bathtub with my two year old.

Finally, this is pretty funny.