Thursday morning link dump

I have over 100 baseball feeds in my RSS reader,. so I often come across some interesting stuff that either doesn’t relate to the Yankees or doesn’t warrant an entire post. Some of them I can’t help but share, so I’m going to start dumping these links into a bullet-point post. Let me know if you guys like the features. If so, we’ll consider running it in the mornings during the season.

• After showering praise on White Sox GM Ken Williams, Jon Heyman discusses possible A-Rod replacements. He mentions two Dodgers, Mark Loretta and Blake DeWitt, though either would be a complicated acquisition. Loretta signed this winter, and his consent would be required for a trade. DeWitt is young and promising; the Dodgers might want Phil Hughes, which would be ridiculous. Heyman mentions Kennedy, but would LA go for that? If so, it’s something the Yanks would have to consider. As a footnote Heyman mentions Chone Figgins if Brandon Wood steps up and starts at third base.
• There’s a great thread at The Book blog about the science of bat/ball collision. If you’re up to the task, it’s a good read-through.
• It looks like Ross Ohlendorf is re-learning his changeup with hopes of cracking the Pirates starting rotation. Ohlie ditched the changeup when the Yanks moved him to the bullpen, opting for a fastball/slider combo. Now that Pittsburgh wants him to start, he needs to get the feel back for his change. Thankfully for him, Pittsburgh represents one of his best chances at a starting gig. Not like they have a ton of promising pitchers to choose from.
• Josh at Jorge Says No! discusses the Kyle Lohse situation. Boy, did he luck out. Guy with a career ERA north of 4.00 gets a four-year, $41 million deal. He rewarded the Cardinals with 200 innings of 3.78 ERA ball last year, but at age 30 what are the chances he sustains that? With his K/BB ratio from the past few years, I’d say not very good.
• Jason at IIATMS riffs on the Pete Toms article Ben addressed yesterday. It’s a good read in itself, but what I really enjoyed was Jay at Fack Youk riffing on Jason’s line about the Yankees being a Ponzi scheme. Thankfully, as long as the team wins they probably have nothing to worry about.
• Then again, maybe there is something to worry about. I got an email from yankees.com yesterday afternoon announcing seating between the bases. These are primo seats that run from first base, behind the plate, and around to third base. Not only are these open for full-season tickets (at $325 per seat per game, so over $52,000 for the season for a pair), but also 41-game plans ($14,350 per seat), and two 20-game plans ($350 per seat per game, so $7,000 for one seat).