More links

I wish there was something more interesting going on this time of year, but there just isn't right now. I'm working on something fun for Monday, I swear.

Michael Echan catches up on Fall/Winter Ball stats at Pirates.com. He takes a closer look at some guys I didn't the other day. Nyjer Morgan and Eric Young Jr. (Wait... who's that? I'm not kidding, does he play for us? Why is he in the article? He's not at Baseball Cube or on WTM's site, why are we talking about this guy? Wait, there he is, he was in the Rockies system last year, but is referred to as a "Pirate prospect," I continue to be confused.) are FAST I tell you, FAST! Also, Shane Youman got rocked in his first start in Venezuela. The Mets couldn't figure the guy out, but Cardinales de Lara seemed to have no trouble.

Buried Treasure catches up with position players and pitchers that wore black and gold in 2005 but not 2006. Did you know Tike Redman ended the year with Corpus Christi, the Astros AA coordinate?

Dave Littlefield talks about the new CBA with Rob Rossi. People keep saying that it's not that different, but then things happen like Littlefield mentioning that teams will get an equivalent draft pick for picks unsigned by August 15th. Like Charlie, I'm not sure how that will work. Most teams don't sign a majority of their late round picks, does this rule only apply to first rounders? The August 15th date is a change from before when college players could be signed up to just about the last minute and high school players could be signed until they set foot in a college classroom (about a week later than the 15th). They also talk about the elimination of the rule that if a free agent isn't resigned by their team by a specific date in December, he can't play for that team until May 1st the next year (remember the Josias Manzanillo situation, or maybe the Roger Clemens situation from this year?). That's a good change, I always kind of thought the old rule was stupid.