End of the Week Link Roundup

Since it's sort of the end of the week, I'm going to run through some leftover links though I won't comment on Vince Young high-fiving the refs after ruining my spread league week.

• MVP! MVP! More links about the MVP! Tyler Kepner tried to e-mail the rogue Miguel Cabrera voter (who the phrase "pulling a Keizo Konishi" came from) but got no response. Man up Konishi! Andrew Baggarly reveals his totally ridiculous MVP ballot (with Hanley Ramirez 8th, Chase Utley 9th and *ugh* Jeremy Affeldt 10th) and gets--righfully--criticized by IIATMS, River Avenue Blues, and others. Ken Rosenthal reveals his ballot (he put A-Rod third and Cabrera 10th). The New York Times agrees with me that Chase Utley is the best player in the NL not named Albert Pujols (or at least was in 2009). Maybe Derrek Lee wasn't such a bad person to put on an MVP ballot according to FanGraphs.
  

• Happy Halladays. The New York Daily News ran a report today that the Red Sox are making a big push for Roy Halladay. Why would this surprise anyone? The Yankees will--when they are ready-- as well as a bunch of other teams (Mets, Angels, Phillies, Dodgers, etc). Until he's traded, it's all rumor and every team should at least inquire. Sam Borden asks if it will be a Great American Halladay. Peter Abraham writes about the BoSox looking for a starter. Gorden Edes (for ESPN.com) writes about the race for Halladay and says he's the Angels #1 priority (what does that say about John Lackey?). Mark Feinsand (who co-wrote the Daily News article) talks about the possible packages.
  

• It's called free agency but it'll cost ya. I agree with Ken Rosenthal that the real offseason intrigue is set to begin on Tuesday when teams decide whether to offer salary arbitration. It will clear up the cloudiness around some free agents and start the bidding on others. Tyler Kepner writes that free agency truly mean free choice and Doug Glanville, writing for the Times, explains the player's thoughts behind it (always cool to have players write about their thought process in that situation). River Avenue Blues asks if the Yankees could forgo signing a DH and instead go with Juan Miranda (probably not). Pinstripe Alley asks why the Yankees aren't looking at Jon Garland (because he's really not a good pitcher at all). And IIATMS asks if not John Lackey, then who for the Yanks? Peter Gammons suggests it could just be Joba and Hughes. If it's not free agents, it's via trade and MLBTradeRumors has a great series on the 2009 offseason trade market.

• GGGGGGmen. Mike Garafolo takes a look at the Giants win vs. the Falcons and has a lot of good points, especially pointing out how the Giants need to stop squibbing it and kick the ball deep (ESPN.com's Matt Mosely agrees). ProFootballTalk.com says Antonio Pierce is feeling good but ESPN's Matt Mosely and Mathias Kiwanuka both point out that Chase Blackburn is a fine replacement. Bad news from Mosely on Ahmad Bradshaw who is going to miss the Broncos game. I saw a lot of outlets this week ranking Kevin Boss as one of the best tight ends in the NFL not only because of his receiving but because of his blocking as well. It's about time the Bossman got his due.
  

• Potpourri. Bill Simmons' Thanksgiving mailbag has a great "Mike and the Mad Dog" section. John Buccigross has a great piece on coming out in a big NHL family. Uni Watch rips on the Mets. The Yankees showed their World Series video and some Masshole (literally) took umbrage to the fact no players showed up. Lastly, Billy Weeks has some unbelievable pictures from Dominican Republic baseball including the one I posted on the right.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I'm heading up to Massachusetts now but I'll try to blog a bit this weekend.