End of Week Link Roundup

Links, links, and more links. And then Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez vs. the Yankees tonight. To the right is a picture from Torre's introductory press conference in November of 1995 from Sports Illustrated. Almost 15 years later, the finger is still being pointed. Let's get to the links!

Yankees and Torre

• The New York Posts' Vike Vaccaro says that Torre's ugly departure does not erase the good times he spent here. SI's Cliff Corcoran goes over ten signature moments during Torre's Yankee time. ESPN's Buster Olney has some direct words in his blog post this morning about Torre and the Yankees' relationship. ESPN's Mark Simon has all the notes and numbers.
• The 2010 Yankees top Baseball Prospectus' Jay Jaffe's Hit List (followed by the Rays, Red Sox, Rangers, and Twins). Mike at Yankeeist compares the Yankees through 71 games in 2009 and 2010.
• Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues goes over three Yankees' trade candidates: David DeJesus, Jeff Keppinger, and Ty Wigginton. 
• Mike also writes about a new and improved Jon Albaladejo down in Triple-A Scranton while Mike Ashmore's Thunder Thoughts reviews the improvement of Phil Hughes.
• Dave Cameron of FanGraphs writes about Robinson Cano's improvement and SI's Cliff Corcoran writes about Cano's AL MVP standing. Dave Cameron also writes that patience has paid off for many teams on some of the top MLB position players (Cano included). Cano also makes ESPN's Tristan H. Cockcroft's All-2014 fantasy team
• Pat Andriolo of FanGraphs writes about the 2008 trade deadline which was a big miss for the Yankees and Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues writes about the conundrum behind the plate for the 2010 Yankees
• Before last weekend's Subway Series, there was a simulated All-Time Subways Series on ESPN New York which the Yankees took much in the same way they took their Subways Series World Series.
• Mark Teixeira had a weird response to Kurt Cobain's death according to 'Duk of Big League Stew. NoMass has an awkward Tex message received by Johan. Speaking of awkward, Lady Gaga provided a little awkwardness around the Yankee clubhouse according to ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand.
• Matt Imbrogno of TYU asks what's so bad about home runs in light of A-Rod not wanting to be thought of as a "home run hitter".  The shift against Mark Teixeira makes even more sense when you consider this article by Jeremy Greenhouse of Baseball Analysts. Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post has news of a bit of Babe Ruth history that may soon be lost. Marc Hulet of FanGraphs scouts the short-season leagues and finds a Yankee prospect most of us probably never heard of: Yeicok Calderon.
• Larry Barnes from Bleacher Report is a bit of an insensitive ass towards Dave Eiland in this article (personal life is personal, Larry). By the way, I just found out that Eiland was Kevin Costner's pitching double in For Love of the Game. The more you know...

Around The Horn

• The New York Times' Tyler Kepner has a great interview with Dodgers' announcer Vin Scully. Kepner then follows up with some more great details.
• Cliff Lee is the target of both the New York Mets and the Minnesota Twins according to HarballTalk's Aaron Gleeman. HarballTalk's Craig Calcaterra says that the Mets won't deal Angel Pagan to get Lee and that seems like the right move. Howard Megdal wants to be the man to become General Manager of the Mets and make that deal and he has a campaign going on. 
• Jon Heyman may be giving too much love in his tweets to Jerrry Manuel and Craig Calcaterra caught him. Johan Santana was accused of sexual battery according to TMZ. 
• ESPN's Rob Neyer lists the Mets eras from Throneberry to Wright. and 'Duk of Big League Stew reviews Jerry Seinfeld's night in the Mets' broadcast booth.
• In the Mets division, they will be seeing a familiar face as SI's Jon Heyman reports that the Marlins will hire Bobby Valentine. A familiar sight this season, a Phillies fan making a bad name for Phillies fans on Deadspin.
• As for the Red Sox, WEEI's Rob Bradford says that Manny Ramirez was very close to becoming a Met. ESPN's Rob Neyer weighs Jonathan Papelbon vs. Daniel Bard. FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal says Big Papi is giving the Sox a dilemma. And I don't root for Red Sox, but I will root for Ryan Westmoreland's health as The Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin writes.
• Former Yankee Eric Hinske is working his mojo in the National League according to FanGraphs' Joe Pawlikowski. ESPN's Tim Kurkijan says that MLB rookies have been working their mojo in 2010. Pat Andriola of FanGraphs wonders if it's the best rookie class ever.
• Big League Stew's 'Duk has a very nice story on Father's Day. USA Today has news of the Pirates firing a pierogi (he was since rehired). The Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown has some rare MLB documents to share
• ESPN's TMI blog has the 2010 WAR All-Stars, SI's Jon Heyman reviews the best decision of the best year, ESPN's Doug Glanville talks about the fundamentals of hitting the cutoff man, and Craig Calcaterra says that the Rangers' bankruptcy decision is not as bad as it seemed.

Basketball Jones and Other Sports

• Draft night didn't turn out so well for the New York Knicks. Deadpsin and Chad Ford both trashed their draft. Lovely.
• ESPN New York's Rob Parker somehow thinks that LeBron can still win in New York right now (in one of the weaker articles I've seen on ESPN). Meanwhile ESPN reviews the rest of the free agents and provides a buyer's guide and ESPN New York's Ian O'Connor writes about an ex-Knick exec who is trying to hurt the Knicks' free agency push. It wasn't too long ago we "celebrated" the 17th anniversary of the "Charles Smith Game" and ESPN's Chris Sheridan reminisces.
• I can't get into soccer but I was able to watch the end of that last US match. ESPN's Chris Jones asks how about that gun-and-run [soccer]? CNBC's Darren Rovell says that the stock exchange halted for the American Soccer team.
• My prayers go out to Giants' rookie Chad Jones as ESPN writes he's in critical condition. ESPN New York's Jane McManus says the rest of the Giants are sending the same prayers.
• The NHL draft tonight and ESPN has a list of all the number one picks (quite a few duds on there).

Potpourri

• Icing for girls: Busching
• A Catcher in the Rye movie?
• Build a turtle fence? (H/T Alaine)
• Republicans hating on Republicans
• Hipsters throughout the 2000s
• Is the iPhone 4 a lemon?
• Hulu on PS3?
• Yamulkap!
• A different type of Hebrew School (H/T Sarah)
• Naked Cowboy not a fan of the Naked Cowgirl.
• Admitting grade inflation

A few presents for my friends before we leave: for Ben here is EW's 21 hot new video games and for Jay, here is Slate correcting the grammar of "Grown Ups". Have a great weekend!