MLB Bullets Gets A Baseball Card

Sometimes I like to think of myself as "The Elvis of Link Dumps." Too bad it's mostly from the "Fat Elvis" period. Just think of this column as my "In The Ghetto."

• Tigers DH Victor Martinez tore his left meniscus and is doubtful for opening day.
• Anthony Castrovince writes that Martinez's injury just adds to the uncertainty surrounding the Tigers.
• New commissioner Rob Manfred is still on a media tour. In one interview, he said the he expected that the impasse between the Nationals and the Orioles over television rights on MASN will end soon.
• In another interview, he said he considers Baltimore and Washington to be separate markets and that the Nationals getting an All-Star Game would not impact Baltimore's chances to host.
• In an interview with the LA Times, Manfred suggested that MLB expansion would likely take place outside of the United States. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• While he won't go as far as NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Manfred did say that baseball should give "fresh consideration" to legalized sports gambling. I'm not a gambler, but it's always been my impression that baseball is a crappy sport to bet on.
• It's a long way from becoming law, but President Obama's proposed budget would end some tax breaks for publicly-financed stadiums.
• Two more Cuban ballplayers defected during the Caribbean Series.
• Jorge L. Ortiz has a profile of activist Williams Carmona, who has played a hand in the defection of these two and other Cuban ballplayers.
• Baseball is trying to get back to being an Olympic sport for the 2020 games. An odd couple of Fidel Castro's son and Stephen Colbert's brother are leading the effort.
• Jorge Arangure Jr. was down in Cuba and he has a look at the resurrection of the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, which just elected their first new members since 1960. Minnie Minoso and Connie Marrero. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. will apparently have at least a year or two to straighten the ship before they decide to whether or not to fire him. Straighten it? As Micheal Ray Richardson once said "ship be sinking."
• John Gonzalez thinks the very structure of the Phillies front office is a mess.
• Dave Cameron believes thinks we ought to just get rid of the draft. As long as there is a hard cap on bonuses (which effectively there are for the domestic draft), then he's right: the draft makes no sense.
• The Red Sox signed pitcher Wade Miley to a three-year extension.
• C.J. Nitkowski doesn't like the Mets plan to start Matt Harvey for the home opener.
• The Cardinals signed Carlos Villanueva to a minor league deal. Villanueva said that he was happy to finally be on the wrong side of the rivalry. (No, of course he didn't really say that.)
• There was a minor trade between the Blue Jays and Rockies who exchanged minor league left-handers. And they say the Rockies have done nothing to improve themselves this offseason.
• Richard Justice makes the case for James Shields' value off of the mound.
• As I predicted last time, David Schoenfield asks "Who's better: Giants or Athletics?" Will he do the Nationals and Orioles next just to spite the new commissioner?
• Rob Neyer remembers when Jonathan Lucroy was just another minor league catching prospect.
• Is Willie Randolph the most underrated second baseman of all-time?
• Sam Miller analyzes why some people think baseball is boring.
• Royals manager Ned Yost has developed an app to teach baseball strategy. Oh, the irony.
• Al Michaels thinks the Twins used canned crowd noise during the 1987 World Series. And the moon landing was faked. (Not sure on the moon landing thing.)
• The daughter of former major league pitcher John Hudek has signed to play baseball for a Louisiana junior college.
• On February 10, the MLB Network will air a special on "The Story of Billy Bean."
• The Twitter war between the Sacramento River Cats and the Fresno Grizzlies is pretty awesome.
• And finally, Topps has immortalized the famous 50 Cent first pitch with its own baseball card.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.