Go Canada Go Sunday Feb 23, 2014 Links and Gold Medal Game Thread

JAYS LINKS

The Blue Jay Hunter: With Ubaldo off the Board, the Focus Shifts to Santana
After months of being linked to the Toronto Blue Jays, Ubaldo Jimenez is off the board. His name can officially be scratched off the board of potential starting pitcher upgrades, and the only man left is Ervin Santana.

Cabrera tumour-free and primed for big year - Sportsnet.ca
Back at spring training for his second season with the Toronto Blue Jays, Melky Cabrera is now tumour-free and primed for a big season.

Jays' Kawasaki rooting for Canada in gold game - Sportsnet.ca
Count Munenori Kawasaki among the people who will be cheering for Canada’s Olympic hockey team in Sunday’s gold-medal final against Sweden.

Jays must weigh present needs, Stroman's future - Sportsnet.ca
Marcus Stroman has a chance to be special, and the Blue Jays could sure use a dynamic fifth starter. But they must balance present needs with Stroman's development.

Coming off a last-place finish, Morrow and Jays hoping to bounce back this year - The Globe and Mail
If everything falls into place, Manager John Gibbons said he believes Toronto can end its 21-year post-season drought, which ranks second longest in the majors behind only the Royals (28)

Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista looking to avoid disabled list | Toronto Star
Slugger Jose Bautista hopes to hit one big goal this year — staying healthy.

Blue Jays can’t count on Bisons staff to contend: Griffin | Toronto Star
Griff writes something obvious.

Jays fans not buying into Anthopoulos's plan - Sportsnet.ca
Alex Anthopoulos was admired after last year's busy off-season, but after this year's quiet winter fans have begun to sour on the Blue Jays GM.

MLB LINKS

The Best Transactions of the 2014 Off-Season | FanGraphs Baseball
Yes, there are still free agents on the market, but with Spring Training officially underway, I think it’s fair to say that the off-season is over.

The Worst Transactions of the 2014 Off-Season | FanGraphs Baseball
Today, we’ll look at the other side, and cover the 10 moves that most made me scratch my head.

Connie Mack’s Less Than Graceful Exit
The Yankees made them do it. That’s the time-honored explanation for the American League’s decision to move the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City in 1954. After strong-arming the rest of the league to install a friendly, compliant owner in Kansas City, the Yankees looted the Athletics franchise, acquiring such key players as Roger Maris, Ralph Terry and Clete Boyer in return for nobody in particular.

Looking for the Next Max Scherzer | FanGraphs Baseball
For a long time, Max Scherzer had been heralded as a future superstar. It was his bonus demands more than anything else that drove him down to the Diamondbacks’ 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft

The Phillies and the Unambiguous Bad | FanGraphs Baseball
As much fun as it can be to criticize, the reality is that nearly every decision made by an MLB organization is justifiable.

Down With The NCAA's No-Agent Rule
The criminal cartel that is the NCAA has struck again. This time, the apparent victim is one of the best pitchers in college baseball, Oregon State senior Ben Wetzler.

Redefining Batted Balls to Predict BABIP
Today, I will release metrics that will help supplement our understanding of hitter batted-ball tendencies and provide a model to predict a hitter’s Batting Average on Balls in Play, or BABIP.

Note: Take that BABIP GODS!!

ANGRY FAN LINKS

Angry Russian Hockey Fan Wants To Send The Team To Siberia
He seems upset.

"America's Most Patriotic Band" Plays America's Worst Anthem Rendition
NASCAR promoted these guys who performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before today's Nationwide Series race at Daytona as "Madison Rising, America's Most Patriotic Rock Band." I guess the more patriotic, the less talented! (Things really get good, and by good I mean bad, around the one-minute mark.)

Note: Patriotism is the last refuge of the talentless. Keep that in mind the next time someone waves the flag... your buzz kill moment of the day.