Monday Bantering: Links

Some links to get us through a day without baseball:

• Shi Davidi talked to Jose Bautista, touching on hitting with RISP, hitting .309/.444/.574 clip with nine home runs and 70 RBI. Jose seems to think that Melky won't be returning, but he does think Morrow will be::

Luckily for us the core of this team will be intact next year except for Melky (Cabrera) and Colby (Rasmus) and Casey (Janssen). We have two guys that are hopefully going to be superstars in the future with (Marcus) Stroman and (Aaron) Sanchez, they've shown that they belong and they're going to be here all year next year, ideally. There's a possibility of (Brandon) Morrow having a role if he's healthy, either starting or closing or relieving.

• But then, Shi also talked to Melky and he seems to want to be here:

"I like it here," Cabrera said in a brief interview with Sportsnet after the season-ending 1-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. "My team, my lifestyle, everybody - I like it."

• Jeff Blair discusses the changes needed in the bullpen. There was an interesting bit:

As for Aaron Sanchez? Anthopoulos acknowledged the prospect was a big topic of debate in the Blue Jays year-end meetings and reiterated that Sanchez will be stretched out in to spring training. If the Blue Jays trade, say, R.A. Dickey in the off-season - and there are members of the uniformed staff and front office who will tell you they've changed their minds in the past month and will urge Anthopoulos to trade Dickey before Buehrle because of the latter's stature in the clubhouse - the way is open for Sanchez to start. But there is also a scenario where he closes, and make no mistake: it is real.

• Our friend Mike in Boston, talked to Scott MacArthur about his interview with Colby Rasmus. I thought this answer about Colby's dad was interesting:

Scott: I want to be very clear here that this is my opinion now. Colby never said anything on or off the record negative about his father. I do not have a psychology degree and I won't pretend to play one, but in my opinion Colby's difficulty with the sport of baseball goes back to his childhood. I think that at some point during his developmental years, his father - who was very hard on him - made his appreciation for the game more difficult. I think at some point the sport became associated with some of the difficulties he went through as a youth.

• Neil Davidson, at the Globe and Mail, tells us that the Jays hope to have Munenori Kawasaki back next year. I'd hope he doesn't play as much, but, he's likely the best replacement level player we are going to find.
• John Lott has his look at Alex Anthopoulos' press conference.

Bodog sent us some odds on the playoffs and some of the major awards, in case your were thinking of making a wager.

2014 AL Cy Young - Odds to Win
Felix Hernandez 2/3
Corey Kluber 11/10

2014 NL Rookie of the Year - Odds to Win
Jacob DeGrom 1/3
Billy Hamilton 2/1

2014 NL MVP - Odds to Win
Clayton Kershaw 1/2
Giancarlo Stanton 3/1
Andrew McCutchen 3/1

**Note: The NL Cy Young and AL MVP and Rookie of the Year are foregone conclusions with Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout, and Jose Abreu respectively, and the odds would be set too high.

Odds to win the 2014 World Series
Los Angeles Angels 5/1
Los Angeles Dodgers 5/1
Washington Nationals 11/2
Detroit Tigers 6/1
Baltimore Orioles 13/2
St. Louis Cardinals 8/1
Oakland Athletics 11/1
San Francisco Giants 12/1
Pittsburgh Pirates 14/1
Kansas City Royals 16/1

Odds to win the 2014 AL Pennant
Los Angeles Angels 2/1
Detroit Tigers 11/4
Baltimore Orioles 3/1
Oakland Athletics 6/1
Kansas City Royals 7/1

Odds to win the 2014 NL Pennant
Los Angeles Dodgers 2/1
Washington Nationals 11/5
St. Louis Cardinals 17/4
Pittsburgh Pirates 13/2
San Francisco Giants 13/2