Links (cause I'm Lazy)

Blair has been kicking ass lately, writing articles about the difference between the Jays (declining, and quickly) and the Yankees (running uphill, away from the rest of the AL East) and making the Jays' torrid start feel like some sort of dream.

He wrote about my old baseball fling AJ Burnett. To wit:


"Free agents Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have not only re-established the Yankees as the majors’ best team, they’ve also integrated seamlessly with the Yankees’ holy trinity – Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. No drama. No unfortunate surprises. "

Sigh.

Former teammates annonymously talked shit about Rios


• "He's not a winning-type player. He's a guy who just doesn't have that burning desire to win, or be great."

• "He was a guy who just didn't go after it. He'd be sleeping in his locker 10 minutes before he had to go out on the field. And not just once."

• "He wasn't the same player after he got that [seven-year] contract. It sure seemed like he was a lot more motivated when he was looking for a contract than he was since he got the contract."

Tao has his money on Gregg Zaun, but Stark indicates it's more than one dude. Maybe Rios stole more than one of their girlfriends. Any others you have your money on?

And I suspect that this move will be the making of Rios. A hands on dude like Ozzie (when I say "hands on", I mean scream in your face in Spanish) on his ass, Rios might blossom into the player he could be.

For the record, the chick in the video isn't me.