Links.

Most of you have probably caught this, but we have a new blog going at ESPN.com covering the MLB Draft. The blog will (I’m told) be entirely Insider and will include scouting reports from me as I see players as well as daily updates from Jason Churchill on what went on the night before and what’s coming up, as well as scuttlebutt he and I pick up from industry people with whom we speak.

I did a Q&A with Nats Farm Authority. As you might imagine, the comments are a mix of good feedback and whining. By the way, the Nats blogosphere has been going nuts the last week or so; Fire Jim Bowden is all over the Bowden scandal, and Kristen at We’ve Got Heart has been providing roundups.

Several people have asked what I’m doing for spring training. I’m going to Arizona next week and will be there for most of the month, mixing pro coverage (mostly prospects) with amateurs (including, at some point, a trip to see Strasburg). If anyone has any new food rec’s for the greater Phoenix area, I’m all ears.

Quick links.

Working on a book writeup, but two links worth seeing:

  • Someone did, in fact, estimate where the Twins would be if they’d done nothing this offseason. I think the answer is pretty aggressive, but a three-win swing is probably the difference between playoffs and no-playoffs for them.
  • Tom Brady is worth 1.35 Albert Pujolses. Or something like that. Of interest: Matt Cassel went to the same high school that later produced Mike Moustakas and Matt Dominguez (corrected – never blog before the double-espresso).
  • If you didn’t get the Rob Dibble stuff in today’s chat, here’s what he said about me. I’m terribly broken up about it.
  • Bad news for libertarians … and anyone else who dislikes corruption and subsidies for billionaires.

More shortly…

Randy Pausch, 1960-2008.

Randy Pausch died today after a lengthy battle with the cruelest of all cancers, pancreatic cancer. My heart goes out to his wife and three children.