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"UGGGGGGGLA!" (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)

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Some things to read while checking the departures from Kansas City International Airport (Greinke's gotta be on one of those planes) ... 

I’m guessing this is how you, fair reader, reacted when you first clicked on BCB this morning:

YOU (setting down your bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and firing up your computer): Time for my first stop of the day, Brew Crew Ball.  I wonder who KL lined up to handle the Mug today?  First, we had Dan Walsh linking to a blog on pizza, then we had Tyler Maas, who writes for the blog on pizza.  This has been a terrific two days.  What fantastic pizza purveyor is on tap today?

Oh.  It’s just Rubie Q. 

Sigh.

Am I right?  I’m close, aren’t I?

According to the formula I was given, this is the part of the Mug where I link to our site, our Twitter feed, our Facebook page, our MySpace page, our LinkedIn page, and provide all of our Social Security numbers.   When I’m feeling frisky, I’ll write something off-color on Quevedo at the Buffet.  (Which is to say: I don’t write very much on the Buffet.)  If you’re hip to the Twitter or Facebook thing, good for you.  I’m not.  (What’s that you say?  2007 called and said I should catch up with the times?  Yeah, well, I think you should get the hell off my lawn.)

ANYWAY, since we don’t run any ads on the Buffet, and since 83% of our posts revolve around inside jokes (many of which aren’t even funny in the first place), I’m not going to direct you there.  Instead, I’ll plug my boy Dan Walsh’s site.  He doesn’t have a joe job like the rest of us; he actually tries to make money doing this stuff.  Plus, he’s got Li’l Walshy (Yosty-ed!) in the fold now, and early reports indicate that LW bears a striking and unfortunate resemblance to her Papa.  That kid’s gonna need all the help she can get, so turn on your heart light and check out The Daily Drink.

Now, then: onto buisness…

On Wednesday, Walsh linked to this post from Brewers Locker, which advocated trading for Juan Pierre, who's apparently still masquerading as a "legit leadoff hitter."  In response, I give you this Fire Joe Morgan Classic.  (Please note: linking to FJM is my way of saying: "Please please please please please Jesus God in Heaven don't trade for Juan Pierre.") 

With each passing day, Tim Lincecum becomes more and more like Mitch Kramer: he's got the hair, he's got the wire-thin frame, Ben Affleck chases him around town with a wooden paddle, and now (allegedly) he's been busted with pot.  You cool, Tim?  (He was asking if you get high.)

(I hope the Washington authorities cut Mitch some slack.  After all, the guy lives and works in California six months out of the year, and, in California, you can buy pot in vending machines.)

If you're physically incapable of reading things two inches to the left right (or, if you're physically incapable of distinguishing between left and right, as I apparently am), you may have missed RogueJim's FanPost on important free agent dates.  The good news?  Opening Day is officially less than five months away.  The bad news?  The home opener is on a Monday.  Boo.  (Three day weekend, anyone?)

McCalvy's got a note on the start of free agency, too (and gosh darnit if RogueJim didn't scoop me on that one, as well; throw me a bone, Jim), and the news that Kendall, Cameron, and Lopez qualified as Type B free agents -- with Lopez finishing just behind Dan Uggla, the last Type A free agent among second basemen, third basemen, and shortstops.  As Anthony Witrado might say: Why you gotta be crimpin' FeLo's style, Dan Uggla?

Here's your Friday dose of Yankee hate:

• Nicole at CuteSports bemoans the ubiquitous Yankee hats, which managed to infiltrate an innocent AHL game.
• My great and good friend Reid at the Buffet calls the Yanks the "big stack bully of the MLB poker table." 
• Tyler at Bugs & Cranks awoke from his short winter's nap to find the World Series was over. 
• I'm putting Joe Posnanski's post on the Yankees' payroll in the clean-up slot because, as per usual, Pos knocks it out of the park.  (To paraphrase Pos: while everybody else is playing "Contra" with the standard allotment of three lives, the Yanks have gone UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A  START.  Is it within the rules of the game?  Sure.  Does that make it any easier to swallow?  Hells no.)
• Happy Yankees = one sad Clown.
• Haudricourt gets in on the fun, too, with an article titled: "Yanks Pocket a Series Win."  (Semi-related note: There were a lot of ESPN types who were lavishly praising the Yankees for keeping the "core" group of Jeter, Posada, Rivera, and Pettitte together.  Why, exactly, do they get credit for this?  The Yanks ability to outbid and outspend doesn't just relate to other teams' players; it applies to their own, too.)

Around the Majors:

• Thursday was the first day that players could file for free agency, and many of them jumped at the opportunity.  According to MLB.com, 79 of the 183 eligible players filed yesterday.
• The ChiSox and Royals pulled off the rare intradivision trade yesterday, with the Pale Hose getting Mark Teahen and the Roy Boys getting Josh Fields and Chris Getz.  And the Sox also signed Mark Kotsay to a $1.5 million, one-year deal.
• The Bo Sox nabbed Jeremy Hermida from the Marlins, in exchange for two left-handed pitchers whose names I can't be bothered to remember.
• The Angels signed Bob Abreu for another two years.
• And for anybody hoping that the Crew might make a push for Braves pitcher Tim Hudson, that train appears to have sailed: rumor has it that the Braves and Hudson are crossing the Ts and dotting the lower-case Js on a three-year extenstion.

In Mug tradition, I'll finish with a birthday.  However, I don't know where KL gets all those Brewer birthday notes, so I can't hook you up there.  Instead, I'll tell you that November 6 is Glenn Frey's birthday.  What's the best thing about Glenn Frey?  It's not that he was in the Eagles.  It's not that he was the apparent inspiration for the character of Russell Hammond in Almost Famous.  Nope -- it's this thing that Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller made.  

Dig in, friends.