Links for Friday morning…
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Brewers are close to signing first rounder Eric Arnett.
- Ready for next year's draft? MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo is, with ten players to watch in 2010, including Cameron Bedrosian, the son of Steve Bedrosian, who won the 1987 NL Cy Young Award.
- Jamey Newberg walks his readers through the five step plan the Rangers used to set the team up to contend for years.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times looks at the big picture and determines that a lot has changed since 2004. More specifically, the Red Sox have a "stranglehold" on the Yankees.
- Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times says Milton Bradley is a "$30MM elephant in the room" because of his hitting struggles.
- Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post believes Felix Hernandez can and will become even better.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post hopes Orlando Hernandez succeeds in Texas. What a great story that would be.
- Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star reports that Aaron Crow's in line for a $3-4MM bonus before the August 17th signing deadline. The deadline doesn't apply to college seniors, but Crow didn't go back to college for his senior year, so he has to sign by the 17th, like most players.