Today's links might keep you from getting any work done today. Which is sort of the point of this whole website, come to think of it. So don't worry about it. If you're doing your work, we can't do ours!

• Dude. If you really want to buy the Houston Astros, just say you'll move to the American League. I promise everything will be okay.
  
• You saw the video. Now read the story. Then weep, in equal measures delight and wonder.
  
• Interesting and introspective piece from Marcus Breton about getting too close to a player (in his case, Miguel Tejada). I just wish Breton had been even more introspective.
  
• Yeah, everyone's been having a lot of fun with the pink backpacks. Too much fun, though? Dan Savage thinks so. I link, you decide.
  
• Dale Murphy's got a website, and recently he explained how and why the Braves traded him to the Phillies.
  
• I really appreciated Hippeaux' response to the many responses -- including mine -- to his initial post about the limits of Wins Above Replacement. Just to be clear, there's a huge difference, my friends, between describing someone as "intellectually bankrupt" and describing their argument as intellectually bankrupt. Acknowledging this difference is a huge step toward intellectual (and emotional) maturity. Granted, many adults never take that step...
  
• ESPN.com's Mark Simon has everything you ever wanted to know about Curtis Granderson' defense in center field.
  
• According to Bill Lee, Bill James ruined baseball. Gee, and I thought it was Billy Beane, for writing that goddamn book.