Behold! A ton of links!

Spring Training, in case you hadn't noticed, is most certainly upon us. Predictably, many of the royals.com stories that are coming out from Surprise each day are pretty fluffy; the usual insistence that each player is in the best shape of his life, some hefty optimism from various coaches and players, and so forth. Usually I think the team sites are a little too fluffy and safe, but Trey Hillman doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to let PR machines get in the way of a refreshing honesty. Last week, he was very upfront about the fact that his players couldn't bunt. I like that...well, I don't like that my team can't bunt, but I like that Hillman was so honest about it. That gave a great point of comparison for this more hopeful look at the bunting situation for this year's Royals. To me, it's good to hear what the team is bad at right now, so that a few years from now when we're all parading in the Plaza together in celebration of a World Series win, we can truly know how far we've come from those Seasons Which Will Not Be Named, and we will have heard it from our fearless leader, Trey Hillman.

This morning when I woke up, I wondered when I would be getting my copy of the Bill James Gold Mine. I pre-ordered it weeks ago, and wasn't sure where it was. After trudging home from class through a bizarre mix of snow, rain, and something in between that felt a lot like freezing glue, I got an e-mail that said the book had been printed and was now shipping. So I was all happy, figuring I'd get the book within the week. Then, I checked my mail, and....there it was! I suppose that means some posts inspired by the Gold Mine will be coming shortly, and I will continue my impressive streak of never opening my Econ book (except to hide a baseball book or Sports Illustrated behind it, to make it look like I'm studying when I'm really just having fun...I never did that with comic books inside my textbooks in middle school like on TV, but it's more fun this way because I think I'm supposed to have grown out of that sort of shenanigans).

Before I go, here's some stuff from other people:
-- Some honest, fluff-free details from Royals Authority on how players are actually doing in Surprise...
-- The love of Brian Bannister's impressive intellect continues at StatSpeak...
-- I'd love to see all 50 of the questions on the baseball test Rusty Kuntz is giving the Royals (also, check out the picture on that page, of a ball getting away from Alex Gordon; where the heck is he looking and why? No wonder that ball missed his glove)...
-- This piece on Billy Butler makes me love him a whole lot more. Terry Francona once said something in Sports Illustrated about how most of his favorite players growing up weren't necessarily the most talented ones, but the ones who were nicest to him and other kids*. Looks like Butler could be both....
-- In the Star, Sam Mellinger catches up with former Royals and current A's Mike Sweeney and Emil Brown. I'll be honest with you folks, because you already know how I feel about Sweeney...I had some tears when I read about him. And seeing him in green and gold instead of Royal blue sucks. ...
-- Speaking of Sam Mellinger, I'm sure you all know by now that he has a blog, and you should read it. You could start by reading this interview with Dayton Moore, because it is awesome. The blog as a whole looks like it will be a great mix of baseball analysis and the human beings who make up the Royals team...
-- Rany on the Royals is another great (and relatively new) one. I'm aware that I'm the last person on the planet to link to Rany, but I love how blogs let people be great writers and great fans at the same time, so he deserves the linkage...
-- If you haven't seen it yet, look at what the Phillies did to poor little Kyle Kendrick. This is the most well-orchestrated prank I've seen in a while. I love watching the other players try not to giggle when they talk to Kendrick about his "trade" to a Japanese team...

*This could be a whole post, because I feel the same way. My opinion of a less-than-average player can still be outrageously positive if that player is nice to me and other fans.