Friday Filberts: Friday Edition

By Rob Neyer - National Baseball Editor

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Jan 20, 2012 - Yes, it's the return of Friday Filberts. It's not that I haven't wanted to be doing them all winter, but this time of the year the filbert trees go dormant and ... Aw hell. I don't have a good excuse. I just got out of the habit. Tell me you like them, and I'll try to get back in the habit...

• This dissection of a Ken Griffey Jr. comic book from Old Time Family Baseball simply must not be missed. I guess if you're going to read just one thing today, it should be this.
• BP's Ben Lindbergh takes us on a comprehensive tour of today's MLB front offices, and winds up where one almost has to: the Rays are setting the bar and setting it high.
• Speaking of BP, here's Wezen-ball being delightfully Wezen-bally with a look at baseball and Wikipedia, around the world.
  
• Writing over at Grantland, Bill James comes up with a list of 2011's best pitchers' duels. A list of the 10 best? Guess again. Twenty best? A little higher. Fifty? Still not even close. Bill's got the 100 best pitchers' duels of 2011. (Oh, and here's your Friday Bonus Non-Baseball Video.)
• You might have missed it: The Seattle Mariners signed Oliver Peréz to a minor-league contract. Yes, the same Oliver Perez who's got a 6.81 ERA in the majors since 2008, and spent 2011 in double-A. Not triple. Double. Still, the Mariners are apparently intrigued by the notion of Peréz as a reliever, and maybe they're on to something. Probably not. But in The Seattle Times, Larry Stone looks at the history of similar reclamation projects.
• SI.com's Tom Verducci is back with his list of young pitchers at serious risk of getting hurt in 2012. Verducci calls it the Year-Effect. More popularly, it's known as the Verducci Effect. Does the phenomenon actually exist, though? Deadspin's David Roher is highly skeptical, and he's got friends. We link, you decide.
• Via ESPN.com's Jim Caple, we're treated to Gary Cieradkowski gorgeous, homemade baseball cards. You have to see them to appreciate them (and a healthy passion for the game's history helps, too).
• According to The Denver Post's Troy Renck, Dexter Fowler's probably in the best shape of his life. Fowler's had an odd career, no doubt. Solid rookie season in 2009, then stints in the minors in both 2010 and '11. But when you look at his career arc, none of the numbers are exactly shocking. His OPS+'s: 94, 92, 105. He did play really well last season after a six-week visit to Colorado Springs (and other Pacific Coast League cities), and apparently he really has been killing it this winter in the workouts with Tulowitzki and Giambi. Usually, though, players are who their numbers say they are.

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Rob Neyer

National Baseball Editor

Rob Neyer began his career with legendary baseball author Bill James, and later worked for STATS, Inc. and ESPN.com, writing more words for that website than anyone else. Rob has written or... Read full bio

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