Here are today's links, starting with a ton of interesting stuff in the Post-Gazette:
-P- Brad Eldred will have surgery on his thumb and miss several weeks. As bad as the Pirates have been, it's scary to think how bad they'll be if Craig Wilson gets hurt, since he's the only healthy, viable first baseman on the team right now.
-P- From the same article, the Bucs signed Jason Conti to play in Indianapolis, which... whatever. Here are Conti's career numbers.
-P- Mark Cuban in Ron Cook's column:
"Not me. Oh, no. I'd have to win. Winning vs. losing money, I'd take winning every time."
You go, Mark. Cook's article is a must-read, by the way.
-P- Here's the Stats Geek with a column it seems like he's written about a dozen times. It's not any less important now, though. The cause of the Pirates' failures to score is not a lack of "timely hitting." All teams strand runners, and lots of them. The problem is that they aren't getting on base enough, and Joe Randa, Jeromy Burnitz and others aren't cutting it in that department.
-P- Following up on the Forbes article I mentioned last week, the Bucs made $21.9 million in 2005.
-P- Here's an editorial on Mike Gonzalez.
-P- Rowdy is tired of the 'we scrapped and fought back' apology for losing. I like the new, angry Rowdy.