In Case You Missed It: John Kruk reaches out to Jameson Taillon; some old Gift Ngoepe reading

My goal is to create a weekly links roundup to highlight important news or good reads from around the internet, mainly about the Pirates and their closest competitors, but also about baseball in general. If you have any ideas, comments or questions, by all means, hit me up.

Pirates

• John Kruk reached out to Jameson Taillon after Taillon's testicular cancer treatment. Kruk and Mike Lowell, both survivors, may put together a charity golf tournament.
• Andrew Lambo, a former Pirate who battled testicular cancer last year, also reached out.
• I remember enjoying this Gift Ngoepe profile back when it came out in 2009. Naturally, it resurfaced with Ngoepe's recent call-up.
• Speaking of Ngoepe material and his past few weeks, he has his own piece on The Players' Tribune.
• Pirates pitchers have remained good soldiers through the offense's struggles.
• Francisco Cervelli and Felipe Rivero have added their voices to protests amidst crisis in their native Venezuela.

Around the NL Central

• Here's how the Reds are surprise early contenders.
• A deeper dive into Cincinnati's defense
• The Cubs are mad about the slide rule.
• The Cardinals still have a bunch of pitching prospects. (Counterpoint: TINSTAAPP.)
• Former Pirate Neftali Feliz's homer issues have returned and he's getting a break from closing duties with the Brewers.

Around Baseball (or, rather, inside it)

• An interesting piece on juiced baseballs
• Here's another one.
• And one more.
• A squirrel popped in to say hi in Cleveland.