Good morning.

Here are several links from the past week that will make your Monday a bit more bearable:

• In the wake of a telephone interview with Bud Selig, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports appears convinced that the commish will step down on January 15, 2015, the date that his current contract expires.
• Baseball Nation’s Rob Neyer is irked at the Mariners’ decision to bench arguably the best defensive player in the game, shortstop Brendan Ryan (2012 Fielding Bible Award winner), who admittedly also happens to be one of the worst offensive players (.148/.232/.148). Neyer explains why starting Robert Andino over Ryan is a head-scratcher:

Since Opening Day in 2011, Ryan’s got a terrible 69 OPS+, while Andino’s got a terrible 72 OPS+. They’ve been the same for three years, and they’ve been the same for their whole careers.

As hitters. As fielders, Ryan’s been outstanding and Andino’s started only 108 games at shortstop in his whole career. He’s played mostly second base, and has been just decent there.

• Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times profiles 75-year-old Manny Mota and his new gig with the Dodgers after 33 years as a coach with the club.
• Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan shows how Alfonso Soriano’s historic over-aggressiveness can make him a liability in high-leverage situations.
• Ted Berg of USA Today’s For the Win profiles six prospects who are poised to make big contributions in the majors, although one, Zack Wheeler of the Mets, is currently struggling with his control.  
• The Hardball Times’ Chris Jaffe notes the 20th anniversary of Royals manager Hal McRae experiencing an unforgettable meltdown:

At any rate, on April 26, 1993, the Royals lost a game 5–3 to the Tigers, dropping their record to 7–12. This wasn’t the Royals record McRae expected.

Then came the post-game conference. It started off fairly generically, with McRae holding court in his office. Then a reporter asked a question McRae didn’t like. And history was made.

The question was whether he’d considered using the aging George Brett as a pinch hitter in the seventh with two outs and the bases loaded. Something inside McRae snapped.

First he called it a “stupid a** f***ing question.” Well, that’s a nice little quote. But before anyone could go on, he got up, and started throwing things. Just whatever was in front of him on the desk. He screamed some more at the reporter, threw some more objects—most notably his phone, which caught a reporter in the face, drawing blood.

McRae chased everyone out of his office, followed them out, and screamed at them some more before concluding, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it!”

• Meanwhile, Jaffe’s colleague, Dan Lependorf, asks, “Which agencies negotiate the best contracts for their clients?” and discovers that, lo and behold, Scott Boras’s reputation is well earned.

•  Giancarlo Stanton hit his first home run of the season on Saturday evening and it was quite memorable. Mike Axisa of CBS Sports’ Eye on Baseball has details. 

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!