Good morning!

Here are several go-to links that will make the next few hours a bit more bearable:

• Congrats to Jacoby Ellsbury and Lance Berkman for capturing the American and National League Comeback Players of the Year respectively.

• Bill at The Platoon Advantage counsels Cubs fans to not expect too much, too soon from potential general manager Theo Epstein.

• Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post spoke with Jack McKeon, who recalled how he dealt with Josh Beckett’s clubhouse antics as manager of the Marlins in 2003.

• In Grantland, Michael Schur (a.k.a. Ken Tremendous of the late FireJoeMorgan.com site) of Parks and Recreation and The Office fame has some choice words for the Red Sox employee who leaked details of former manager Terry Francona’s personal life to a Boston Globe reporter.

• Anthony Rieber of Newsday suggests that the Yankees simply should wave good-bye to C. C. Sabathia should he opt out of his contract.

• This post and accompanying graphics from the Inside the Book blog are awesome: how offense performs based on the angle of the sun.

• Via Hardball Talk’s D. J. Short, Pirates pitching farmhand Gerritt Cole, the first player taken in the 2011 amateur draft, made his professional debut in the Arizona Fall League. 

• How has Max Marchi of the Hardball Times managed to listen/watch the World Series while living in Italy since the 1970s?

Billy Beane: Baseball is moving “back to an efficient market.” Jonathan Mahler disagrees.

That’s it. Have a walk-off week!