I have a few links I wanted to share last night, but decided to save them for the morning when the whole Mrs. Tabata kidnapping story broke (I updated that post again this morning with the latest details).

Anyways, I'll start with some sad news first; John Brattain, who wrote for the Hardball Times, Baseball Digest Daily, and freqented the comments at BBTF (among other places) passed away yesterday. I didn't know John personally, but both the thread in his honor at BBTF and Maury Brown's obituary at Biz of Baseball were incredibly toutching. What I can say is this: I tend to open up articles in numerous tabs and read them throughout the day. Often, by the time I get to reading them, I usually have no idea who the author is if it's from a site like THT. If I'm interested in what I'm reading, I'll go back to the top to see who the author is. More times than I can remember, I'd scroll to the top of the screen and see John's name. In fact, the last time I did this was just last week with his THT piece on A-Rod. As someone that loves good sportswriting and is always looking for more good writers to read and try and model myself after, I'm going to miss his work.  My thoughts go out to the many people he obviously touched.

If you missed it, my Pirate preview at FanHouse went live on Monday. And last night, the Pirate Spring Dugout, which is more or less my favorite part of spring training, was posted.

The Pirates may be interested in Rockies' utility man Jeff Baker.

Ross Ohlendorf is dominating this spring. He's been so good that I'd almost say he's been Vogelsongian. Please at least click that link before cursing me out.