Baseball reading for S***r B**l Sunday

I guess with the S***r B**l being today (I’m just trying not to get sued here), the festivities in Minneapolis serve as a natural break from this painfully slow baseball offseason. Fortunately, Spring Training begins next week, but for one day all eyes will be on the gridiron as Americans are faced with a real Sophie’s choice. On the one hand, there’s Tom Brady; on the other, Eagles fans.

Anyway, here are a few ways to glue your face to your phone and completely disengage from whatever party you’re going to be at.

• There have been about 1,000 different theories for why this offseason is so slow, and it’s reached the point where some analysts, including our own larry, are tossing out the C-word. Now, Henry Druschel at The Hardball Times offers a new one: that MLBPA’s tendency to sell out minor leaguers and amateurs has suppressed those markets to the point that they offer a much cheaper way for teams to acquire talent than paying veterans.
• Meanwhile, Travis Sawchik at Fangraphs uses an interview with now and former Athletic Brandon Moss as a jumping-off point for another conversation: that some players are starting to realize that the non-monetary costs of free agency (draft pick compensation, luxury tax, etc.) has limited their own earning power. Ultimately, it looks like the specter of a work stoppage is drifting uncomfortably close to reality.
• Baseball Prospectus has a feature on the front office shuffling that’s been caused by the Marlins’ house fire, and how the Marlins brought in one of their recently fired executives via trade. Jim Benedict, who now works for the Cubs, came in from Pittsburgh for pitcher Trevor Williams, who’s since come out of nowhere to become a productive starter for the Pirates.

NBC Sports Chicago has released a series of one-on-one interviews between Chuck Garfien and several Sox players, which were recorded during SoxFest. Here’s the one for Eloy Jimenez, who shows once again that he’s confident but not cocky.

• Finally, since I should put something football-related here, Yahoo Sports has a roster of two-sport stars who excelled in both baseball and football. Our own Frank Thomas is the DH, with Bo Jackson obviously in left field and Tom Brady at catcher.