Thursday Morning Links

If you haven't heard enough talk about Josh Hamilton channeling Jean-Jacques "Nobody Obsesses About the Rangers" Taylor, Gil Lebreton over at the FWST says that Hamilton is blaming everyone but himself, the true mark of an addict. Also, Randy Galloway uses the Hamilton remarks as a jumping off point for a funereal dirge about the Cowboys, and thanks for that, Randy.

Uh-oh, boys, we may have another C.J. Wilson on our hands... Cody Buckel is interested in acting and is currently featured in a Dick's Sporting Goods commercial. He also is rooming with alleged uncoachable headcase Trevor Bauer this spring, so I think it's safe to say we can write Cody off.

It was photo day in Surprise, so here're some players posing. One of the photos includes what appears to be an undead Derek Holland.

Also, if it is a day that ends in "y," it's a day that Ron Washington would like to talk to the players and the press about bunting. I was a little confused by that video, as I couldn't tell if Wash was irritated at the defense for not defending the bunt properly or at the hitters for not executing the bunt properly, but Durrett's writeup of the discussion cleared that up. Apparently, Wash is unhappy that only in Spring Training does he get to put two runners on and make a player bunt after every inning. According to Evan Grant, the classroom bunt-talk session came between the two intrasquad games, and execution was much better in the second game.

The FWST has videos of Cody Buckel and Martin Perez throwing batting practice.

The FWST also has a notes column, with Lance Berkman having "more than normal muscle soreness" in his calf and Leury Garcia mulling a WBC role with the Dominican Republic, among other things.

Richard Durrett notes that Leury Garcia has the kind of versatility that would make him a reasonable candidate for a bench role, were he 10 years older or on a non-Ron Washington managed team, and says that Lindblom and Ortiz impressed the scouts on Wednesday, with Lindblom striking out the side and Ortiz drawing (favorable?) comparisons to Eddie Guardado while striking out two..

Durrett also has an injury update that focuses on Lance Berkman's Biblical-plague-beset legs, but also touches on Colby Lewis (expected to begin throwing off a mound soon) and Joakim Soria (throwing off a mound, but not yet throwing offspeed and breaking pitches).

The Rangers have announced who will start the first three Spring Training games, with Derek Holland penciled in to start against Kansas City on Saturday.

An ESPN report citing unnamed sources claims that the substances that Gio Gonzalez received from Biogenesis were not forbidden by MLB. The unnamed sources were not kind enough to do the same for Nellie Cruz.

Behind the DMN paywall, Evan Grant lays out some reason that the Rangers might be better at throwing out baserunners in 2013. I can't see what the reason is, so I'm going to go ahead and speculate that it involves a cursed monkey paw and/or walling up Mike Trout in a wine cellar.

T.R. Sullivan talks about how star-crossed lovers A.J. Pierzysnki and Joe Nathan are finally getting to play together after being involved in the same trade in 2003, and also has a notes column that touches upon Lindblom's nice outing on Wednesday and Dave Magadan using the rainy day to harangue the players about the organization's hitting philosophy.