Thursday Morning Links

Today is the Rule 5 draft.  Jonathan Mayo says that with the number 3 pick the Rangers might pick someone intriguing.  I hope he was joking, but Arizona GM Dave Stewart said "I know there's a lot of talk out there about some mystery person that everybody wants, so hopefully we'll know who that one is since we get the first pick."

T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers might trade the pick, and I'm sure that would be exciting.

The Rangers brass met with James Shields but only because Shields "lives in San Diego and it gave them a chance to really get to know him."  I'm imagining a rousing game of "Truth or Dare" or "I've Never..." or "Guess Where I Hid the Body."

Apparently, there's about to be a free agent signing but it's a veteran reliever so we can go back to being bored.

Payroll is expected to stay around $133 million in 2015.

Evan Grant notes that the Lester signing gives us a clearer picture of which pitchers the Rangers won't be signing this offseason.

Grant also quotes sources as saying that the Rangers front office is interested in Eric Young but only in the way that you are interested in Kate Upton.

There's been plenty of interest from teams looking to trade for Texas' Rule 5 pick.

Michael Florek looks at the top 5 Ranger short stops of all time, and Michael Young beat out Alex Rodriguez for the top spot.

Are you as big a fan of Real Genius as I am?  Well, here's a shipboard laser shooting stuff, and it looks like it's controlled by a Playstation controller.