Thursday Morning Links

Stadiumlinks, the company that left the weird blobby lines in the Globe Life outfield a couple of years ago, is coming back for an encore performance this offseason.

Even though Martin Perez has been taken out of the rotation his role in the bullpen has not just involved meaningless mop up innings.

Evan Grant’s mailbag column explains the “opener” concept (in case you haven’t heard enough opener talk the last few weeks).

Tommy John will not be enough to keep Ohtani from giving the Rangers fits as the Angels believe they can keep his bat in the lineup.

Adrian Sampson is going to try to prove he can be a contributor next season over the next few weeks.

Bartolo Colon would like to come back for 2019, but that’s not looking likely at this point.

With the current outfield configuration it’s going to be hard to find at bats for Willie Calhoun this month.

All of the teams in the Ohtani sweepstakes were aware of the potential for Ohtani’s UCL to go kablooie.

Jeff Wilson has a profile up of prospect Taylor Hearn, who Jayce Tingler labels “closest to the major leagues” of the prospects in the system.

Jeff Sullivan has an article over at Fangraphs looking at the amazing transformation of Jose Leclerc.