• Padres in market for first-rate catcher to call signals in new ballpark (U-T). The usual suspects.
• The Tigers picked up lefty Cliff Bartosh off waivers from the Pads; Bartosh had been ranked the Padres’ #23 prospect by BA coming into 2003
• Baseball Reliquary. Self-described as "a nonprofit, educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its interaction with American culture by the preservation and exhibition of artifacts related to the National Pastime." Found this via a Don Malcolm article over at Primer. Some interesting stuff here.
• Cosmic Baseball Association. Found this one via Jon Daly’s excellent Baseball History blog. The CBA claims to be "a baseball league of the imagination." To call it fantasy baseball doesn’t do it justice. Some of the players are Chester Arthur, Archimedes, Al Capone, and Noam Chomsky. This is pretty easily the trippiest baseball web site I’ve ever encountered.
• Probabalistic Model of Range. David Pinto makes an attempt to quantify defense. I haven’t sifted through it all just yet, but any serious attempts at research in this area are worth noting.
• Al Bethke compares the hitters with the most and least pitches per plate appearance in 2003. Good read.

Christian Ruzich over at Cub Reporter lost his home in the San Diego fires this past week. A former co-worker of mine lost his as well. I really don’t want to dwell on this a whole lot, but keep these folks in your hearts and if you can afford it, please seriously consider donating to the Red Cross.