New year? What the heck, let’s bring back the Friday Links. Can’t say they’ll be here every week, but they’re here now:

• Alomar, McGriff and a Blockbuster Trade (New York Times). Tyler Kepner remembers an old Padres/Blue Jays trade. And yeah, Roberto Alomar got jobbed by the Hall of Fame voters (don’t worry, he’ll get in); so did Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin, Tim Raines, and Alan Trammell. [h/t Gaslamp Ball]
• Pitcher Wanted. Must be good. (The J.G. Preston Experience). These old classifieds are great.
• Mark McGwire admitted using steroids and it’s time to forgive him (SI.com). I diagree with Joe Posnanski on this one — given his past evasions, I find McGwire to be a completely unreliable witness (maybe he is lying now and was telling the truth when he denied using steroids in 1998? [h/t to comment 29 in this Poz follow-up piece]) — but Big Mac has stumbled his way into an excellent ally. Posnanski is both articulate and popular, and McGwire needs friends who fit that description.
• A tale of two sinners (IIATMS). Jason calls out Bud Selig for his uneven treatment of two admitted cheaters, McGwire and Alex Rodriguez. [h/t Hardball Times]
• Storylines for 2010: Everth Cabrera’s fielding (Friar Forecast). Myron wonders what the future might hold for the young shortstop.
• More uninvited marketing opinions and a wallpaper (Sacrifice Bunt). Melvin thinks the Padres should market their young players, specifically Cabrera, Mat Latos, and Kyle Blanks.
• The end of the Most Valuable Network, MVN.com (Evan Brunell). Somehow I missed this, but MVN has closed its doors. You may recall that Ducksnorts was part of MVN (which absorbed what was left of the old All-Baseball.com after several of A-B’s writers left to form the now-defunct Baseball Toaster) back in 2005. Evan did good work at MVN, and I’m sorry to see his network come to an end.

And reader LynchMob sends these nuggets:

• Who made you God? (U-T). Former Padres player and coach Tim Flannery is enjoying his second career as a musician.
• Baseball Season (Matt Antonelli’s Blog). The young second baseman is gearing up for spring training.

Got links you’d like to see up here in bright lights? Leave your best in the comments, shoot me an email (geoff@ducksnorts.com), hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, semaphore, whatever…

Tagged as: alan tramell, alex rodriguez, barry larkin, bert blyleven, everth-cabrera, fred mcgriff, hall of fame, joe-posnanski, kyle blanks, mark mcgwire, mat latos, matt antonelli, mvn, roberto alomar, steroids, tim flannery, tim raines