Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Here are your links for the office on Monday morning…

To
start, I just wanted to point out that Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay
Rays has been worth 3.7 Wins Above Replacement. Freaking Ben Zobrist!
Only his teammate, Evan Longoria, ranks higher. With Joe Maddon calling
the shots, his ticket to St. Louis for the Midsummer Classic is almost
a foregone conclusion, and he deserves it.

Speaking of Zorilla, John Sickels did a prospect retro
on Zobrist last week. Sickels touches on how he displayed excellent
plate discipline and strike zone awareness in the minors, writing,
“Zobrist has shown more power the last two years than expected. As we have detected in past reports
on surprising players, one thing that stands out in his minor league
record is excellent plate discipline….a high walk rate with a low
strikeout rate.”

Jonah Keri, in his latest BABIP of the Week feature
over at RotoSynthesis, advocates picking up Carl Pavano in your fantasy
league, citing his low strand rate and other factors. Pavano was one of
three players who I recommended my BP Fantasy article three weeks ago as well.

The Dodgers are in on Jarrod Washburn, so says MLB.com. Washburn, as I wrote about in the Boras piece,
is one of the more attractive options in a thin trade market for
starting pitchers. The veteran southpaw, aided by an outstanding
outfield defense, has pitched as well as he has during his entire
career, posting a 3.24 ERA and 3.79 FIP in 13 starts.

Josephe Pawlikowski wishes the A-Rod nonsense would come to an end.

Jeremy Hellickson, one of the top pitching prospects in the Rays’ system, will rejoin the Montgomery Biscuits on Monday.

David Laurilia discussed Tiger Stadium during a quick Q and A with Bobby Cox, who was ejected for the 145th time of his career in the Braves’ series finale against the Red Sox on Sunday.

And, finally, just a quick programming reminder. I will be hosting Minor League Notebook Weekly tonight with Doug Gray. Grant Paulsen,
the host of “Minors and Majors” on XM Radio, will be our guest to
discuss minor league prospects. I will put up another post with the
embedded media player, but the show airs at 8:00 Eastern Time.