Today's links come to you with -- as Jon Miller put it Sunday night -- my best New Year's wishes … • Josh Wilker's hit the big time, and someday we'll be able to say we knew him (and here is Josh's reaction, wonderful as ever). • Speaking of the New York Times, I'm thrilled to find that Doug Glanville is back for another season. • From The New Enthusiast, the only 2009 baseball preview you'll need. • Well, except for this one: Rany Jazayerli and I preview the 2009 Royals. • Zack Greinke is one of the reasons some pundits think the Royals have a chance to surprise us this season, and Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski's got a nice long piece about Greinke. • Why isn't Matt Wieters in the majors? Andy MacPhail explains (sort of). • I haven't seen Ron Darling's book, but it "sounds" pretty good. • Alex Belth on the new Yankee Stadium …

The overall impression I got was that this place is a mall featuring a baseball field. I spoke with some people who think it feels bigger than the old park, but it seemed smaller to me, because of the restaurant, but chiefly because of the mammoth HD TV that is the centerpiece of the scoreboard section high above center field. The TV is so captivating, so impossibly clear, that it virtually overshadows the field and serves to shorten the space between home plate and center field. I had a hard time turning away.

Some years ago, I came up with the term "mallpark" to describe all the new stadiums (not including Camden Yards, as I recall). Now, it's possible that I borrowed/stole it from someone else. If so, the inventor can have it back, with my apologies.