Tomorrow is February 1st (believe it or not) and we are just 18 days until pitchers and catchers head to Clearwater. Here’s another set of links to read before you go shovel.

• How did the Florida Marlins and Josh Johnson set the stage for potential labor unrest? Jayson Stark answers at ESPN.com. The big-budget teams are clearly going to rebel against continuing to paying out monstrous revenue-sharing dollars without a more concrete guarantee that the teams getting that money will spend those dollars on payroll — not on debt service, ballpark construction fees or the office Christmas party.
• Why is Johnny Damon still a free agent? Ben Reiter answers on SI.com?
• Good news out of Minnesota, where Ron Gardenhire thinks the Twins will reach a deal with star catcher Joe Mauer.
• Ruben Amaro on new signee Jose Contreras: “He’s pretty amenable to anything. He said he would pick up bats if he had to.”
• Great article by Paul Hagen on Tyson Gilles, who came over in the Cliff Lee deal. “They didn’t realize I was hearing impaired until I was 4. I was able to fool the guy because I was reading lips at a young age.”
• Hagen on Phllipe Aumont, also acquired in the Lee deal. “It’s probably not fair, but in the minds of some fans, whatever Aumont does will be measured against whatever Drabek achieves.”It doesn’t matter to me,” he said yesterday at Citizens Bank Park. “I’m not here to replace Kyle Drabek. I’m going to make my own mark. I want to grow up as Phillippe Aumont, not taking somebody else’s spot.”
• Funny headline from the Daily News: Mets sign real life Crash Davis.

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