Mariners Moose Tracks 12/6/2016: No fun titles

Good morning! Would you like to know a super special, behind the scenes secret about Lookout Landing? When we write these pieces that publish at seven in the morning we aren't actually writing them in the wee hours of dawn. Instead, we type in the evening and pretend that we're speaking from the future. So, without further ado, here are your futuristic links for Tuesday December 6th, 2016.

Oh wait, just kidding, before we do the real baseball links I'm going to share some cool things that happened on this day in history because it turns out people in the past have been rather busy on December 6th. Ten years ago NASA released photos indicating the possibility of water on Mars, 248 years ago the first Encyclopedia Britannica was published, and 151 years ago slavery was officially abolished in the United States (yeah, no politics, but c'mon this is cool and if you reeeeally want to argue in favor of slavery I'll be in the comments to have a brief but cordial conversation with you). Folks have been busy on this day throughout history, so perhaps it bodes well for Jerry Dipoto and his winter meeting escapades? Okay, links for real now.

In Mariners news:

• Per Ryan Divish, the Mariners will allow both Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano to play in the Winter Leagues to prepare for the World Baseball Classic
• The Mariners' first move of the Winter Meeting period wasn't splashy, but we here at LL welcome any and all arms to the ever-growing pile and Safeco is surely pleased to (maybe, possibly) be a sanctuary to this one-time Coors Field man

  — Mike Curto (@CurtoWorld) December 5, 2016

• For my mother, who appears to have Google alerts set for all our family members' names and who chairs the Jesus Sucre Fan Club:

  — Bob Dutton (@TNT_Mariners) December 5, 2016

• And inevitable-trade-bait Tyler O'Neil added another plaque to his wall of fame

Tyler O'Neill named to the all-prospect team from the Arizona Fall League. pic.twitter.com/IzJta4R8RH

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) December 5, 2016

Around MLB:

• The Giants attempted to cure their tragicomedy 2016 bullpen woes by signing Mark Melancon to a four year, $62 million deal. Which reminds me, of all the informative and entertaining things that Grant Brisbee wrote this season, this was my very favorite and even inspired me to explore where the 2016 Mariners stacked up in franchise history (spoiler: they were pretty darn exciting).
• In the first day of the winter meetings the Blue Jays made a modestly-sized splash by signing utility man and LL commenter rosterbation target Steve Pearce to a two year, $12.5 million deal
• There were approximately one million rumors about Mark Trumbo, and apparently the Rangers expressed interest which is great because goodness knows we all needed another reason to abhor that darn Texas team
• Arguably the biggest news to break in MLB today had nothing to do with a player transaction:

  — MLB Daily Dish (@mlbdailydish) December 5, 2016

A smattering of questions for you, dear readers, while  I have a semi captive, semi intelligent audience:

What is your favorite short story?

Do you have a favorite winter cocktail of choice (gin and tonics in the snow just don't feel right)?

If you could only eat one type of nut for the rest of your life, what type of nut would you choose?