Good Morning, link lurkers! Ders is too selfless for his own good and didn’t have time to put the links together today, so I am attempting to fill his very sweet and hardworking shoes. Feel free to ignore all these links and simply use the comments as yet another spot to marvel in/jubilate over the Mariners’ arrival at .500 and current existence as the 2nd place AL West team despite the fact that four of today’s starting nine were on the team last year.

In Mariners news...

• Some more promising updates on the other half of the Mariners’ roster who are all on the DL
• Former Mariners reliever and invisibility cloak-wearer Vidal Nuño has been called back up by the Orioles
• A blast from the Mariners’ past is thriving in the KBO with a new knuckleball. Caution: watching this video too many times may incite thoughts such as “sign this man!” and “well, he can’t be worse than Joe Wieland last year.”

• This is from the game on Tuesday, but Ders didn’t have it in the links yesterday and it gives me goosebumps each time I watch it. Plus, bonus shot of Chooch’s rookie year pic from 2000!

• Also, Justin De Fratus, whom I’m sure many of you dedicated fans remember vividly, is back in the organization. He appears to have spent his time with the Blue Crabs by exclusively aging backwards.

Around the league...

• Jon Taylor over at Sports Illustrated has a great look at Nationals phenom Trea Turner, and how he’s carving out a niche for himself on the basepaths
• The Chicago Cubs currently have the exact same 17-17 record as the Mariners, yet they don’t have a single person on the DL. Apparently their slow start is to blame on sleep deprivation, or at least that’s what Joe Maddon claims
• It’s important to have variety in the links, but I’m making an exception today because Travis Sawchik over at Fangraphs has published two excellent pieces in the last few days that deserve our attention. The first, and most recent, is a great introspective/retrospective about Eric Thames and his renewed MLB success. The second is from a few days ago, and looks at human motivation and how that factors into baseball decision making.

Your bizarre short story of the day...

Leonard/cornholethatdog’s comment from earlier today reminded me of one of the creepier short stories I’ve read in my lifetime: W. W. Jacob’s The Monkey’s Paw, which you can read in full here. Enjoy, and sorry in advance for the goosebumps.