Wednesday Morning Links: Comeback Players of the Year, Mutual Options, No Fraternizing, and Empty Threats

No matter how hard I try, I still can't stop chuckling whenever I read Uncle Randy's comment from the "Writers Wanted" post. Glad to know that I'm mature enough that I find poop jokes hilarious.

• The Comeback Player of the Year winners were announced and Twins fans may be disappointed to learn that Francisco Liriano won in the National League. The AL victor was Mariano Rivera, though I feel CPotY awards should go more to those that overcame suckitude rather than recovered from an injury.
• You're likely familiar with options with a player's contract. Usually they are team or player options, but occasionally you get a mutual option where both teams need to agree to continue the contract. It's rare to see a mutual option exercised by both sides, but that happened this week with the Rockies and setup reliever Matt Belisle agreeing to a $4.25 million contract for 2014. In other news, I'm only 83% sure that his name is pronounced "Bee-lyle."
• There is a "no fraternization with the opponents" rule in the MLB rule book, but it's completely ignored by everyone. According to Buster Olney, MLB is thinking of eliminating this rule (ESPN Insiders only). While they're removing an ignored rule, they may as well take out 1.04(a) as well since New Yankee Stadium still violates it (no ballparks constructed after June 1st, 1958 are allowed to have foul lines shorter than 325 feet).
• Finally, supposedly MLB is threatening that the Oakland Athletics will play in San Francisco next year if a new short-term lease cannot be reached with the Coliseum in Oakland, the A's current home ballpark. While the logistics of fitting two baseball teams into a single ballpark sounds awful, it's probably still better than having raw sewage flood your field repeatedly throughout the year.