Wednesday Morning Links: Freak Injuries, Parting Words, Defensive Shifts, and Knuckleballs

I'm giddy because it's almost spring break at my school, but alas I do not have any plans to go to spring training in Florida. Part of that may be due to me not realizing spring break was coming until about two weeks ago. Oh well, early bird gets the worm, and the alert baseball fan schedules a Florida trip more than two weeks in advance.

• Our latest non-baseball-related injury comes from Jake Peavy, who cut himself on his non-pitching hand with a fishing knife. You know, if he were an indoorsman like Aaron Gleeman, I bet that injury would have never happened.
• After being traded from the Rangers to the Tigers for Prince Fielder this offseason, Ian Kinsler recently spoke up and had some bitter words about the organization, specifically stating that he hopes the Rangers go 0-162 this year and he wasn't pleased that he was tasked as being a leader once Michael Young had been traded. Not surprisingly, Kinsler retracted his statements, arguing they were taken out of context.
• Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk got a shot of the Washington Nationals trying out the 5 infielder defensive shift, where their right fielder came in to play at second base. According to Calcaterra, Braves batter Philip Gosselin took advantage by tripling to center field.
• Brian Wilson has been pretty kooky for the past few years, and believe it or not but he took it to another level when he threw a first pitch knuckleball to Mariners infielder Brad Miller yesterday. Currently, the only knuckleballers that saw major league action last year were R.A. Dickey and Steven Wright. In other news, Wilson is also sporting the #00 jersey, which receives a tip of the cap from me.