LINKS and LINKS and...(some stuff to read while it's raining)...

• Draft Board - Minor League Ball - John Sickels of the SBN's Minor League Ball is the second writer to put LHP Matthew Purke in the 10 spot as the Washington Nationals' second top 10 pick.

• MLB Outsider: 2009 Mock Draft - MVN Outsider - This another draft with Matthew Purke landing at No. 10 with DC.

• The Next Big Thing? | Nationals Farm Authority - Nationals Farm Authority's Brian Oliver on SI's Tom Verducci's story on the next great baseball prospect...Bryce Harper.

• ‘Baseball’s Lebron’ arrives - Angels blog - OCRegister.com - ‘Baseball’s Lebron’ arrives...(More on Bryce Harper including a "sponsored" video)...

• Yankees, Mets, Red Sox among teams with needs on trade market - Jon Heyman - SI.com's Jon Heyman writes that the Boston Red Sox are looking for hitting, and Mr. Heyman reports that:

"Aubrey Huff and the Washington trio of Nick Johnson, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham are four more of many somewhat lesser possibilities in what looks like a fairly deep hitting market."

Mr. Heyman also notes, later in the article, while being sure to stick it to DC:

"Now that Randy St. Claire has been fired as Nationals pitching coach, I'm expecting a complete turnaround. Not! Manny Acta would appear to be next in line to go."

• "Guzman still bothered by thumb" - Washington Times, Mark Zuckerman - Washington Times' writer Mark Zuckerman reports on Cristian Guzman's recovery from thumb issues. Manny Acta actually held Guzman out of the lineup Wednesday because of ongoing concerns. 

• DMV: Randy Johnson Seeks 300 in D.C. | Mr. Irrelevant - Mr. Irrelevant describes Federal Baseball.com's post on Tuesday night's win over the SF Giants, with lots of "s**ts"...

• "Shivashankar > Dibble" - D.C. Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg - Mr. Steinberg: "Well, Rob Dibble is now an official member of the Washington Nationals baseball club. (And sure, I'll add every caveat in the book: I always misspell words online, Twitter is not a medium for the spelling-obsessed, if we're spell-checking social networking sites we're all going to lose in the end...)"

end transmission.