What a week, huh? We have spring training baseball, real and competitive baseball in the World Baseball Classic, trade talks, and contract extensions. In the past week, we've had injury news, discussions on the future of the game, and the retirement announcement of one of the best ever. And your ill-informed friends ask you why you like baseball.

This is why. Here's a look at the best had to offer over the last week:

• This may seem self-serving, and really it is, but it's also a good look into a minor leaguer's mindset and how they develop. I spoke with Rangers' prospect Cody Buckel. We talked about his pitching career, his budding actor career, and how a $300 glove was proof that his father believed in him.
• Baseball is getting instant replay.

  Giancarlo Stanton tops home run odds

  Looking for odds? How about odds on who's going to finish with the most home runs in 2013?
  There's no two ways about it. If you don't like it, too bad. If you do, your only question is probably, why not get it sooner? Ben Horrow of Beyond the Boxscore explores the topic of instant replay and the delays in rolling it out full scale.
• In case you've been living under a rock, Rafael Furcal will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. The question for the Cardinals now is, who will they get to replace him. Will they look internally? Will they make a trade. Mike Bailey of Yahoo! Sports gives us some ideas on what St. Louis might do to replace their veteran shortstop.
• Pete Kozma seems to be the obvious answer to the Furcal problem. However, he may not be guaranteed the job. Dan Moore of Viva El Birdos explores the possibility of Greg Garcia stealthily stealing the job.
• Rafael Furcal wasn't the only Cardinal making news this past week. Allen Craig receive a nice long-term deal from the Cardinals. Marc Normandin of Baseball Nation says the deal is not all that surprising.
• How do we not talk about the Yankees? They are our world, or at least they dominate it. Mariano Rivera has every right to take up as much of our time as he'd like, though. The long-time Yankees closer announced his retirement on Saturday, and Jason Cohen of Pinstriped Bible gave his take on why Rivera is the best.
• Shane Tourtellote of The Hardball Times went in-depth with the Yankees. He answered five important questions surrounding the team.
• Finally, MLB Injury News covered the injuries the club has faced and why their dedication to winning at all costs may have hurt the team this year.

If you'd like to be included in Best of Blogs, shoot an email my way: jecazador(at)yahoo(dot)com. I promise I'll try to read it.