Breakfast Links: Manny to be a Rhino, Yanks don't want Damon or Soriano, Marlins make Booty call

Good morning.

Today we have Manny heading abroad, some dirt on who the Yankees won't be putting in left field, and the Marlins marlin-ing. Also, we have Michael Bourn getting impatient with the Mets, Greinke giving the Rangers a chance, and the Marlins doing some more marlin-ing.

Finally, a brief discussion about the impending success/failure of Google Glass.

The Big Three

1. Manny Ramirez will definitely play pro ball this year, though probably not in the States. MBM has a verbal agreement with the EDA Rhinos, a new professional club in Taiwan, for the 2013 season. The agreement will go into effect only if Manny is unable to sign a deal with an MLB team before March 7. In other words, welcome to Taiwan, Manny! The Chinese Professional Baseball League has definitely seen better days -- the league has dwindled from nine teams to just four in the last decade -- but Manny should help bring a little life back to the league, if nothing else. Also, Manny bounding around in a bright purple uniform is just too good not to hope for. Taiwan is also the home of all those crazy animated baseball videos, so expect LOTS of Manny-based animation this year.

2. While we're not any closer to figuring out who the Yankees plan on putting in left field on Opening Day, we know who to rule out. It was made known yesterday that the Bombers are highly unlikely to re-acquire two former players: Johnny Damon and Alfonso Soriano. Damon had expressed "tons of interest" in a return to the Bronx in a radio interview on Monday, which, of course he did. He's not getting calls from anyone at this point, why not reach out to the Yankees? Soriano is still a possibility, I suppose, but I can't really see New York taking anyone on for two years. It seems likely that left field will be a battle between Juan Rivera, Matt Diaz, and Thomas Neal. I put my money on Neal.

3. Oh man. This bit of news is soooooo Marlins. Kind of like things that are so Raven, only much, much worse. The winner of MLB Network's "The Next Knuckler" competition, Josh Booty, is in D'Backs camp with the (very slim) chance to make the active roster as a knuckleballer. However, Jeffrey Loria and his band of hooligans announced yesterday that Booty is actually their property because they drafted him way back in 1994 and he is on the club's "retired list," whatever that is. Ok, weird, but not totally crazy just yet. But here's where things get really Marlin... Miami has agreed to release Booty from their retired list so that he can pitch in the D'Backs' system, but NOT if he pitches well enough to make the big-league club. If the D'Backs want to put Booty on the roster then they must return him to the Marlins, presumably so Miami can put him on their roster instead. That is sooo Marlin. The guy is 37 years old and had never thrown a knuckleball until a few months ago. The idea that he's a guy Miami must have in the event he puts together a reasonable spring is utterly ridiculous. Yet another strike against the endlessly self-serving Marlins.

In Other News...

1. While Sandy Alderson thought he was close to acquiring Michael Bourn, Bourn stated yesterday that he "couldn't even consider" the Mets' offer because of the waiting period brought on by the club's petition to have their top draft pick protected. So much for that then! Womp womp.

2. Zack Greinke apparently gave the Rangers a chance to meet and/or best the Dodgers' eventual winning offer in December, but Texas didn't quite give him what he was looking for. It's OK though, because the Rangers have since signed... oh wait.

3. The Marlins will not be offering an extension to Giancarlo Stanton this season. Probably for the better. They've had enough bad press this year. Stanton turning down everything they throw at him certainly wouldn't help things.

Wired Wednesday

Oh Google. Remember when they were just a search engine? Good times.

Google announced last week that their lastest project, Google Glass, a headset that boasts a small screen to give users a sort of augmented reality a la Terminator (or any other Sci-Fi film of the last 20 years), will be coming to store shelves at the end of this year.

Here's the technology in practice:

Wow. And you thought people with Bluetooth headsets were annoying.

The idea behind the technology at work here is anything but new -- remember this little gem from the mid-90s? -- and all previous attempts at this kind of thing have been serious flops, so it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

I'm going to go ahead and wait until they publish some longitudinal studies on the effect this kind of thing has on one's eyesight -- spoiler alert! It's probably not good! -- before I put anything like that on my head.

My prediction: This thing is going to make Google+ look like a massive success.

1. Have you ever bought into technology that fell flat?

2. If so, what was it?

I was the (not so) proud owner of the Sega Dreamcast back in the day. Soul Caliber was great, but man, all those hours wasted on Shenmue that I'll just never get back. I still cringe at the site of a forklift. You owe me at least a year of my adolescence, Sega.