A little absence for me and the links, but we'll get some out there.

First of all, as most of you know, it has been reported that five GM candidates are coming in this week.

The first interview is supposedly today with Mets assistant GM and former Mariner player Tony Bernazard, according to the NY Daily News.

The Toronto Globe and Mail is reporting that the Blue Jays have confirmed that the Mariners have contacted them about Tony LaCava.

So that leaves Kim Ng of the Dodgers, who is scheduled to interview in the next few days, and two members of the Diamondbacks: Peter Woodfork and Jerry DiPoto.

The USS Mariners has a link to an NPR interview Ng did a while back.

More audio: Buster Olney also offers up some info on the Mariners GM situation in this interview with KJR.

That doesn't mean that these are the only candidates. They are the first five. Expect at least five to seven more candidates to have interviews.

One of those possible candidates, albeit a longshot, Brewers GM Doug Melvin is looking at a contract extension before he makes any further decisions.

Speaking of the D'Backs earlier. You would think that if Woodfork or DiPoto were to get the job, there might be the possibility of them bringing Arizona pitching coach Bryan Price back to Seattle as the manager, but that might not seem as likely now since Price signed a one year contract with the D'Backs.

Speaking of former Mariners staffers, former M's GM and current Phillies GM Pat Gillick is getting ready for tonight's NLCS. Here's a column on him from the Philly Inquirer. And here's another story on Gillick from the Wilmington News Journal.

Here's a column by Gary Shelton on young Rays GM Andrew Friedman.

As much as I dislike the Yankees, I wouldn't mind seeing this former Yankee come up and manager the Mariners next year. Maybe if Kim Ng gets the job she can bring Don Mattingly with her.

Speaking of people I dislike greatly, here's a story on Satan, er, Scott Boras from the NY Times.

Here's a story on Dustin Pedroia, one of the few players in MLB I'm taller than. The list also includes Chone Figgins, ERick Aybar and David Eckstein.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia stands by his decision to call for a squeeze bunt against the Red Sox.

Rangers president Nolan Ryan thinks the Rangers need to be tougher on their pitchers.

Saying you saw Willie Mays play makes you a dinosaur in the age of 24-hour sports televison and blogging.

There weren't nightly highlights on cable. There wasn't even cable.

So when an aging Mays made it to the post-season in 1973 with the New York Mets, it was a rare chance to see him on TV.

And it was a disaster.

Mays was 42, and a part time player with New York, and in that post-season what America saw was a 42-year-old man impersonating a legend.

He dove for balls that fell far in front of him, was fooled by pitches - and pitchers - he'd have crushed even a few years earlier.

It was like a Shakespearian tragedy, watching Willie struggle, and that off-season he retired.

All that came to mind last weekend, watching Ken Griffey Jr. strike out to end the final game of the White Sox-Rays American League Division Series in which he batted .200.

Like Mays, Junior needs no one to defend his career. He's a no-doubt, first-ballot Hall of Famer, and a happy memory for those who watched him grow up on Seattle teams.

But watching your favorites play like mortals is disheartening, although it may say as much about us as it does about them.

We see greatness and we expect it to remain unchanged. We age, but our heroes are not supposed to.

When they do, perhaps it is too clear a reminder of time moving on, too painful to have memories dashed by reality TV.

For anyone who saw Mays or Junior play in their prime, it was the chance to watch the best in the game.

To watch Willie in '73, or Ken in '08, was a reminder that no one can maintain that level of athletic achievement and grace forever.