Friday links: Blackout Policy, Derrek Lee, and more

If you, like me, live outside of an MLB market and were hoping that Major League Baseball would revise its blackout policy to make it possible for you to actually be able to watch games involving all 30 teams, you'll be disappointed this morning to see that Maury Brown is reporting that the policy will remain in effect for 2012. In my case, this means that I can never, ever watch the Pirates play the Nationals or Orioles unless I go to DC. It also means that I'll never see Stephen Strasburg pitch unless he pitches on Sunday Night Baseball, FOX Saturday baseball, or I move to another part of the country. Jerry Crasnick says that there are two big league GMs that think that Derrek Lee will retire if he doesn't get "the right deal" this winter. In the short-term, this means that you can pretty much cross Lee off the list for the Pirates, because the Pirates offered him arbitration and are therefore probably willing to pay him more than most other teams are, so mon...