Evan Longoria Goes Down And Other MLBullets

The latest from around MLB...

• The Tampa Bay Rays will be without third baseman Evan Longoria for as many as eight weeks after he suffered a partially torn hamstring on an awkward slide on Monday night. The team leader in batting average, OBP, RBI, and second in OPS, Longoria was off to a great start on the 2012 season. As it was, the Rays had one of the better offenses in baseball, scoring the 9th most runs to this point on the year, and holding the sixth highest team OPS. De facto team GM Andrew Friedman says he hopes Longoria will be back sooner than eight weeks. "He's always been a pretty good healer. He's had some hamstring issues in the past and has come back from them pretty quickly, relatively speaking," Friedman said, according to that ESPN story. "We're not going to put a firm timeline on it, but to get back here, I would say a best-case scenario for him to get back before six weeks or around six weeks."

• More bad news for the Rays, as prospect Tim Beckham, the number one overall pick in 2008, has been suspended 50 games for violating Minor League Baseball's drug testing program. It's Beckham's second violation, and checkers an already largely unsuccessful Minor League career.
• Amidst his almost historic struggles since joining the Angels, Albert Pujols has gotten snippy with hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, but not for the reasons you might think. Hatcher shared with the media a positive story about Pujols' leadership in the clubhouse, in spite of his and the team's struggles. Instead of quiet grace, Pujols went out of his way to tell the media that Hatcher "should have never told you guys that. That stuff needs to be private.'' I certainly understand the need for solidarity, and attendant privacy, in the clubhouse. But it just seems an odd public response to kind words from your hitting coach. Pujols is currently hitting .217/.265/.304, with no homers, and the Angels are 9-15.
• The Los Angeles Dodgers officially have new owners, with their $2.15 billion sale closing yesterday. Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten, and the Guggenheim Partners are now running the show, and I think it's safe to expect some changes in the near term.
• The St. Louis Cardinals plan to retire former manager Tony La Russa's number 10 jersey. La Russa, who has since taken a job with MLB, spent 16 seasons with the Cardinals, leading the team to nine postseasons and two championships.
• The most uncomfortable local news spot ever? Maybe. Local reporter + unabashed fawning over David Freese + roller coaster ride = awkwardness personified.
• Yoenis Cespedes' representative in the Dominican Republic filed a claim, saying that the Cuban-born slugger has yet to pay the promised portion of his big score.

Brett Taylor is the Lead Writer at Bleacher Nation, and a Contributor here at Bleed Cubbie Blue.