MLB Bullets Is What You Can Build A Contender Around

Obviously real world events intruded on the sports world this week, but we'll get that stuff out of the way early and then you can get on with the stats, stories and silly stuff.

• The Red Sox beat the Indians with a heavy heart. David Ortiz was in Pawtucket, but he got very emotional over the events in Boston. Cubs President Theo Epstein used to live a block from the site of the explosions and his brother finished the race just 45 minutes before the tragedy.
• The Yankees (and Cubs) played "Sweet Caroline" in honor of Boston at their games Tuesday night.
• Yovani Gallardo was arrested for a DUI.
• This is a story from last week that was meant to run on Monday, but there was a problem with Monday's Bullets. It seems that in Arizona, spending over $3000 on a ticket to Chase Field does not give you the right to wear what you want. In this case, you'd better be wearing Diamondback brick red and not Dodger Blue. (Although I guess they'd permit old school Diamondbacks turquoise.)
• This has been discussed around here over the past few years, but a San Diego columnist warns Padres fans that "Dodgers games are the new Raiders games." My gut reaction to someone from San Diego criticizing Los Angeles is to ignore it as more of the same, but in this case he might have a point.
• Cliff Corcoran of SI.com thinks the Mets would be wise to deal Travis D'Arnaud and Zack Wheeler for Giancarlo Stanton. Of course, he also admits that the Marlins would probably reject the offer if they made it, but he uses it as a way to discuss what the right way to deal away top prospects.
• Derek Jeter will not be back in uniform on May 1.
• Albert Chen of SI.com thinks that Royals catcher Salvador Perez is the type of player you can build a contending team around.
• Jeff Francouer had the whole Royals team over for a cookout at his Atlanta-area home on their off-day. Wow. Two Royals stories in one day. That has to be a personal record for me.
• David Schoenfield of ESPN.com asks "Are the Nationals overrated?" I don't want to spoil the ending, but the answer is we'll soon find out.
• Rays manager Joe Maddon thinks bunts are overrated.
• The Rays got former Cub Jeff Beliveau from the Rangers.
• Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle says it was "different" and "weird" pitching against and beating the White Sox.
• Busch Stadium will host its first ever football game on September 21 between Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State.
• Aaron Hill is going to miss 4 to 6 weeks. I only mention this because of the impact on my fantasy team.
• Carl Crawford is likely to be fined by MLB for wearing mismatched shoes in honor of Jackie Robinson. Just a guess, but I think that Robinson would be more honored if you worked to register people to vote or something like that.
• GLAAD will give the San Francisco Giants their "Corporate Leader Award" for their efforts at promoting acceptance of members of the LGBT community.
• One group that won't be honoring the Giants is the Oakland Athletics. Mark Purdy of the Mercury News rehashes the issues involved in moving the Athletics to San Jose, but he points out something that I haven't seen mentioned before: MLB doesn't want to just overrule the Giants and move the A's without their permission because the Giants could then spend millions trying to defeat the referendum in San Jose necessary to get the new stadium built.
• The Rockies-Mets double-header yesterday was delayed by snow removal efforts, but owner Dick Monfort was down there shoveling the field himself, along with vice-president Bill Geivett and chief baseball officer Dan O'Dowd.
• Kevin Correia is off to a good start with the Twins.
• The Mariners are buying their Root Sports RSN. Makes a lot more sense than trying to start one from scratch.
• Finally, my favorite story of the week. Who was the last player to hit .400 in baseball? No, not Ted Williams. He's the last to hit .400 in the majors. The answer is actually Gary Redus in the Pioneer League in 1978. In fact, the .462 Redus hit for Billings is the highest batting average ever. Doug Williams takes a look back at that magical season. Redus had a nice 13-year major league career, but he never achieved the promise of that magical season.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.