MLB Bullets Presents Selig Agonistes

Most of the baseball news surrounds the draft, and I think we've covered that pretty well. I do have one link to a story about Kris Bryant, the Cubs first round pick. I'd like to just have a column of draft links, and maybe I'll do that over the weekend. But no. Instead I have to write about Bud Selig and a bunch of PED stories. Fun.

• Major League Baseball has issued subpoenas in the Biogenesis case, asking for records from FedEx, AT&T and T-Mobile related to the case. Although MLB has come to an agreement to eventually drop the case against Biogenesis in exchange for Biogenesis head Anthony Bosch's testimony, they're pressing on for now in order to use the subpoena power of the courts.
• Reports are that Bosch asked Alex Rodriguez for money before agreeing to testify for MLB. ARod refused. So the Commissioner's office is going to rely on the word of a alleged blackmailer who sought hush money before agreeing to talk. He'd better have some indisputable records if Selig wants anything Bosch says to be accepted by an arbiter or a judge.
• Alex Rodriguez, for his part, is not going to comment on any of this at this time.
• ESPN's legal analyst Lester Munson says that MLB was masterful the way they sued Bosch to get his cooperation. Craig Calcaterra says that, judging by Munson's comments in the Barry Bonds case and his tortured reasoning in the current Biogenesis case, Munson has no idea what he's talking about.
• Joe Posnanski thinks that this whole thing is about Bud Selig trying to secure his legacy before he retires and erase what he believes to be the one stain on it: not reacting to PED use earlier. An article at Foxsports.com co-written by Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi comes to the same conclusion.
• Craig Calcaterra, again, wonders if Bud Selig is ready to act so decisively. Calcaterra points out that recent reports say that the "imminent suspensions" that ESPN breathlessly reported on earlier may not actually be so imminent. Also, Selig's whole method of management has been to build a consensus among everyone before he even orders lunch, let alone something as big as this.
• Howard Bryant says that Selig's actions threaten to undo twenty years of labor peace in baseball. That would kind of undo his fix of the other stain on his legacy, wouldn't it?
• Thomas Boswell thinks that Selig's actions in the scandal show that he's at least trying to do something about PEDs and severe punishments will serve as a deterrent.
• This is the final steroids link for today. I promise. While it looks fishy that the Reds traded Yasmani Grandal, who has already served a suspension for PEDs and whom reports say is linked to the Biogenesis Clinic, the Reds insist they had no clue he was on the juice.
• Bryce Harper is getting a second opinion on his knee from Dr. James Andrews. Remember: no athlete ever gets a second opinion if the first one was good.
• Baseball Prospectus has a list of nine players whom they think their hot or cold start to the season will not last. Good news here is that Edwin Jackson is on the list.
• OK, this isn't a Performance-enhancing drug, but a large shipment of marijuana was seized on its way to Chris Perez's house. Looks like we've got our first pitcher who wants to get traded to the Rockies.
• Regarding last time's column on the public agony of Ramon Ortiz, R.A. Dickey says he's been there and he knows what Ortiz is going through. The good news on Ortiz is that the injury doesn't look like it's that serious, but obviously any injury to a forty year-old journeyman pitcher is career-threatening.
• The Marlins are getting trade calls on Giancarlo Stanton, and they've understandably said he's not for sale. What's not understandable is that they are also saying the same thing about Steve Cishek and Mike Dunn.
• Speaking of Stanton, he's begun his minor league rehab assignment.
• Marlon Byrd insists he was joking. But Anthony Recker insists that Byrd was serious when he said he was going to hit two home runs in Wednesday night's game and then he went out and did it. If I knew that was all it would take, I wish he'd have joked around more in Chicago.
• The Rays Alex Torres has a big fan in Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
• Royals fans are frustrated, and Billy Butler says he knows just how they feel. But he makes it clear he doesn't want to leave Kansas City.
• Ken Rosenthal looks at the drop in attendance this season and says that you can't just blame it all on the Marlins. But it's so much fun, Ken.
• Ichiro Suzuki spent 12 years with the Mariners, and it wasn't until he came to town as a Yankee that he realized how many Starbucks were in Seattle. Apparently he didn't get out much.
• For all the crap we've put up with from umpires this season, Padres fans (and the Petco Park grounds crew) shouldn't have to put up with this from rookie ump Jordan Baker. Seriously, dude.
• Now turning to the draft, Joe Sheehan thinks the draft should be abolished. It's not like all the good international talent, who are signed without a draft, are all ending up with the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers.
• In case anyone thought the draft was about fairly allocating talent, this article should make it clear that its actually about limiting bonus money. The draft was instituted after the other owners were outraged that Angels owner Gene Autry gave a $205,000 bonus to Rick Reichardt.
• Jon Heyman writes about how the Mets hoped that Matt Harvey would fall to them at #7 in the 2010 draft. They had him ranked tied for third (with Jameson Taillon) in that draft behind Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.
• Finally, here's the story on Kris Bryant that I promised you. He's compared to Troy Glaus or Jayson Werth. I've also heard a Richie Sexson comp.

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