MLB Bullets Is Going To The Birds

Is Matt Garza still a Cub?

• As the trade deadline nears, more rumors start flying. Francisco Rodriguez has revived his career in Milwaukee and now three teams, the Dodgers, Tigers and Red Sox, are interested in acquiring him for the stretch drive.
• Brewers and former Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez comes off the DL on Monday, and the Red Sox and Yankees are both interested in trading for him.
• Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is going to see Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on his shoulder. That's bad news for Boston. Remember my rule of thumb: no baseball player ever gets a second opinion if the first one was good. That's especially true if the second opinion is from Dr. Andrews.
• What does this have to do with trades? Well, if Buchholtz is healthy, the Red Sox aren't interested in picking up another pitcher. But if he's not . . .
• I try to stay away from Cubs news, but Jay Jaffe lists six Cubs not named Matt Garza who are likely to be dealt. I think he has some sort of quota of names that he had to list and ran out early because he names five sensible names and then mentions Starlin Castro. OK, he does admit he's the least likely name on the list to be dealt.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the Phillies need to face reality and sell off their high-priced veterans. The Phillies are where the Cubs were three years ago. Except the Cubs didn't have a World Series Championship six years previous.
• Rosenthal also says that the Red Sox are rushing to get Dustin Pedroia signed to a long-term deal (even though he's under contract until 2015) because they don't want Robinson Cano's next contract to set the market for Pedroia.
• Alex Rodriguez was supposed to come off the DL today, but instead he has a grade 1 quad strain.
• Jon Paul Morosi thinks this is bad for ARod. Not just because he's hurt, but because this may have been Rodriguez's last chance to get back in the good graces of the Yankees and their fans.
• The Marlins haven't scored in 37 innings, the longest streak since the 1985 Astros. Surprisingly, the '85 Astros won 83 games and were second in the NL in scoring that season. The Astros ran into Ed Lynch, Doc Gooden, Joe Hesketh, Jeff Reardon, Bryn Smith and Bill Gillickson at the Astrodome and Olympic Stadium. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. . .
• The Mariners only got one hit yesterday, but they still managed to score four runs off the Astros and win 4-2.
• Erik Bedard started that game and pulled himself from the game after 6.1 innings without allowing a hit. Bedard's reasoning was that he was at 109 pitches and with his injury history, it just wasn't worth it to risk his health for a no-hitter in a pretty meaningless game in the larger scheme of things. I actually think that shows some intelligence and courage, although I'm sure he'll be criticized for it. As far as pitch counts go, more on that later. Bedard ended up getting the loss.
• More bad Astros news: Center fielder Brandon Barnes hit for the cycle on Saturday. The Astros still lost.
• The Astros DFA'd a couple of ex-Cubs: Carlos Pena and Ronny Cedeno.
• Tommy Rancel thinks Rays Chris Archer is a pitcher on the verge of a breakout. He also mentions Jeff Locke and Tyler Chatwood in similar terms. Boy, that Archer kid sounds like the type of guy we'd like to trade Garza for. OK, it's not like Garza hasn't been good for the Cubs.
• Baseball's reigning ironman is Prince Fielder, who has played 440 straight games. He only missed one game in the past 767 games because of a bad case of the flu. He explains that it was a stern look from his dad as a kid that makes him never take a day off.
• Matt Harvey thinks ESPN embarrassed him. And not for posting naked pictures of him. He's OK with that. And apparently not because they let Around the Horn on the air, either.
• Blue Jays hurler Mark Buehrle says "Maybe we were overrated."
• Expos fans attended Sunday's game at the Rogers Centre to campaign for a return of baseball to Montreal. I'd be a lot more supportive of them (and I do support them) if I wasn't positive that they would want a return of the name "Expos" and their "ELB" logo.
• Christina Kahrl notes that Mike Trout is having just as good a season this year as last. There can be no doubts about his talent anymore.
• The Twins owners are arguing that they're team is worth a lot less than people claim. Of course, the people who they're arguing with are the IRS and they've just gotten a big tax bill. But does anyone seriously think that controlling interest in the Twins in 2009 was only worth $24 million like the Pohlads claim? Certainly the IRS isn't buying it. MLS teams sell for more than that.
• Wrigley Field isn't the only park with a bird problem. In fact, they don't even have the worst problem. The seagulls at AT&T Park have become a real problem. There is no legal way to get rid of them short of hiring a falconer, and that would cost around $8000 a game. (But seriously. Falconers get $8000 a day? I went into the wrong profession.)
• Terry Francona is not moving Nick Swisher out of the cleanup spot. At least not for now.
• The Diamondbacks are slumping. They're not getting the clutch hitting that they were earlier this season. Wow. All those guys who were clutch before aren't anymore. It's almost like it's not a real skill.
• Scott Miller looks back at the life of Bud Selig and the impact he's had on the game.
• Yoenis Cespedes hasn't played since winning the HR derby. He has a sore wrist. He might take batting practice today and see how he feels.
• Finally, the next time you scream at Dusty Baker for ruining Mark Prior's career (and honestly, we don't know that he did that), consider the case of Tomohiro Anraku. Last year, the 16-year-old Japanese phenom threw 772 pitches in five games over nine days. Then his arm gave out. It's a long article worth reading from ESPN the Magazine that illustrated the differences between American and Japanese culture. Not just baseball culture, but a lot more than that. For Americans, the solution to his arm problems are rest and maybe surgery. For the Japanese, the answer is that he needs to throw some more.

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