MLB Bullets Needs To Grow Up

I got nothing.

• Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig has been criticized for his lack of maturity, although his defenders will point out that he's only 22 years old and has only been out of communist Cuba for a little over a year. His detractors got a lot of ammunition this week as he walked into the clubhouse in Miami, yelled "F*** the media" at the reporters waiting to talk to him and walked out. On the other hand, his English is improving.
• The next day, Puig was kept out of the starting lineup and fined an undisclosed amount for arriving late to the ballpark. He said he was stuck in traffic.
• So what does Puig do? He comes off the bench and hits a two-run home run in the eighth inning to beat the Marlins. So all's well that ends well?
• That's about as long as I can go without mentioning Alex Rodriguez. MLB announced today that Ryan Dempster was suspended for five games for throwing at Rodriguez Sunday night. It's a laughably short suspension that won't even force Dempster to miss a start. It also fuels Rodriguez's conspiracy theory that MLB is out to get him.
• Jon Heyman is upset with the length of Dempster's suspension. Not just because he threw at ARod four times, but because he then wasn't man enough to admit it. He's also upset that Dempster made Rodriguez look like the good guy in all this.
• Tom Verducci says that l'affaire Rodriguez is already ugly and it's just going to get uglier as both sides prepare for war.
• Michael McCann says that Rodriguez's legal team seems to be preparing for a massive lawsuit against MLB that could drag this on for a long time and force MLB to settle on Rodriguez's terms.
• Speaking of which, there was a report last night that MLB has a standing offer on the table of a 150 game suspension if ARod drops his appeal. MLB denies there is any such offer.
• Brian Cashman's alleged former mistress has claimed that the Yankees GM knew about PED use among the Yankees and didn't care. Now considering these allegations come as part of her defense in her trial for, essentially, being a crazy stalker of Cashman and trying to blackmail him, her credibility is not unimpeachable. That would make it impeachable. Why the double-negative, Josh?
• Add Jay Jaffe to those who don't like the challenge system for instant replay. He documents what he sees are several of its flaws.
• Craig Calcaterra brings up the biggest flaw of the challenge system that I've seen so far: What's going to happen to the "neighborhood play" at second base? We all know that umpires let that go, unless it's blatant, so that the middle infielder can get out of the way before he gets injured. But by the rulebook, the runner at second should be safe. If umpires were in charge of reviewing plays, they could just let that go. But managers will quickly challenge that call and that could have negative consequences. Of course, maybe dear readers would like it better if it was gone.
• Scott Miller thinks Terry Francona has brought hope back to Cleveland. Winning baseball, too.
• But not Daisuke Matsuzaka. The Indians released him at his request.
• The Giants DFA'd Jeff Francoeur. He's one of the worst hitting corner outfielders in major league history with at least 4000 plate appearances. Oh what will keep Grant Brisbee up nights now? I'm sure he'll find something.
• Jason Collette thinks the Giants should re-sign Tim Lincecum and Hunter Pence.
• Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has reportedly received a one-year contract extension. His contract previously ran out at the end of this year.
• Eric Wedge will return to managing the Mariners on Friday after he suffered a mild stroke on July 22. He tells Ken Rosenthal that he knows he's going to have to make changes in the way he does his job if he wants to keep managing and, oh yeah, just stay alive.
• New Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg announced that his first project is to "straighten out" Jimmy Rollins. He wants Rollins to make several changes at the plate designed to get on base more often.
• Sandberg has gotten the Roy Halladay Seal Of Approval.
• David Wright plans to play again this season.
• David Schoenfield has seen the future of New York baseball, and they play in Flushing, Queens.
• Johan Santana wants to pitch again next season.
• The Red Sox called up top prospect Xander Bogaerts.
• Brandon McCarthy admits he still gets scared sometimes when he takes the mound.
• Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is all about "sustainability" and that's not an environmental buzzword to him.
• Bronson Arroyo made Reds history by not walking anyone again.
• The Rays stadium situation just got worse as they don't have the proper permits for the billboard that they have on the interstate outside their stadium. They will likely have to take down some of the advertising.
• Former major leaguer and current Ft. Myers Miracle manager Doug Mientkiewicz got into an ugly brawl with the manager of the Bradenton Marauders. (VIDEO)
• And finally, former major league outfielder Gabe Kapler writes a long and excellent essay about PED use, his relationship to them (tempted but never) and how you can't tell who is using by looking at their bodies or their stats.