MLB Bullets Is The New Face Of Baseball

I think the Bronx is burning again. Or maybe that's just the Yosemite fire I'm breathing.

• Back around the All-Star Game, Jayson Stark asked a question of "Who is the face of baseball?" He wanted to know who was baseball's equivalent of LeBron James or Peyton Manning. So ESPN surveyed baseball fans to find out who they thought was "the face of baseball." The answer they came up with is not going to make Bud Selig very happy: It's Alex Rodriguez and it wasn't even really close. Now there is more nuance to the survey than I'm giving here and Stark goes into it in great detail, so go check out the article and get all the facts.
• Just for the record, I was surveyed and my answer was "Luis Valbuena." OK, not really. But about four years ago I was surveyed and they asked me "Which do you follow more: the Giants, the Athletics or neither?" I follow all teams in baseball but I certainly watch more Giants games than A's games (except this year) so I said "Giants." That led me into a string of questions asking me about my Giants fandom and it ended up making me look like one of the biggest Giants fans ever. It was an automated survey, so I couldn't go back and say "Can I change my earlier answer?" So I'm apologizing for that right here.
• Getting back to the first item, we might as well call today "Yankees Bullets" because so much of the news is coming out of the Bronx. Finishing second in that survey was Derek Jeter, and he's out for the rest of the season. He vows to come back for 2014.
• Both Jeter and Yankees GM Brian Cashman think shutting down this season is best for both the Yankees and for Jeter. He wasn't helping the Yankees playing and he wasn't getting healthy playing.
• Emma Span writes about Derek Jeter's "nightmare season." She thinks that if anyone can come back from this, it's Jeter, but then asks "What if no one can do it?"
• Joe Posnanski has no doubt that Jeter will play in 2014, but wonders if maybe he shouldn't. He looks at the sad end for several hall of famers and Muhammad Ali.
• Jon Heyman echoes Posnanski's sentiments and says there's no need for Jeter to play in 2014.
• One of the reasons that the Yankees are staying in the race is the hitting of Alfonso Soriano, who says a big difference is that he's having a lot more fun with the Yankees than he was having with the Cubs. Oh yeah, Fonzie? Being a Cub isn't about "fun." Do you think any of us are having any fun this season? No! And that's how we like it!
• The Yankees will pay $29.1 million in luxury tax this season, which is more than the entire Astros payroll. Of course, I think I get paid more than the entire Astros payroll. They make about a buck seventy-five an hour, don't they?
• Maybe because of that huge payroll, Yankees President Randy Levine says that they want Robinson Cano back, but not at any cost. There is a limit to how much the Yankees will offer Cano. Of course, they're not saying what that limit is.
• Here's an article some of you will find interesting. Ken Rosenthal notes that Robinson Cano is not the only big free agent who could leave the Bronx this offseason. Manager Joe Girardi is a free agent and Rosenthal thinks he could manage any team he wanted to. He also suspects the one team he might want to leave the Yankees for play on the north side of Chicago.
• Bobby Valentine opened his mouth again and accused the Yankees of being absent in New York in the aftermath of 9/11 as opposed to his Mets, whom he sees as being more active. Randy Levine called Valentine's comments "very sad." Keith Olbermann named Valentine his "Worst Person in the Sports World" for the day. The video is in the previous link.
• Staying with the Mets, Jon Heyman wonders if the Amazings are going to pursue Shin-Soo Choo this off-season.
• You've probably already heard this, but Marlins hurler Jose Fernandez hit his first home run of the season and then admired it too long for the taste of the Braves. Then a bunch more stuff happened that you've probably already heard about, but if you haven't, you can watch it all at the link.
• Jay Jaffe has a take on it, as well as a take on Jose Fernandez's amazing rookie season.
• In any case, Jose Fernandez apologized.
• So the Marlins punished Fernandez for breaking the unwritten rules by making him wear silly clothes. Not really. Just normal rookie hazing. But they did tell him to tone down his behavior on the field.
• Wladimir Balentien tied Sadaharu Oh's single-season home run record in Japan. He may have broken it by the time you read this. I'm not staying up until 5 am to find out.
• Jack Gallagher looks at the history of Oh's record and the efforts of Japanese players to protect it from being broken by a gaijin. There is a general sense that this time, Balentien will be given a chance to break the record.
• Jeff Passan uses Balentien's chase for the record to rip Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Of course he does.
• You know that Al is cheering for a three-way tie for first in the NL Central and the chaos that would ensue, but Jay Jaffe breaks down all the tiebreaker possibilities for the AL Wild Card spot. At least I think he does. Honestly, I couldn't get through it. But you can try and see if you can figure it out.
• Joe Lemire looks at the Royals bullpen and how it gets them into that Wild Card race.
• The Rangers poor offense has them sliding out of the AL West and into that Wild Card race. And maybe out of that eventually if they don't start hitting.
• The Rays have been sliding too and have let several teams back into the chase. There's no one reason the Rays are playing poorly and there are problems all around.
• Michael Bourn just wants Indians fans to come out and watch the team play. Either not many people in Cleveland have noticed the Indians are back in the chase or they just don't care.
• The Red Sox aren't in that Wild Card chase as they've got the best record in baseball and are running away with the AL East. Jonah Keri examines all of their off-season signings and looks at how these moves, heavily criticized at the time, turned the Red Sox from worst to first.
• A radio host in Seattle says he's heard that Eric Wedge will not return to the Mariners next season.
• Phillies GM Ruben Amaro is likely to return next season.
• The Giants are taking a hard look at Cuban slugger Jose Abreu.
• The Diamondbacks have already played the equivalent of eight extra games this season thanks to all their extra-inning contests. They're only three innings away from the MLB record of 76, set by the Twins in 1969.
• Will Venable has improved his defense and learned to hit lefties, and that has turned him into one of the best outfielders in the National League this season.
• Mike Trout won't win the MVP, but he's the most valuable player in baseball.
• The Pirates will not shut down Gerrit Cole this season.
• Is Welington Castillo the slowest player in baseball? Maybe.
• Finally, a singing hot dog vendor got fired in Detroit for not liking ketchup. I guess I'd better start looking for a new job, because I hate the stuff too.