MLB Bullets Is Taking Some Time Off

And the International Olympic Committee has missed their chance to play Ice Baseball for another four years.

• The big story from Friday's Bullets came to an end later that day as the NCAA suspended Oregon State pitcher Ben Wetzler eleven games for having an agent in his negotiations with the Phillies. That includes the games he's already missed, so he'll be eligible to play this upcoming Sunday, missing an additional three games. On the face of it, this decision is absurd as the NCAA should have stripped him of his eligibility if he had an agent. But because the NCAA said he didn't actually use the agent in negotiations, they let him off with eleven games. They said they had to suspend him because the agent was present in the room as Wetzler did the negotiations, which was a violation. One almost wonders if the NCAA is starting to realize the absurdity of its own rule. Naaah.
• The Phillies issued their statement on the matter, which was essentially to say we're not going to comment on it. That's a real profile in courage, there. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. went on to praise himself for being a wonderful guy and that everyone knows he's a wonderful guy.
• By the way, kudos to Baseball America for breaking this story. It's worth the $66 a year to subscribe, although these news stories were available free to everyone. (I get no compensation for plugging them. Subscribe anyway.)
• Darren Heitner in Forbes goes into great detail of the recent history of this rule, looking at the Andy Oliver and James Paxton cases. He also says that while the Phillies deserve all the disgust you can throw at them, don't forget to throw an equal amount at the NCAA.
• In more traditional Phillies news, Cliff Lee trots out the "age is just a number" cliche. Lee is still a very good pitcher. But the Phillies are old, old, old.
• And now there are three. Nelson Cruz agreed to a one-year, $8 million contract with the Orioles. That's only $6.1 million less than the qualifying offer the Rangers made.
• Joe Lemire thinks that once the Orioles forfeited their first round pick to sign Ubaldo Jimenez, it made perfect sense for them to sign Cruz.
• Jeff Sullivan agrees with Lemire and adds that Baltimore was the most logical destination for Cruz. But he writes that while it's impossible to quarrel with a one-year deal, Cruz still doesn't seem like a bargain for the Orioles.
• Jon Heyman notes that one of the three remaining free agents, Stephen Drew, has started spring training all by himself.
• Ken Rosenthal says that the three remaining free agents may wait until after the June draft to sign,when compensation rules will no longer apply. I'm guessing that any player that waits until June would get a lot more than what Nelson Cruz got, so it probably makes sense.
• The Yankees signed Brett Gardner to a four-year, $52 million deal.
• Jay Jaffe thinks the Yankees got a bargain with Gardner, compared to the $153 million they paid for Jacoby Ellsbury.
• With free agents costing more and more, the Braves strategy of locking up most of their players to long-term deals is looking more and more attractive.
• In response to those who think that Andrelton Simmons wouldn't have gotten his extension without the new defensive metrics, David Schoenfield points out that Ozzie Smith was one of the best-paid players in the game in his day.
• The Angels are getting closer to locking up Mike Trout on a six-year deal that would buy out the first two years of free agency. Trout would still be eligible to be a free agent at 28, however.
• Jonathan Bernhardt wonders what the Reds extending Homer Bailey means for Mat Latos and Johnny Cueto.
• Agent Scott Boras says that Rogers Communication, the owners of the Blue Jays, are cheap.
• As evidence, the Blue Jays now say they are comfortable with their starting rotation as it stands now, after not acquiring a new starter this off-season. However, at the beginning of the winter, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said their number one priority was to add another starter.
• MLB is expected to announce new rules about home plate collisions later today.
• Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino wants Bud Selig to reconsider his retirement and stay on after this season. I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes and maybe you should, but there are probably 29 other teams who agree with Lucchino and those are the only opinions that count. Except for Bud Selig's, of course.
• Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke isn't happy about the team's trip to Australia. He's scheduled to pitch game two.
• Australian officials are upset about Greinke's comments and have asked the Dodgers for an explanation. Sounds like the Aussies are going to be cheering for the Diamondbacks.
• Andre Ethier's foul ball hit Sandy Koufax in the head.
• New Dodger Chone Figgins is trying to get back to where he was with the Angels
• The Dodgers have four outfielders who all consider themselves worthy of starting. Gabe Kapler says that's a good thing, not a bad thing.
• Don Mattingly is considering batting Yasiel Puig leadoff because he "hasn't proven himself to be an RBI guy." I'm glad Don Mattingly isn't going to let his judgement get clouded by all that fancy book learnin'.
• The White Sox broadcasts are going to start including more sabermetric concepts. This is where Hawk Harrelson starts asking Steve Stone what Jose Abreu's tWTW stats are.
• The Rockies shut down Jhoulys Chacin. He's scheduled to get an MRI on his right shoulder today.
• Dave Duncan is working with the Diamondbacks pitchers this spring.
• Several Diamondbacks took the field with some little league teams. As I mentioned in an earlier Bullets, these teams are all wearing Diamondbacks jerseys this season.
• People on the internets are upset that CC Sabathia has lost a lot of weight, which he did for his health and not to be a better baseball player. Sabathia says before they said he was too fat and that he can't win.
• Matt Harvey threw a baseball for the first time since Tommy John surgery.
• Thieves searching for copper destroyed a statue of the late Cory Lidle in his home town of West Covina, California.
• Jerry Crasnick thinks that led by Sonny Gray, the Athletics once again have a great young pitching staff. Too bad the Cubs couldn't sign him, but he told them that he was going to Vanderbilt no matter what before they drafted him.
• A stray dog has become the Brewers new mascot. Do not click if you hate adorable.
• Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon says that first base is Justin Smoak's to lose. Well maybe if you'd tell him where you put it after you stole it in Pittsburgh, he'd know where it is and it wouldn't be lost, Lloyd.
• New Reds manager Bryan Price wants the team to run more, and he's not just talking about Billy Hamilton.
• Maybe you've missed it with all the stuff going down in the Ukraine, Syria and now Thailand, but violence has broken out in Venezuela between the government and anti-government protesters. Many major leaguers are worried for their families back home.
• Leigh Montville wants the BBWAA and the Hall of Fame to strip the 2011 J.G. Spink Award from the late Philadelphia writer Bill Conlin. Shortly after he received the award, Conlin was accused by several people of molesting them when they were children. Conlin was never charged because the statute of limitations had run out. Conlin died last month.
• Of course, Conlin didn't do anything as bad as what Dan LeBatard did. (Note: That's a slam on the misguided morals of the BBWAA. I'm not actually saying that giving your Hall of Fame vote to Deadspin is worse that molesting children. It's a rhetorical device. I know that 99.9% of you understand that, but I don't want to hear from that 0.1%)
• Finally, speaking of morals, Steve Wulf looks back at Yankees outfielder Jake Powell and the utterly racist remark he made on a live interview on WGN Radio back in 1938. That remark caused a national uproar and, it has been argued, pushed baseball closer to integration as they attempted to make amends, or at least make the uproar go away.

A quick housekeeping note. I'm taking some time off from the blog, as I've got things going on in my life right now that are going to keep me too busy to write this, or any other article, for a while. Assuming everything goes as planned, I'll be back a week from today. In the meantime, Al will be writing this column on Wednesday and Friday. Be nice to him. He's new.

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