MLB Bullets Is Spending Time With His Family

I'm still hung over from minor league opening night, and I didn't drink anything stronger than coffee.

• The Mets Daniel Murphy decided to take three days (two games) off for paternity leave and some radio talk show hosts aren't happy about it. Specifically, Mike Francesca, Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton ripped into Murphy's decision. Esiason, the former NFL quarterback, was particularly insensitive in suggesting that Murphy's wife have an unnecessary Cesarean section so that the child would be born before Opening Day. As the husband of a woman who had a C-section, I wouldn't tell anyone to have one unless they absolutely had to. It's major surgery. As it turned out, Murphy's wife had to have a C-section anyway, which is all the more reason he should have been there.
• Melissa Isaacson says the hosts are "clueless" and she offers her sympathy to their wives.
• Murphy, for his part, declined to respond to the comments but his manager Terry Collins came to his defense.
• The other big story the past two days has already been covered around here, that being Junior Lake wearing the wrong uniform.
• But the other big uniform story is that some Indians fans have taken it upon themselves to remove Chief Wahoo from their Indians paraphernalia. This, of course, has driven other fans insane. Or maybe they were insane in the first place.
• David Ortiz has the top-selling uniform. That's counting the versions both with and without Chief Wahoo. The version without Chief Wahoo is selling far better. Coincidence? I think not.
• If you're a Dodgers fan in Southern California, you're more likely than not having a real hard time watching your team on TV as fully 70% of homes do not have access to the new SportsNet LA. So Bill Plaschke went out looking for a bar or restaurant that carried the game and he couldn't even watch the game that way. As Plaschke points out, tell a Dodger fan that they can either have Clayton Kershaw or Vin Scully, and they'll choose Vin Scully every time.
• I hesitate to link to this story, but most of the other baseball media are talking about it so I think I'd do you a disservice by leaving it out. Greg Hanlon goes to prison and interviews former major leaguer Chad Curtis about his conviction on three charges of sexual assaulting high school girls. But even more importantly, Hanlon tells the victims side of the story by quoting their sworn testimony in court. It's a disturbing story. To bring this back to baseball, Hanlon also talks to some of Curtis' former teammates. It doesn't sound like Royce Clayton is going to be a character reference at any future appeal.
• Staying in the legal system, Lenny Dykstra is suing L.A. County alleging that he was beaten by deputies while in custody.
• Similarly, former Astros pitcher Brandon Backe is also suing the Galveston police department after a brutal beating in 2008. Without having read any of the relevant court documents, I've got to say I'd be far more likely to believe Backe than Dykstra. It certainly sounds like he has the stronger case and he's not a con man by trade. (h/t Big League Stew)
• Back to baseball. Ian O'Connor says that on top of all the other things Derek Jeter has to deal with in his final season, the biggest one might be dealing with all the accolades and ceremonies that are coming his way.
• Will Leitch tells Jeter to shut up and take it. You're not getting out of all the on-field ceremonies giving you goofy gifts.
• The Yankees lost their first two games of the season, so naturally, the media is looking for a scapegoat already. They've decided to pick Alfonso Soriano. Remember Cubs fans: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
• Ichiro Suzuki says he's not used to being a bench player. But of course because it's Ichiro, he has some crazy suggestions to fix the problem.
• As part of "Yasiel Puig's Listening Tour," he has sought out advice from Albert Pujols and Robinson Cano.
• Benjamin Morris, writing in Nate Silver's new FiveThirtyEight asks "Has Mike Trout Already Peaked?" Hey, someone had to ask.
• FiveThirtyEight also published an extensive study of biases in the calling of balls and strikes by umpires. Lots of advanced math in this one, but the graphs sure do look pretty.
• Umpire Tim McClelland is taking a medical leave of absence this season because of a back injury that may end his 31 year career.
• Bobby Abreu, who once upon a time was probably my favorite active non-Cubs player, says he's not ready to retire. Even though he hasn't played since 2012, he's still looking for another team to give him a chance.
• Believe it or not, LaTroy Hawkins is the oldest active player in the National League. He's spending his time paying forward the kindness and wisdom he received as a young player to the next generation. Just like the late Kirby Puckett asked him to do.
• Hawkins is the closer in Colorado. Jonathan Broxton is going to be the closer in Cincinnati when he comes off the disabled list. At least until Aroldis Chapman comes back
• Run for your lives! BEES! BEES!
• Marc Normandin says that after locking up Chris Archer for the next six years, it looks like the Rays have put together a dominating top three rotation of Archer, Matt Moore and Alex Cobb that they can keep together for more than just a year or two. He writes that they thought they had that a few years ago in Price, James Shields and Matt Garza, but the three never came together at the same time.
• Ken Rosenthal says Archer's new extension is a sign of how healthy the industry is these days.
• Joe Lemire writes that Bryce Harper's competitive drive is his defining characteristic.
• They're still working out the kinks in this replay thing. Padres manager Bud Black was denied a chance to challenge a play because it wasn't "timely."
• Yu Darvish will come off the DL and start for the Rangers on Sunday.
• The Blue Jays players were approached about deferring money on their contracts so the team could sign Ervin Santana.
• Ned Yost has some odd ideas.
• Blake Murphy has the biggest moments in Olympic Stadium history. What? That leg of "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" didn't make the list?
• A furniture dealer in Houston will give away free furniture if the Astros can avoid 100 losses.
• We love to pick on Jeffrey Loria around here because 99% of the time, he deserves it. This is one of those 99% of the time. Loria wrote a very odd book about the comic strip "Peanuts" back in 1968. Apparently, one of the lessons of Charlie Brown and the gang teach us is that dirty hippies are ruining America. But there's more than just Loria complaining he didn't get invited to Monterey Pop. It's full of odd stuff. Take a look.
• Carlos Gomez thinks he's a rapper. He's not.
• Finally, Red Sox backup catcher David Ross reenacts all the important parts of the movie Major League. David, you may catch like Bench but you hit like . . .

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