MLB Bullets: Goodnight, Sweet Prince

The season finale of The Americans was mind-blowingly awesome. And I love that I found a picture of Fielder with his eyes closed.

• The casualty list for the Rangers was already pretty high, but it got a lot higher this week. Prince Fielder is expected to undergo season-ending surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. Fielder has never been on the DL his entire career until (presumably) now.
• And that's not all. Jurickson Profar, who has yet to play this season after shoulder injury in spring training, suffered a setback and will now miss another 8 to 12 weeks.
• Mike Bauman says the Fielder is proving to be mortal after all. He also warns against people saying "I told you so" about Fielder's injury, and I do admit it's a little tacky. But I did tell you so. So I'm a little tacky. Sue me.
• Evan Grant lists all the Rangers injuries and says the situation is now critical.
• Richard Durrett says that the injuries to Fielder and Profar means the Rangers plan for 2014 is now over.They can only hope the same is not true for seasons beyond this one.
• Jon Heyman writes that the Rangers may try to fill the hole left by Fielder by signing Kendrys Morales, but they aren't the only team interested in signing the former Mariner. That includes the Mariners, by the way.
• Marc Normandin lists three teams that should pursue Morales. That doesn't include the Rangers, but he did write this before the news about Fielder broke.
• Rather than try to fill holes, Keith Law thinks that the Rangers ought to trade Adrian Beltre and start to rebuild. (ESPN Insider Only)
• Rick Gosselin writes that the Rangers are looking like the clear loser in the Fielder/Ian Kinsler trade.
• David Schoenfield thinks the Rangers wouldn't be in this mess if they hadn't traded Chris Davis to Baltimore three years ago.
• Jean-Jacques Taylor has already written off this season for the Rangers. But he says disaster is coming if Fielder is not back to his old self next season. And everyone is going to get fired.
• This seems rather minor in the grand Rangers scheme of things, but Dan Robertson suffered a fractured cheekbone after colliding with Alex Rios. The Rangers do not know yet if he'll need to go on the DL.
• On to the more gruesome injuries. To no one's surprise, the Dodgers released Miguel Olivo after he bit off part of Alex Guerrero's ear.
• Guerrero's agent Scott Boras delivered a line that is going to be in all those "Famous Baseball Quotations" books in 50 years. "But shooting, stabbing or cannibalizing a player is not a part of baseball or being a proper teammate." It's the use of "cannibalizing" that makes the line pop.
• Our friends at True Blue LA found another good quote. In spring training, when asked what he would be if he weren't a baseball player, Miguel Olivo said he'd be a boxer like Mike Tyson but without biting an ear. You can't make this stuff up.
• John Perrotto writes that Manny Machado is overjoyed to be playing baseball again. Although he did leave last night's game with "right groin stiffness." The jokes are just writing themselves today, folks. Be sure to tip your waitstaff.
• Doug Padilla believes the White Sox were relieved when Chris Sale lost a perfect game in the sixth inning last night. It was Sale's first game back from the DL and he was on a strict pitch count. If he had hit that limit with the perfecto still intact, it would have been a difficult situation.
• With all the Tommy John surgeries this season, there has been a suggestion that American players were more at risk because of all the throwing they do in youth baseball. But a new study says that domestic pitchers have the same injury rate as those born in Latin America.
• LaTroy Hawkins secret to a healthy arm and longevity? Grow up in Gary, Indiana. Seriously. OK, there's nothing specific about Gary. Just any northern city where you can't play baseball in the winter.
• Ben Zobrist has been called "The most underrated player in baseball" for so long that he's probably overrated at this point. So who is the most underrated baseball player today? Dave Cameron nominates the Twins' Brian Dozier.
• Good thing he didn't nominate Mike Moustakas because the Royals sent him down to Omaha.
• The Red Sox are putting Stephen Drew on waivers so he can get some game action down in the minors before playing in Boston. That means any team could claim him and prevent the Red Sox from sending him down. But they won't because there is a gentleman's agreement against those kinds of shenanigans.
• Rob Neyer thinks the Tigers trading away Doug Fister might work out for them because Robbie Ray looks like a pretty good pitcher.
• Neyer also has an interview with Dan Epstein, who wrote a book about baseball in 1976.
• Related to Neyer's column from last time that the A's are the most interesting team in baseball, Grant Brisbee can't figure out how the Athletics keep turning seemingly mediocre ballplayers into all-stars. He suggests that it might have something to do with leprechauns.
• Jorge L. Ortiz says the secret to Oakland's success is platooning.
• Brisbee also asks if the Rockies are a bunch of dirty cheaters.
• Richard Justice has a man-crush on Hunter Pence.
• David Schoenfield believes the Pirates are doing the right thing in keeping Gregory Polanco down in the minors, at least as far as Polanco's career is concerned. Maybe not so much for their playoff chances. He doesn't address that.
• In what I'm sure everyone will say has nothing to do with the Diamondbacks hiring Tony La Russa and that it has been in the planning for months, Diamondbacks GM (for now) Kevin Towers has put his house up for sale.
• A cool look at baseball's new motion tracking system.
• Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe wants baseball to expand to help the economy.
• Some names have leaked as far as who the committee is looking at to replace commissioner Bud Selig. Ruben Amaro Jr.? Why? So he can do to baseball what he's doing to the Phillies? (In all seriousness, he's probably there to insure they interview a minority candidate. And I don't have a problem with that. I do have a problem if they give him the job.)
• Finally, let's all take a little time to honor Mike Hessman. Hessman has played 109 games in the majors over five seasons and none since 2010. In those games, he's hit 14 home runs. But this week in Rochester, Hessman hit his 400th career minor league home run. He's the real-life Crash Davis, only without Susan Sarandon.

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