MLB Bullets Is Still In The Race

Here are the best links about the FIFA World Cup . . . err . . . Major League Baseball. Are we all still watching baseball this month? We are? Well, let's go then. Baseball is a better sport than soccer, no doubt. I'm just not sure that's true this month.

• We're starting to get an idea of who the contenders are this season. Ben Lindbergh runs the numbers and says "practically everyone" and says Bud Selig's dream of parity has become a reality. Yeah, we know. The Cubs are one of the five teams that aren't contenders. You don't need to tell us.
• Bob Nightengale asks "Is this a problem?" and is worried baseball has traded great teams for a bunch of average ones. (Lindbergh's story is a kind of response to Nightengale, which makes it weird that I linked Lindbergh's first, but he sets up the issue better than Nightengale.)
• Jerry Crasnick has praise for Giants GM Brian Sabean and looks back at the moves that turned the third-place Giants into a 6.5 game lead in the NL West.
• Similarly, Sam Miller looks at Blue Jays GM Alex Anthropoulos' offseason moves (Baseball Prospectus Subscribers Only) that turned the Blue Jays into contenders this season. This article was free on Fox Sports earlier this weekend, but it's gone now. Here's the gist. All seven of Anthropoulos' moves were either minor or backfired. The Blue Jays got better because the guys they already had got better. But it makes a nice contrast to the article about Sabean.
• In this era of parity, David Schoenfield thinks the Royals are still contenders despite a pretty bad offense.
• Jeff Sullivan says that much to our surprise, the Marlins are pretty good this season, thanks to a first-rate offense.
• The Tigers are a flawed team, but having an ace like Max Scherzer might be the difference in winning the AL Central.
• Of course, we're all Cubs fans here and misery loves company. One team that isn't contending is the Phillies. One reason why might be their GM Ruben Amaro Jr., who apparently has no clue that walks aren't counted in batting averages. This came up because he couldn't understand why Mike Schmidt and Jimmy Rollins had similar batting averages and the same number of hits but Schmidt had over a thousand more plate appearances.
• David S. Cohen wonders if Amaro even realizes that walks are valuable.
• In any case, now that Jimmy Rollins has the Phillies all-time hits record, he's open to being traded.
• Another team that isn't contending is the Padres. Ken Rosenthal writes that some changes may be coming soon. Coaches are almost certain to go, but Rosenthal writes that manager Bud Black's job is not safe at the moment.
• Mike Bauman thinks that the first-place Brewers need to make a move, but they don't need to make a trade. Just call up top prospect Jimmy Nelson and move him into the rotation.
• One secret to the Brewers success is catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who is in the running for the title of "Most Underrated Player In Baseball" now that we've said that about Ben Zobrist so much that he's overrated now.
• Mets GM Sandy Alderson has some advice for fans about baseball trades: Stay off of Twitter and drink beer. Really good advice for everyone, actually.
• The Oakland Athletics are the best team in the American League and they can't even keep their lights on. Someone didn't pay the electric bill, I guess.
• The Derek Jeter farewell tour came to Oakland and the Athletics did not show the famous "flip" from the 2001 ALDS. Sort of.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the A's should have shown it and then gifted Jeter Jeremy Giambi's severed (wax?) foot. I mean, what do you give to a man you really don't like but tradition says you have to give a gift to?
• Ah yes. A gift certificate to a restaurant. That's what the A's gave Jeter. That's what everyone gives someone they don't like but they have to give a gift to. I like the severed foot idea better.
• Derek Jeter took the lack of showing the play in stride, saying "I've seen it. I'm sure they've all seen it."
• Staying in the Bay Area, Henry Schulman shoots down that "Samardzija to San Francisco" rumor. Good. Their trading chip prospects are . . .not terrible. But that's the best I can say about them.
• Nerd alert: There's one last article in Baseball Prospectus by Lewie Pollis before he starts working for the Cincinnati Reds. In it, he talks about "The Matt Cain Quandry" and how some pitchers consistently exceed their DIPS numbers. If you don't get that, you're not alone.
• Until he doesn't, writes Rob Neyer. Which is what Matt Cain is doing right now.
• Dave Cameron looks at a different study and comes to the conclusion that we should trust our statistical projections a lot more than we actually do.
• Erik Malinkowski wonders if we'll ever see 300 wins or 4000 strikeouts again.
• Rex Brothers threw an "immaculate inning," or striking out the side on nine pitches. It's the fifth time it's happened this season and that ties the all-time record.
• PUIG! Yasiel Puig's bat flip after a walk (!?!) almost decapitated the catcher and umpire. Even Vin Scully stepped out of his "just the facts" mode to criticize that one.
• In his 19 year professional career, Bronson Arroyo has never missed a start. That looks like it's about to change.
• In an A-ball game, former major league fireballer Daniel Bard allowed 13 runs this season without giving up a hit. Hit the mascot. Oh, sorry. You can't even hit that.
• Here's the danger about getting too attached to your prospects. Brandon Wood was cut by an independent league team.
• Nick Cafardo remembers when Luis Tiant and Nolan Ryan went 14.1 and 13 innings respectively in an extra innings game. (H/T MLBTradeRumors)
• There was a time in baseball when switch-pitching Pat Venditte was just a freak show. Nowadays, he's still a bit of a freak show, but he's also a major-league prospect.
• A profile of the University of Tokyo baseball program, easily the worst in Japan. Despite not having won a game since 2010, they're enormously popular. Or maybe because of not having won a game since 2010.
• Do you want to know which team's fans are the biggest bandwagoners? Of course you do. Now that someone has studied this scientifically, we can give an answer: The Phillies. Which team is that at #4? Oh yeah. The Chicago White Sox. Which team is down at #22? The Cubs. I wonder how that happened? I thought we were the bandwagoners. At least that's what they're always telling me.
• An interview with Dr. James Andrews about arm injuries.
• The Red Sox are one of a few teams that are starting to welcome the children of players in the clubhouse. Players who would otherwise rarely get to see their kids are allowed to spend more time with them.
• Finally, Tony Gwynn Jr. was always reasonably close to his Hall of Fame dad. But it took his father's cancer to bring them closer together and for them to be open about how much they meant to each other. It also doesn't sound like the senior Gwynn is doing too well at the moment.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. And let's go USA.