MLB Bullets Says Goodbye

Absolutely no one has asked me this, but one of the reasons (other than to make my life more simple) that most of my links are to mlb.com or network (ESPN, Fox, NBC, etc.) sites is that so many newspapers have gone on a pay meter these days and I want to keep links like that to a minimum. Yes, I'll link to a newspaper or even something behind a paywall from time to time, but I want to make things as simple as possible yet still bring you what everyone is talking about in baseball.

But anyway, there's a reason I mention this today.

• As you can imagine, when a legend dies, the news keeps on coming for a few days. There's no way that I can list all of the Tony Gwynn articles and tributes over the past few days, but I'll try to hit some highlights. I haven't read them all--no one possibly could--and that's a tribute to how many lives Gwynn has touched. But I'm sure that I've missed something great that's out there, so please forgive me.
• Here's a roundup of reactions on Twitter to Gwynn's passing.
• Here's some excerpts and links to a few top pieces on Gwynn's death.
• Tom Verducci says Gwynn was a joy on and off the field.
• Buster Olney remembers Gwynn from his time as a Padres beat writer. He remembers how much Gwynn loved to talk about hitting.
• Joe Posnanski considers Gwynn to have been a great artist who brought beauty into our lives.
• Ken Rosenthal says that Gwynn brought a smile to so many people's faces, for both the stuff he did on the field as well as off the field. He also got a great quote from Michael Young: "Ted Williams gets to talk hitting again."
• Scott Miller remembers his personality  and humanitarian work and writes that we need more people like Gwynn outside of baseball.
• On a personal level, David Johnson says what it was like to be Tony Gwynn's batboy. (Answer: It was pretty darn awesome, and Will Clark and Benito Santiago were jerks.)
• Stephen Strasburg, who played for Gwynn at San Diego State, fought back the tears in explaining how much Gwynn meant to him. (video)
• Tom Friend wrote about Gwynn's final days and how the pressures of baseball drove him to chew tobacco.
• Maury Brown wonders if smokeless tobacco will be banned in the majors after Gwynn's death.
• Anthony Castrovince doesn't want it banned, but he does want Gwynn's death to have meaning by inspiring players to quit the stuff.
• And one player already has. After hearing about Gwynn's death, Addison Reed dumped out all seven cans of tobacco that he had in his locker. Reed also played for Gwynn at SDSU.
• Now for why I mentioned the website issue at the top of the page. One of my go-to guys to link to whenever I needed a link to something the Rangers were doing was Richard Durrett, who covered the team for ESPN Dallas. Durrett died suddenly last night. He was only 38 years old and leaves behind a wife and two children. There are links to a couple of tributes to Durrett at the story I linked to. He will be missed as well.
• As far as I can tell, the last story that Durrett covered was talking about the impact on the Rangers from signing former Cubs first baseman Carlos Peña to a minor league deal.
• The second-to-last story Durrett filed was the kind of opinion piece that I often looked to Durrett for. He thought the Rangers should not trade Alex Rios, unless they get an offer they can't refuse.
• I'm a real downer today, aren't I? So let's have some happier news before I go to the injury report. Mike Trout had two more home runs last night. He's the best player in baseball, writes David Schoenfield. Also, remember the "What's wrong with Trout?" stories from last month? Just forget about those.
• Barry Bloom says Masahiro Tanaka is having one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time. His only loss is still to the Cubs. YCPB.
• Howard Megdal thinks that of all the great young pitchers on the Cardinals, Carlos Martinez is probably the greatest, and that's saying something.
• The Royals are in first place! Naturally, everyone is crediting Dale Sveum for the team's hot streak, but Jay Jaffe thinks the team's hitters are just finally doing what we all expected them to do. Also, the AL Central stinks. Both of those points may lead the Royals to the playoffs for the first time since 1985.
• Dayn Perry notes that despite his decreased home run totals this year, Robinson Cano remains an elite hitter, just not in the same way that we're used to him being one.
• Someone who hasn't been very elite lately is Justin Verlander, who has a 4.98 ERA so far this season. David Schoenfield asks what's wrong?
• Jon Paul Morosi writes whatever is wrong (and we're not sure what it is), Verlander's biggest enemy right now is his own stubbornness.
• Grant Brisbee, as a Giants fan, has advice for Tigers fans about how to cope with your former Cy Young Award winning pitcher suddenly being lousy.
• Normally this would be the top story of the day, but death conquers all, I guess. Last night in some sort of show of baseball justice and outrage over cheating, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson ordered Evan Marshall to hit Ryan Braun with runners on second and third and one out in a game that the DBacks were leading 4-3. They all deny it of course, but no one believes them and I certainly don't. Especially since it took two pitches for Marshall to hit Braun. So the next batter, Jonathan Lucroy, hit a grand slam, and the Diamondbacks lost the game. Good going, Kirk! You're going to take Ned Yost's title away from him yet. (Especially with the Royals in first place.) Also, you're a coward for not admitting you orders Braun hit.
• Speaking of Lucroy, to support his All-Star Game candidacy, the Brewers made an attack ad against Yadier Molina.
• Aaron Gleeman wants to know when the Brewers will replace Marco Estrada in their rotation with top prospect Jimmy Nelson.
• It'll cost you seven bucks to buy a beer at Miller Park. But Oakland just bought pitcher Brad Mills from the Brewers for a dollar. Seriously, can I buy two or three pitchers the next time I'm in Milwaukee? ("That'll be $20. Oh, that kind of pitcher? Oh, those are only a dollar.)
• I've put off the butcher's bill long enough. Tommy John surgery has been the number one story this season, and you can add another name to the casualty list. But this one has a twist as it's not a pitcher but Orioles catcher Matt Wieters. Position players usually come back faster from TJS than pitchers do, but Wieters is still out for the season.
• Jonathan Bernhart looks at the way forward for Baltimore and concludes that making the postseason without Wieters might be impossible.
• Drew Pomeranz broke his pitching hand punching out a chair. And the Darwin Award goes to . . .?
• David Carpenter hit the DL with a strained biceps.
• Chad Billingsley will have season-ending elbow surgery. His season started?
• The Red Sox designated Grady Sizemore for assignment, ruining that feel-good story. Thanks, Boston!
• The Giants signed Cuban outfielder Daniel Carbonell.
• Cee Angi thinks that baseball doesn't understand how to market to women.
• Some Washington Nationals fans are upset that Bryce Harper wore a hat with a blue star on it instead of a cap with a racial slur on it.
• Finally, Raul Ibañez hit a foul ball. And it was never seen or heard from again.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Go USA! Go Orange!