MLB Bullets Is For The Birds

Our motto at MLB Bullets: If it bleeds, it leads.

• You're probably all pretty aware of this already, but in case you're not, Manny Machado was ejected from yesterday's Orioles/Athletics game for throwing his bat in the general direction of A's third baseman Josh Donaldson Alberto Callaspo. It had been a pretty heated series before that, and the pitch before that one had gone low and inside in the general direction of Machado's recently-healed knee.
• Unsurprisingly, Machado is claiming the bat just slipped out of his hands.
• David Schoenfield has all the background and says that Machado must be suspended for at least five games.
• Tracy Ringolsby, (and Schoenfield makes the same point) argues that this is worse that the Roger Clemens bat-throwing incident in 2000, but not as bad as Bert Campaneris in 1972 or Juan Marichal in 1965. But in any case, a young star like Machado needs to keep his emotions in check.
• Jonathan Bernhardt wants to point out he was an Orioles fan, so believe him when he says that MLB ought to come down hard on Machado and that the O's should bench him until they do. He also notes that before this, Machado had a reputation for being a model young ballplayer.
• And I can finally close the book on one long-running story we've had going here. Kendrys Morales, the last outstanding free agent on the market, signed with the Minnesota Twins for the rest of 2014. With the draft over, the Twins no longer lose a draft pick for signing him.
• Jack Moore thinks that by signing Morales, the Twins have the offense to compete in the weak AL Central.
• Christina Kahrl agrees that there's not much wrong with the Twins offense now, but she still doubts they have the pitching to compete. Still, she argues the deal is a win-win for the Twins and Morales. If the Twins get back in the race, great. If they don't, they'll trade him to a contender and get a prospect out of it while Morales gets to a pennant race.
• But as always in baseball, one man's opportunity is another man's end of the line. The Twins designated for assignment Jason Kubel to make room for Morales.
• Hey, this is something I meant to put in my Minor League Wrap, but when it comes time to write them, I've got so many facts, figures and details from the games that I sometimes forget some of this stuff. The Cubs released Joel Pineiro this past week. So the Angels signed him to a minor league deal. Pineiro was, of course, last seen in the majors with the Angels.
• There was a report coming out of Houston over the weekend that the Astros got prospect Domingo Santana from Philadelphia in the Hunter Pence deal when the Phillies mistakenly put him on the list of possible players to be named later. In any case, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. had vigorously and unequivocally denied the story.
• It's been a rough season in Philadelphia, and manager Ryne Sandberg was ejected for arguing after replay failed to overturn an "out" call at home plate against Marlon Byrd. This play revolved around the new home plate collisions rule. That's his first ejection as a manager. If I recall correctly, he was ejected a grand total of one time in his entire playing career. Of course, he got a reputation in the low-minors for ejections in the Cubs system, although he quieted down in Triple-A.
• There's a lot of "Draft Grades" from last week's draft that came out over the weekend, and all of them are just click-bait because no one is going to be able to even have the slightest idea of who drafted well and who didn't until 2017 at the earliest. So that's why I think Grant Brisbee has the best and most accurate draft grades out there. I think he only got the Giants grade wrong. They deserved an F.
• Tyler Kolek and his 100+mph fastball causes Hunter Atkins to recall the only other high school pitcher to hit triple-digits on a radar gun: Colt Griffin. What? You say you've never heard of Colt Griffin? Yeah, well there's a reason for that.
• Agent Joshua Kushnick gives you some inside information about how a couple of negotiations went.
• Felix Hernandez is an example of a pitcher who can still dominate even though he's not throwing as hard as he did when he was younger.
• Apparently, Justin Verlander is not such an example. Cliff Corcoran wonders if Verlander's days of being an ace are over.
• Chris Cwik looks at why the White Sox have so much success with Cuban players. Let's see. One reason is Minnie Minoso. Crap. I can't hate Minnie Minoso.
• PUIG! Here's a story about Yasiel Puig clearly not respecting the game by playing in the snow for the first time in his life.
• Paul Daugherty blasts Joey Votto for being on the disabled list or something.
• As Bill Baer points out, anytime someone writes "I'm not a doctor, but . . ." they need to stop it right there. Baer says Votto just can't win with these people.
• This is as good a time as any to go through the injuries. The Pirates put Gerrit Cole on the DL with "Shoulder fatigue." I'm not a doctor, but that usually means something's wrong with his shoulder and we don't know what it is. Might be nothing. Might be something..
• The 2014 Texas Rangers are to the disabled list what the Bee Gees were to the 1978 Top 40 Charts: Now Mitch Moreland is out for three months.
• Johan Santana was working on a comeback with the Orioles. Now he's out for the season with a torn Achilles.
• Shane Tourtellotte tries to figure out why Billy Beane's "[stuff] doesn't work in the playoffs." Does he come up with an answer? Not one that makes any sense. He does understand it doesn't make any sense.
• Alex Kaufman looks at the Cleveland Indians' DiamondView, which he calls "Moneyball before Moneyball."
• Paul Lo Duca is no fan of former Mets GM Omar Minaya. Or the current Mets catchers, apparently.
• This is mostly a fantasy article, but it does have real-life implications. Which pitchers have been "lucky" so far this season?
• Dirk Hayhurst thinks we need to pay a lot more attention to Mark Buehrle and figure out the secret to his soft-tossing success.
• Even with Jose Fernandez on the shelf, Henderson Alvarez and Nate Eovaldi are two Marlins pitchers worth watching.
• Top Marlins prospect Andrew Heaney may be joining them soon.
• R.J. Anderson tries to figure out how you keep Dee Gordon from stealing bases. It helps to be Johnny Cueto, apparently.
• Emma Span believes it is sexist the way young girls are pushed away from baseball and into softball.
• The Rogers Centre has a vending machine with unopened baseball packs from the 1980s and 1990s. So if your collection of Les Lancaster cards is not complete, head on up to Toronto.
• You know, I've had a rough week with my laptop dying and all. But it just makes me feel a little better seeing what an even worse week Nori Aoki had.

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