MLB Bullets Is Leaving Arizona

Today's MLB Bullets is not going to be the length of a Russian novel like it normally is. That's because there were three major stories over the weekend: Jeff Samardzija getting traded, Alfonso Soriano being designated for assignment and the All-Star Game rosters. Essentially, we've covered all that on the site already. On top of that, it was a holiday weekend, and most sportswriters spent it writing as little as they could possibly get away with.

But if you missed Friday's bullets because of the holiday, go back and check it out. There was a lot of good stuff in there.

• Friday's Bullets mentioned the bizarre replay situation in Friday's Athletics/Blue Jays game when Blue Jays manager John Gibbons challenged his own player being called safe in order to score a run. Luckily, Oakland ended up winning the game anyway. Craig Calcaterra offers his take on this and says this loophole needs to be closed immediately. This was a flaw in replay that no one seemed to anticipate, and honestly, it's such a rare situation that you can understand how MLB missed this. But there's no reason to miss it now.
• The Reds Ramon Santiago had an inside-the-park home run overturned by replay. In fact, he went from an home run to an out. Tough break.
• Rob Neyer notes that some umpires haven't been overturned on replay yet and others have been overturned a lot. He does think that at this point in the season, the umpires stats are still too small a sample to be meaningful, although it is interesting to look for trends.
• Jon Paul Morosi thinks that the Samardzija trade leaves the Rays holding all the cards. Or really, just the card: David Price. It will be tough for the Rays to get more than the Cubs did because there just aren't many teams out there that would and could top that offer.
• The Angels responded to the Athletics move by getting Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana from the Diamondbacks. This is an example of a team that would like to buy a Mercedes but after checking the trade value of their farm system, had to settle for a tricycle instead.
• The Diamondbacks weren't done dealing, as they sent Brandon McCarthy to the Yankees for Vidal Nuno and cash.
• Wallace Matthews says McCarthy ain't much, but he's better than what the Yankees currently have.
• A big reason for that is because the Yankees aren't expecting CC Sabathia back this season.
• Another pitcher who is out for the year is the Cardinals Jaime Garcia. He'll have shoulder surgery.
• The Mets put Jonathan Niese on the DL with a shoulder strain.
• Edwin Encarnacion will miss two weeks (and the All-Star Game) with a strained right quad.
• Dodgers infielders are dropping faster than drummers for Spinal Tap.
• John Lackey wasn't happy that Nelson Cruz went 5 for 5 with a home run and two doubles off of him and the Red Sox bullpen. Orioles manager Buck Showalter told him to zip it because glass houses and all.
• After a strong start to the season, rookie Xander Bogaerts is struggling.
• Scott Ostler thinks the upcoming Bay Area series will say a lot about the two teams currently going in opposite directions.
• Johnny Damon says he is ready to help a contender and that he can still "outhit half the league." Wow. I didn't realize a .610 OPS, which is what Damon hit in his final season in 2012, is league average these days.
• Richard Justice thinks the Brewers are evidence that MLB has achieved competitive balance and that a small-market team can win.
• And finally, Jon Paul Morosi wants to dump the AL versus NL All-Star Game format in favor of a US vs The World format.

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