MLB Bullets And The Fallen Angel

I'm going to try to keep the snark to a minimum today because I don't want to make light of what's happening to Josh Hamilton.

• As you've no doubt heard by now, Josh Hamilton flew to New York to meet with MLB officials after he reportedly had a relapse of his cocaine and alcohol addiction.
• Hamilton is a little different from any other player who might test positive to a "drug of abuse," as he was suspended for an entire season in 2006 after five violations in the minor leagues. Nathaniel Grow has a summary of the relevant rules governing Hamilton.
• The short story is that Hamilton's baseball fate lies in commissioner Rob Manfred's hands. Tom Verducci writes that this is the first real test of Manfred's tenure as commissioner.
• Craig Calcaterra says that since addiction is an illness, Hamilton shouldn't be subject to punishment by MLB at all.
• Nancy Armour agrees and says that Hamilton needs MLB help, not discipline.
• Ken Rosenthal worries that Hamilton's career may be over and remembers what a great ballplayer he once was.
• Indeed, a friend of Hamilton told USA Today that Hamilton needs to retire to deal with his inner demons rather than the ones on pitching mounds.
• Turning to other matters, Francisco Rodriguez re-signed with the Brewers for two years and $13 million.
• David Schoenfield thinks signing K-Rod to a two-year deal is a big risk.
• Jeff Sullivan breaks down Rodriguez's career and notices that he is a completely different pitcher today than he was in the first half of his career.
• Johan Santana is attempting another comeback and signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays.
• The Blue Jays also lost outfielder Michael Saunders until the All-Star break when he stepped on a sprinkler head in the outfield.
• Ian Denomme looks at where the Jays go from here with Saunders out.
• Saunders, in part, was replacing the departed Colby Rasmus. Adam Lind says the clubhouse will be a happier place without Rasmus.
• Jonathan Papelbon said he'd like to be a Blue Jay. Presumably his chance of becoming a Brewer ended with the K-Rod signing.
• Nick Markakis blasted Orioles management, saying they wouldn't re-sign him only because of his neck.
• Markakis later apologized.
• Bad news for Cubs fans. Adam Wainwright just has an abdominal strain and may be able to start on Opening Night at Wrigley Field.
• The Diamondbacks have talked about playing their new Cuban signing, Yasmany Tomas, at third base. Reportedly, he's been terrible there so far.
• Baseball America has an interview with Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, where he explains why he missed an entire season in Cuba, among other things.
• Jon Paul Morosi says Dodgers prospect Julio Urias may be the first pitcher to start a major league game while still in his teens since Felix Hernandez did it in 2005.
• First pick in the 2014 draft Brady Aiken will pitch for the IMG Academy team and re-enter the draft in 2015.
• Mike Axisa thinks that recent criticism that the Yankees are "cheap" because they didn't sign any big free agents is a ridiculous charge.
• And the team is not for sale, either.
• Jeff Sanders notes that Padres GM AJ Preller has gutted the Padres Top 30 prospects list with all of his trades.
• Matt Kemp said that the Padres now have the best outfield in baseball. David Schoenfield says he's wrong.
• Craig Calcaterra also thinks Kemp is mistaken.
• The Phillies are finally entering the analytics era. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Wily Mo Peña is staying in Japan.
• Thom Loverro is happy that the Nationals are finally honoring Frank Robinson, although he does think the recognition is overdue.
• Jon Paul Morosi writes that if baseball is reinstated to the Olympics, MLB players will still not participate.
• If you want to know which player's memorabilia is the best-selling at the moment, look west. The top five players all play in the Golden State.
• Paul Lukas does his annual rankings of baseball uniforms. The Cubs dropped a spot from last season because of those block-letter gray road uniforms. Good. I do hate those too.
• Giancarlo Stanton will wear a batting helmet with a customized "G" face guard. He hasn't committed to wearing it all season, but he will in spring training to see how he likes it.
• And finally for the ladies, Sports Illustrated put Stanton on the cover wearing just body paint for a uniform. Oh yeah, they also wrote up a profile of him to go with the cover.

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