MLB Bullets Deals Yu A Bad Blow

Good morning. I believe the Rangers are experiencing what is known as "The Darkest Timeline."

• Bad news for the Rangers and baseball. Yu Darvish has been diagnosed with a ulnar collateral ligament strain and likely will need Tommy John surgery.
• Jerry Crasnick looks at the mood of the Rangers camp in the light of this news.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that no team has collapsed as suddenly and unexpectedly as the Rangers have since the end of the 2013 season.
• Tim Healy looks at Darvish's contract and if it is still possible for Darvish to live up to all the money the Rangers spent on him.
• I guess helping the matter is that Darvish's contract was insured.
• Kevin Sherrington thinks the Rangers should trade for Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee.
• Except Cliff Lee has been shut down with more elbow problems. The big story of every spring seems to be the health of pitchers, it seems.
• And Jon Heyman reports that the Rangers will try to replace Darvish in-house before looking at any trades. Also, they likely don't want to meet the Phillies demands on Hamels nor pay Hamels salary.
• There was one report that the Yankees have come the closest to landing Hamels.
• Heyman reports that even if the Yankees were the closest to trading to Hamels, they weren't very close. Kind of like Miami is closer to New York than Los Angeles is.
• And Andy Martino of the New York Daily News manages to make the Darvish news all about the Yankees. Hey, he didn't make it all about Alex Rodriguez. That's progress at least.
• More injures Drew Smyly has left shoulder tendonitis.
• Nine Braves pitchers combined to no-hit the Astros yesterday. What if there was a no-hitter and no one cared?
• Political instability in Venezuela in making scouting there much more difficult.
• Americans will now need to get a visa to enter the country, which could take as long as three months. The Mariners have closed their academy down there and I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs and the other three teams that have academies in Venezuela follow suit.
• Cuban infielder Hector Olivera was declared a free agent over the weekend. Ben Badler says that the Braves, Dodgers and Padres are the favorites to land him.
• Olivera's representatives have said that they expect an offer of more than $70 million.
• Kiley McDaniel is skeptical that's going to happen. Also, he writes that the Braves, Padres and Dodgers all have issues that would keep them from giving Olivera that much money.
• The Royals signed Chris Young to a one-year deal. The pitcher, not the outfielder.
• Phil Coke signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs, turning down an offer from another team with guaranteed money. Why would he do that? CJ Nitkowski says it is all about opportunity.
• David Price expects the Tigers to start discussing a contract extension with him soon. Although they haven't done so yet.
• Ted Berg examines why Stephen Strasburg struggles early in games.
• David Schoenfield lists Terry Collins and Bud Black as two managers on the hot seat going into the season.
• Schoenfield also thinks the Mariners will make the playoffs this year because of their pitching.
• Even though he doesn't have a starting job at the moment, Ken Rosenthal thinks the Red Sox should not trade Allen Craig.
• Eno Sarris tries to find a home for Andre Ethier without much success.
• Bill Plaschke calls on the Dodgers and Time-Warner to put at least some of their games on over-the-air broadcast TV. He notes that the Giants and other teams do this.
• Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh was the Athletics first-base coach for a day.
• Ben Reiter looks at how spring training with the Padres is going for Trea Turner, the prospect who was traded to the Nationals as a "player to be named later" over the winter.
• Allen Barra has an appreciation of Minnie Minoso.
• I was going to write this column, but Paul Casella beat me to it. Which current ballplayers have the best chance to play in four decades? That would make them, in the year 2020, the final active ballplayer from the 20th Century. Really, there's only one good candidate.
• Tim Raines was a four-decade player. He's also the subject of a raging Hall-of-Fame debate, but he says that he's not going to be upset if he never makes it to Cooperstown.
• First there were scorpions. Now there are BEES! RUN!
• After Giancarlo Stanton announced that he's going to try to wear a face mask this season, Paul Lukas looks at the history of face masks in baseball. Please, click on this link that Lukas provides with a picture of Dave Parker wearing a 1970s style slasher-movie goalie mask.
• And finally, the minor league trend of special uniforms got out of hand a long time ago, but it reaches a new nadir with the ugly Christmas sweater jerseys of the Round Rock Express. This is also the darkest timeline.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster