MLB Bullets And The Flip Side

Good morning, fellow baby bears.

• In news sending shock waves through the baseball world, Yasiel Puig announced that he would cut down on his bat flips because "I want to show American baseball that I'm not disrespecting the game."
• Rob Neyer says "THIS IS A CRUMMY THING." (Capitals in original)
• Craig Calcaterra thinks it's sad. He's also positive that if the Dodgers win the World Series this year, Bill Plaschke will credit Puig not flipping his bat rather than the Dodgers' payroll which dwarfs even the Yankees'.
• Sean Newell comes up with by far the best title for the outrage: "The Assassination Of Yasiel Puig By The Coward American Baseball."
• Over in Korea, the bat flips are getting bigger and better than ever. Just another industry getting outsourced to Korea.
• Now that we've got the important news out of the way, security expert Bruce Schneier blasted MLB's decision to make fans go through metal detectors as "pure security theater" that does nothing to make fans safer, may actually put them in greater danger and will primarily make fans miss the beginnings of games. (Or get there really early and spend more money on concessions.) I've made my point of view on this matter clear: the only thing this protects is MLB who can say "Hey, we put in metal detectors" on the miniscule chance that anything actually happens. Schneier agrees with me. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• MLB's efforts to speed up the game are working so far! Baseball games are eight minutes shorter than they were last season.
• But the ESPN Sunday Night Game undoubtedly feels longer because of how terrible the broadcasts are.
• MLB is doing better connecting with young African-Americans, writes Bob Nightengale.
• New Marlins pitcher Carter Capps has an unusual delivery to home plate. (Video)
• Dave Cameron tries to explain why this delivery is legal and why Capps is probably smart to use it.
• David Schoenfield say that while the delivery is legal, he doesn't see many pitchers adopting it in the near future.
• Now for the Butcher's Bill. In a truly scary moment, Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco took a line drive to the face. The good news is that it seems to have hit his jaw and not the skull. There are no signs of a concussion.
• Mets third baseman David Wright left last night's game with a pulled hamstring. He's expected to be placed on the disabled list.
• Rangers right-hander Lisalverto Bonilla will undergo Tommy John surgery.
• And Red Sox pitcher Brandon Workman is going to see Dr. James Andrews.
• Nolan Reimold is suing Johns Hopkins Hospital over the treatment he received there for spinal surgery.
• Love him or hate him, Anthony Castrovince says we can't stop paying attention to Alex Rodriguez. Maybe because the press keeps talking about him.
• The Diamondbacks are still insisting that fans behind home plate not wear the apparel of other teams.
• The Dodgers essentially bought a competitive balance draft pick from the Orioles for $2.75 million. Because the Dodgers can't afford to compete without some extra draft picks.
• The Angels are headed to Houston this week. Manager Mike Scioscia hopes to meet with Josh Hamilton while they are there. Hamilton has been in Houston rehabbing his right shoulder.
• Eno Sarris explains what makes Tyler Clippard a good pitcher.
• Rob Neyer wants to know if the Kansas City Royals 7-0 start to the season means anything.
• Jon Heyman thinks that the Mets will make the playoffs and Jacob deGrom will be a big reason for that. I'll have what he's having.
• Steve Hofstetter makes a case to save the pitcher's win as a statistic.
• Will Leitch tries to estimate how many home runs the top 15 active players on the career home run list will end up hitting by the time their careers end. I actually think he's a bit conservative on Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera.
• Why are baseball games nine innings long? (h/t Hardball Talk)
• A profile of Herb Shankman, Rockies fan and former Milwaukee Braves pitcher who was on the Braves for 11 days but never got into a game.
• The Columbus Clippers, the Indians Triple-A affiliate, pulled off the hidden-ball trick. And the broadcasters were the last ones to figure it out.
• Craig Calcaterra, a Columbus resident, thinks that while being sent down from Cleveland to Columbus is a step down professionally, it's a step up in quality of life off the field. So he ranked all 30 teams by how their Triple-A affiliate city compares to their major league city. Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa. But even heaven can't compete with Chicago, amirite?
• And finally, that's  . . . unappetizing.

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