MLB Bullets And The Defective Rug

I want to go on the record as saying that if J.J. Abrams passes up the opportunity to put Carrie Fisher back in a chainmail bikini in the new Star Wars film, he's making a big mistake.

• The new artificial turf at the Rogers Centre has been the source of a lot of talk among the Blue Jays players. The field plays extremely slow and with irregular bounces, according to them.
• MLB is "actively monitoring" the situation. Which usually means the commissioner's office isn't going to do anything, but they want you to think that they're doing something. (h/t CBS Eye On Baseball)
• You've probably already seen the catch of the year (so far) by Toronto's Kevin Pillar. If you haven't, you can watch it here and find out a little more about Pillar.
• Grant Brisbee thinks players should be able to climb over walls and catch balls for outs while standing on the other side. He admits it's a stupid idea but wants to see it happen anyway.
• The Diamondbacks called up Cuban Yasmany Tomas from the minor leagues, despite still having the same problem of not having a position for him to play. Tomas will be a bat off the bench.
• Craig Edwards says that the move is "puzzling" but can be explained by the Diamondbacks odd 40-man roster decisions.
• The Diamondbacks also said that they had nothing to do with asking the Dodgers fan who put on a Diamondbacks jersey while sitting behind home plate.
• Craig Calcaterra isn't buying it.
• Will Leitch takes a look at the whole Yasiel Puig, bat-flipping controversy and that this idea of a tradition of "respecting the game" is just a few years old at least. He also has a great example of one of the biggest bat flips in history by Tom Lawless in the 1987 World Series. One which no one ever said a negative word about at the time.
• After losing an arbitration hearing over his suspension, MLB said that it disagreed with the Player's Association position that the Angels have no grounds to terminate Josh Hamilton's contract outside of the Joint Drug Agreement. That may just be bravado, or it may be a sign of a need to be humiliated in front of an arbitrator again and again and again.
• Alex Rios went on the DL after getting hit in the hand by a pitch by J.R. Graham. Rios blames the Twins for letting the rookie Graham pitch in that situation at all.
• C.J. Nitkowski thinks Rios has a point.
• Giancarlo Stanton is the Marlins all-time home run leader.
• Michael Baumann loves the "iconoclast" pitcher, Trevor Bauer. He's been pretty good this season.
• You've heard of forgetting how many outs there were? Robinson Cano forgot how many men were on base.
• Russell Carleton examines if teams should bat their pitcher eighth.
• AJ Cassavell would welcome our new robot umpire overlords, should they ever arrive.
• Brian Kenny thinks that cracks are emerging in the consensus that teams should have a single "closer" to do nothing but pitch the ninth inning.
• Nationals reliever Craig Stammen is out for the season with a torn flexor tendon.
• David Schoenfield notes that the Rockies are winning on the road so far this year. Winning away from Coors has traditionally been the Rockies biggest problem.
• Schoenfield also examines what is going wrong with the Mariners so far this season, and how worried should their fans be.
• GM Brian Cashman is shocked by how bad the Yankees defense has been so far this season.
• Rob Neyer updates us on the Rule 5 picks from this past winter. One is the aforementioned J.R. Graham.
• Kiley McDaniel examines which teams are likely to go over their international free agent budget this summer. Included are several players the Cubs are expected to sign.
• Ted Berg says early season stats are stupid.
• Ben Lindbergh examines how much a pitcher can improve by mastering a new pitch.
• Did you finish your taxes? Were they hard? Be thankful you're not a professional athlete. (Of course, then you'd just hire an accountant to do them.) Mary Pilon talks about how complicated taxes are for professional athletes. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• What would an all-time all-star team made up of players from each state look like? Or at least half the states. (h/t ESPN.com)
• Chris Lamb reminds us of two Negro Leagues ballplayers who tried out for the Dodgers before they signed Jackie Robinson.
• Tony Reagins, who is in charge of MLB efforts to reach out to youth, high school and college baseball, talks about what MLB is doing to encourage youth participation.
• Some baseball artifacts and audiotapes from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Included is the late Cubs broadcaster Vince Lloyd interviewing the president.
• Hector Santiago failed the "cinnamon challenge."
• The Mets had some fun with the new Star Wars trailer.
• And finally, some people dream of being a ballplayer. Then there is Mike Trout. He is a ballplayer and a pretty good one at that. But apparently, his real dream is being a meteorologist. Maybe the Cubs could trade Tom Skilling for him. Except I'm pretty sure Skilling has 10-5 rights.

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