MLB Bullets Heads West

It may always be sunny in Philadelphia, but it never rains in Southern California.

• Just a day after they said they they expected him to spend the rest of the season in Philadelphia, the Phillies traded Chase Utley to the Dodgers for two minor leaguers.
• Ken Rosenthal writes that even though the Phillies waited too long, they finally dealt their tradeable veterans and have begun their rebuild.
• Victor Mather traces the resistible rise of the Phillies and their subsequent fall. He thinks it's a long slog back to the top in Philadelphia.
• The Philadelphia Daily News called Utley the "most beloved Phillie in history." That's probably right. Is Utley the first Phillies great to not be booed on his way out of town? Philly's getting soft.
• Jay Jaffe evaluates the trade and says Utley is returning to his SoCal roots.
• Picking up on what Jaffe wrote, Erik Malinowski makes the case for Utley for the Hall of Fame.
• Neil Paine at Fivethirtyeight believes Utley belongs in the Hall, but he explains why he probably won't get there.
• Mike Axisa believes the trade makes sense for the Dodgers today and they can worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
• David Schoenfield writes that the Dodgers needed Utley because you never have too much depth.
• With Utley, the Dodgers will probably be the first team with a payroll over $300 million.
• The Giants responded late last night as they acquired Marlon Byrd from the Reds.
• The fallout from the Red Sox hiring Dave Dombrowksi as president of baseball operations and the subsequent resignation of Ben Cherington continues. Grant Brisbee traces the series of moves that took Cherington from World Series Champion to unemployed in only two seasons.
• Dave Cameron traces a similar fall of Cherington as Brisbee does but with less snark. So you have an option of which style you prefer.
• Brian Kenney is amazed that after almost a three year hiatus on GM firings, there have been nine since the beginning of last season. But he thinks that Cherington left Dombrowski with a great farm system.
• Jonah Keri evaluates Cherington's reign and projects Dombrowksi's future. Keri believes that Cherington left Dombrowski a full farm system and a pile of bloated contracts.
• Speaking of that, Rob Neyer tells Dombrowski that Pablo Sandoval is your problem now.
• Cliff Corcoran thinks the Red Sox made a great hire in Dombrowski.
• Alex Speier believes that the Red Sox were looking at getting better player evaluations rather than an overall philosophy in replacing Cherington with Dombrowski.
• Gordon Edes goes through the Red Sox personnel lists and sees who is likely to join Cherington in the house cleaning.
• Cherington and the Red Sox owners are having a disagreement about how much Cherington was kept in the loop on Dombrowski's hiring.
• Ken Rosenthal writes that Indians team president Mark Shapiro is a strong candidate for the president/CEO job with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Rosenthal wonders what all this means for GM Alex Anthopoulos and thinks Anthopoulos could be the next GM out the door, despite the Blue Jays strong season.
• Dayn Perry is now willing to declare Padres GM A.J. Preller's first year as (almost) a complete failure. Not exactly going out on a limb there.
• Interim Padres manager Pat Murphy's future after this season is cloudy. Barry M. Bloom profiles Murphy from his fall from grace as one of the top collegiate head coaches in the game to his slow rise from the bottom rung of the minors. (Murphy really should get another chance to manage, either with the Padres next year or another team.)
• Because it involves St. Derek, this is news, apparently. GM Brian Cashman told Derek Jeter in 2010 he'd rather have Troy Tulowitzki as Yankees shortstop than him.
• Wallace Matthews says it's no surprise that Cashman wanted to get rid of Jeter and wasn't at the time.
• Jerry Crasnick examines the risks and rewards of midseason trades for rental players.
• Jonathan Rand looks at the bond between the Royals and their fans.
• David Schoenfield thinks we could see an all-Birds World Series between the Orioles and Cardinals because they both have outstanding under-the-radar bullpens.
• Rob Neyer is surprised that the Diamondbacks are leading the NL in runs scored.  Baseball can be summed up in one word: you never know.
• Richard Justice celebrates the greatness of Chris Archer. Sure. Rub it in.
• Matt Buschmann is the active minor-league strikeout king and he just has one question: Why has he never gotten a chance to pitch in the big leagues?
• Umpires are getting better. Some don't even need a cane and a dog anymore.
• Craig Calcaterra is skeptical of stories that talk about baseball returning to Montreal. He thinks it's just part of the grand game of pitting one city against another.
• MLB has clarified its position on Apple Watches. Managers can now wear them during games, as long as they don't mind getting laughed at are not tethered to an iPhone.
• Jason Bourgeois forgot about the infield fly rule. Reds manager Bryan Price want to know how you now knowing this helps his ballclub.
• Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard wants to be in the next Amy Schumer movie. Mets fan Schumer didn't say no.
• And finally, for the Mets fan who has everything (but a World Series ring after 1986), you can now buy autographed photographs of Wilmer Flores crying in the dugout. Suitable for framing.

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