MLB Bullets Is Sitting This One Out

Just one more day before the Cubs take on the Brewers!

• Major League Baseball announced that they have suspended Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman for 30 games under the new domestic violence policy. Chapman has agreed not to appeal the suspension, which will start on Opening Day.
• Andrew Marchand looks at the suspension from the Yankees and Chapman's points of view. He notes that by not appealing the suspension, Chapman will be eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
• The overall reaction to the suspension is positive. Ken Rosenthal thinks that commissioner Rob Manfred sent the right message with a 30-game suspension.
• Jayson Stark agrees that the right message was sent and offers some more background on the domestic violence policy. He's thinking that if Chapman got 30 games, then Jose Reyes is looking at around a 100-game suspension.
• Add Bob Nightengale to those who applaud the suspension.
• Dayn Perry looks at the baseball implications of the suspension and notes that the Yankees should be just fine for a month without Chapman.
• A leader of an anti-domestic violence advocacy group agreed with the length of the suspension but worried that Chapman's comments indicate that he still doesn't understand the seriousness of his actions.
• The Reyes case is still up in the air until it goes to trial, but word leaked out yesterday that Yasiel Puig will not be suspended under the domestic violence policy (or any other policy) for an incident in a Miami bar last November.
• The Rays exhibition game in Havana, Cuba is now set for March 22. President Obama is expected to attend the game and possibly throw out the first pitch.
• While we're on the subject of the Rays, Jayson Stark has a profile of Chris Archer, who he calls the next in the line of great Rays aces. Stark shows how Archer is a leader both on and off the field.
• A minor league player in the Blue Jays organization was suspended for 50 games for refusing to take a drug test. He must have been really convinced that he wasn't going to pass to do that.
• The Royals tore up the very team-friendly contract of Salvador Perez and signed him to a new five year, $52.5 million extension. They didn't have to do that.
• David Schoenfield writes that the Royals did the right thing in re-doing Perez's contract and that they don't want an unhappy player in such a critical role for them.
• Jeff Sullivan thinks that of all the Royals players out there, Perez is the Kansas City Royal-est.
• Eric Hosmer says that he would be open to an extension with the Royals. Mike Axisa tries to estimate what a fair deal for Hosmer would be.
• Back to Sal Perez, briefly. His mother was the victim of a carjacking this week in his native Venezuela. She's unhurt and they got the car back, but Perez wrote an impassioned note asking what is wrong with his crime-torn country?
• Andrew Simon notes that with all the one-year deals and opt-outs being given out, next year's free agent class potentially looks a lot better than it did a few months ago.
• The first butcher's bill of the spring came in, but it came from a pretty unexpected source. Dodgers pitcher Josh Ravin suffered a broken arm in a car crash and is out indefinitely. (Warning: there's a photo of his twisted arm at that link. There's no blood, but if you don't like seeing limbs twisted in unnatural ways, you probably want to avoid clicking on the link.)
• And on the more normal injury front, Marlins reliever Carter Capps had an MRI on his sore elbow. The team is getting a second opinion, which is something no one ever does if the first diagnosis was good.
• Phillies pitcher Mario Hollands describes what it's actually like to rehab after Tommy John surgery.  It's not easy. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• Matthew Kory discusses the dilemma the Blue Jays have with the upcoming free agency of Jose Bautista.
• Rockies manager Walt Weiss took exception to Troy Tulowitzki's description of Rockies' Spring Training as a "country club" compared to the Blue Jays.
• Rockies GM Jeff Bridich also refused to put a timetable on when the Rockies would be a contender. I'd say "again" after that sentence but . . . you know.
• Phillies president Andy MacPhail gets upset when you accuse the Phillies of "tanking." No one thought rebuilding was somehow unethical until the Cubs and Astros did it.
• Grant Brisbee asks what really bad baseball team would you watch in 2016 if you had to? I said the Brewers because they have the best broadcasters of those four teams. As far as on the field, they're all pretty equally bad.
• Craig Edwards talks about the Braves media deal and how it has hindered the team in recent years.
• How the Astros are using technology to study "spin rates" to make better pitchers.
• More windshield breaking in Spring Training with a twist. Phillies slugger Maikel Franco broke a windshield with a batting practice home run and the car happened to belong to Freddy Galvis.
• New Orioles outfielder Hyun-soo Kim admits he was nervous making his Grapefruit League debut.
• Maybe the Orioles should do what the Twins did with Byung-ho Park. The team invited him over to Phil Hughes' place for a team viewing of "The Bachelor." He left as confused as any American player would be.
• Bryce Harper has responded to his new manager calling him "Royce" by calling him "Rusty Baker."
• What is Yoenis Cespedes going to drive to work today? Apparently he's run out of cars because he and Noah Syndergaard showed up at the Mets complex yesterday riding horses.
• Cespedes went to the St. Lucie County Fair and bought himself a championship hog. It will no doubt be delicious.
• Chase Field is going to the dogs. Literally. The Diamondbacks installed a dog park at Chase Field.
• And finally, there's been a scandal that's been uncovered over at the "other" BCB. Travis Sarandos of Brew Crew Ball claims to have uncovered the truth about "Hank the Dog." Sarandos claims that the "Hank" that we see at the ballpark is an imposter. The Brewers have denied the switch. However, when I listen to Bob Uecker call a Ryan Braun home run backwards, it says "Hank is dead! Miss him, miss him, miss him." Also, Hank is always photographed barefooted, which is a sign of death in some cultures.

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