MLB Bullets Takes Its Shoes Off One At A Time

I hope that everyone who celebrated a holiday over the weekend had a good one. And I hope those of you who didn't had a good weekend too. I took my daughter to see "Zootopia." She liked it.

• Let's start with the butcher's bill because it's a crazy one. Brewers reliever Will Smith, who was expected to close for the team this year, is out indefinitely after tearing his lateral collateral ligament taking off his shoe. The Brewers have only termed the injury as being "significant."
• Being a pitcher is just hazardous to your health. Blue Jays pitcher Drew Hutchison is OK after getting clocked in the back of the head with a throw to second base by catcher A.J. Jimenez. Hutchison did leave the game, but he said after the game that he felt fine.
• Rarely does a coach have to hit the DL, but Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo will likely miss the entire 2016 season after knee surgery.
• Matthew Kory examines the issues of concussions in baseball and thinks that MLB needs to get out in front of the issue before it becomes a scandal like in the NFL. Kory does praise the efforts that MLB has taken so far, but adds that no one should be content to stop working on the problem now.
• I certainly hope you had a better weekend than Yankees infielder Rob Refsnyder. On Friday, he got hit in the face with a ground ball. On Saturday, his birthday, he got hit in the face with a ground ball. On Sunday, he got sent down to the minors. To be fair to Refsnyder, he was playing third base for the first time in his career. They don't call it "The Hot Corner" for nothing.
• The Braves made a couple of minor trades. The Braves traded Nate Freiman to the Nationals for Tyler Moore. He might just make it after all.
• And Atlanta picked up Eric O'Flaherty from the Pirates in exchange for cash. It's a homecoming of sorts for O'Flaherty, who has spent five of his ten years in the majors with the Braves.
• One trade that won't happen is James Shields for Pablos Sandoval. David Schoenfield explains why not.
• The Mariners have waived first baseman Jesus Montero.
• Are the Orioles considering sending struggling outfielder Hyun Soo Kim back to Korea? Ken Rosenthal writes that it's possible. Sounds like a stupid thing to decide to do over Spring Training struggles, but maybe there is more to the story. Or maybe it's just the Orioles being the Orioles.
• The Phillies have extended manager Pete Mackanin's contract through 2017.
• Mackanin has also instituted a "fines-for-all" policy at Phillies camp. If one guy doesn't hustle, everyone on the team gets fined. (OK, it's only a fifty-cent fine. But that stuff can add up.)
• Cuba has expressed its willingness to allow defectors to play for Team Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Please. Team Cuba will be a joke without it. But the issue now is more about how to get around the embargo.
• Christina Kahrl claims that the best pitching rotation in baseball plays on the banks of the Cuyahoga River.
• MLB has stated that players who violate local laws about using tobacco in stadiums could face additional penalties in baseball. So a player who might not think anything about a $250 fine for using smokeless tobacco might think twice about a penalty the commissioner might issue. Of course, the MLBPA says they would fight any additional penalty over smokeless tobacco use.
• Players are also not allowed to use personalized bat stickers anymore. Booo. (I first wrote "back stickers" there. I'm still trying to determine the rules governing that.)
• Jeff Samardzija said he left the Cubs because he got tired of the constant talk of "rebuilding." He says he's happy in San Francisco but that he'll be cheering for the no-longer rebuilding Cubs when they're not playing the Giants.
• Thomas Neumann thinks that the Twins' Byron Buxton is the next big thing in baseball.
• Craig Brown talks about Kelvin Herrera and his slider. Brown believes that Herrera could be even better this season than he was last. But is it as good as Sam "Mayday" Malone's "slider of death"?
• Kenta Maeda is making a great first impression at Dodgers camp.
• Jerry Crasnick talks with Marlins hitters and other coaches about the impact that new hitting coach Barry Bonds is having on the team. Because Barry isn't giving interviews. To be fair, this is probably a smart move on Barry's part so as to not overshadow the other coaches with more tenure.
• Andrew Baggarly profiles Gustavo Cabrera, a Giants outfield prospect who is coming back after nearly losing his hand in an accident. Having one hand never stopped Jim Abbott.
• Anthony Castrovince examines why speed is disappearing from baseball. At least on the basepaths. And no, the Royals aren't bringing it back.
• John Paschal has an appreciation of the greatness of Vin Scully.
• Buster Olney ranks the early season strength of schedule for all 15 NL teams. (ESPN Insider Only) In case you're wondering and not an Insider, the Cubs have the second-easiest early schedule, behind only the Mets.
• Sometime today, a website will go live that opens up the Jewish Baseball Museum. The hope is that the website leads to a physical building one day, to be built in Chicago. This is a worthy endeavor, so I will refrain from making jokes about the possibility of exhibits that include Ryan Braun's urine samples. But I couldn't help myself from mentioning it anyway.
• This Spring Training game between the Astros and Braves was called because of the apocalypse rain. Just looked like the apocalypse from the pictures. I'm betting weather nerd Mike Trout wishes he was playing in this game.
• I know we're not supposed to talk politics here, but Derek Jeter said that it would be too much work for him to be vice-president. And like Jeter, I'll leave it there. He's not interested.
• If you're into baseball video games, here's an explanation of how this year's MLB:The Show will handle switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. Yes, you can pitch from both sides with him.
• Joey Votto did a LeBron James move before a Spring Training game and the Reds fans loved it.
• And finally, Juan Lagares did the one thing you're never supposed to do on the team bus: fall asleep. At least not if you don't want to be made fun of. Yes, this picture of a sleeping Lagares by Dilson Herrera is a photoshop job, but I laughed at it.

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