MLB Bullets Welcomes The Newest Phenom

Happy Friday. I'm another day older and so are you. So at least we have something in common other than the Cubs.

• The Dodgers have called up their top prospect, pitcher Julio Urias, to start tonight's game against the Mets. Urias is considered to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball, so it's not like there are any expectations or anything.
• Eric Longenhagen has a full scouting report on Urias.
• Tim Healey has nine bullet points about Urias. And if you thought there were no expectations on the kid, he just happens to be a 19-year-old Mexican left-hander pitching for the Dodgers. So no pressure. At least he doesn't throw a screwball.
• The commissioner's office handed down an 82-game suspension to Hector Olivera under the domestic violence policy.
• Mets pitcher Matt Harvey didn't talk to the media after his latest loss and teammate David Wright called him out on it. However, Craig Calcaterra was impressed with the way Wright made his point without criticizing Harvey's character.
• Will Leitch debates himself over whether Harvey should have talked to the media or not.
• Anthony Castrovince thinks that Harvey could stage a career renaissance similar to what Cliff Lee did a decade ago .
• Chris Sale talked to the media after losing his first game of the season and boy, was he hard on himself.
• Those of you who want Vin Scully to call the All-Star Game in his final season, you can forget it. Scully has turned down an offer from Fox to work the All-Star Game. No real surprise as he's made it clear that he's uncomfortable with the attention he's been getting this year.
• But if you want to hear Scully, here he is reciting the "baseball" speech from Field of Dreams.
• Someone else who won't be at the All-Star Game is Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, who is out for the season after tearing an ACL colliding with left fielder Alex Gordon. Gordon will miss 3-to-4 weeks, and yes, this is a lot like Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler.
• Grant Brisbee calls the Twins "the saddest team in baseball."
• And that was even before they suspended their pitching coach Neil Allen after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Seriously. I understand that the Twins could drive you to drink, but that doesn't mean you should drink and drive.
• More bad team reports. Jeff Sullivan calls the Reds "the Anti-Cubs" because of their remarkable crappiness.
• Jackie Bradley Jr.'s hitting streak ended at 29.
• Rougned Odor had his suspension for hitting Jose Bautista reduced from eight to seven games on appeal.
• MLB has released the results of their investigation of Padres National Anthem scandal. Consider the whole dumb matter closed.
• Tony LaRussa was upset by something the Pirates broadcast team said about him and retaliation. So he went into their broadcast booth and confronted them.
• Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown gave his side of the story. Yes, LaRussa comes off as a real jerk. He actually comes off as more than that, but this is a family website. I'm pretty sure Brown never bust into the Cardinals dugout and confronted him in the middle of a game about something LaRussa did.
• David Schoenfield thinks the baseball beanball wars are getting out of hand.
• Andrew Marchand talks to the Blue Jays about why they're the most hated team in the American League.
• The Diamondbacks are considering sending Shelby Miller down to the minor leagues. Maybe LaRussa should be worrying more about that than what the Pirates broadcasters said about him. And maybe next time Greg Brown should just say the names "Dansby Swanson, Aaron Blair and Ender Inciarte."
• Pirates pitcher Ryan Vogelsong was released from the hospital.
• Chris Mitchell writes about something dear to my heart: He demonstrates how low minor league wages could be deterring some people from pursuing a baseball career. Seriously, it's past time to pay the minor leaguers. So Bryce Harper only gets $35 million a year instead of $40 million on his next contract. Low minor league wages are hurting the game. I'm not even sure Bryce would have a problem with that.
• Harper did make the news for hitting a titanic home run without batting gloves, and then cutting up his old batting gloves. However, he's not giving up batting gloves for good.
• Bob Nightengale says that if the Yankees don't get back in the pennant race, they're likely to break up their three-headed bullpen monster.
• Jeff Sullivan tells us just how good Andrew Miller really is.
• Anthony Castrovince believes that Clayton Kershaw is well on his way to being one of the greatest pitchers of all time.
• Grant Brisbee lists several MVP candidates this year who could have been had for a song just recently.
• Rob Arthur looks at Statcast data to see who is hitting into bad luck despite hitting the ball hard this season. And vice-versa.
• The Giants are on a tear at the moment because they're winning all the close games.
• The Red Sox retired Wade Boggs number yesterday, just 16 years after the Devil Rays did.
• A college baseball player got a little hungry during a game, so he pulled some candy out of his pocket and had a snack--while standing on third base.
• And finally, Stew Thornley has a mission in life. His goal is to visit the grave of every person in the Hall of Fame. All the dead ones, at least. He's not hanging around Al Kaline and constantly checking if he's still breathing. That would be ghoulish, even by his standards.

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