MLB Bullets Likes To Shake Things Up

Even though the MLB Draft skipped the Cubs last night, I'm still pretty drained from watching all the coverage last night. Today gets worse because the Cubs are actually going to make picks. I'll have an open thread later today where you can welcome the newest Cubs.

• The punishment has been handed down for Yordano Ventura and Manny Machado after their brawl: Ventura got a nine-game suspension and Machado got a four-game suspension. Both are appealing.
• Christina Kahrl thinks the punishments for Ventura and Machado were too light.
• Jay Jaffe recaps all the headaches that Ventura has caused the Royals.
• Ken Rosenthal explains that the Royals don't know what to do about Ventura. All of this sounds very familiar to anyone who has had Carlos Zambrano on their favorite team.
• At least one person is speaking up to defend Ventura: his manager Ned Yost.
• Grant Brisbee makes a "All-Heel" team of baseball villains. Ventura is on it, naturally, and a couple of Cubs. One I understand. The other is just Brisbee being a heel.
• The White Sox designated pitcher Mat Latos for assignment and signed first baseman Justin Morneau.
• Christina Kahrl thinks the struggling White Sox needed to shake things up. She thinks this was a good small step, but more are needed to save their season.
• Jon Heyman has a shopping list of 30 players who could be traded this summer. Maybe Rick Hahn wants to look it over.
• Ben Glicksman explains why he wants to see Madison Bumgarner in the Home Run Derby.
• Jay Jaffe explains why Bumgarner is very unlikely to participate, despite his wishes.
• I'm not doing much on the MLB Draft here, but I do have a few pieces I want to include. How did the Phillies manage to get the first pick in the draft this year? By being very bad at drafting in the first round for the past several years.
• It's going to be a hard sell for me to get you to like Louisville outfielder Corey Ray. In the first place, he just got drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 5th pick in the draft. Second, he grew up on the South Side, just five minutes from the Cell. But he's also the first Chicagoan taken in the first ten picks in over 25 years. Ryan Cortes has a profile of Ray and why it would be so good for baseball for him to become a star.
• MLB Network's coverage of the draft has been getting better every year--except when they let Harold Reynolds open his mouth.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred met with NPB commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki at the draft to discuss issues related to the globalization of the game.
• David Lengel looks at the long, slow decline in the power of umpires.
• Ichiro Suzuki had two more hits last night. He's now just six hits away from (unofficially) passing Pete Rose. Jeff Sullivan looks at how Ichiro is having his best season in years at age 42.
• Andrew Simon notes that Albert Pujols is about to reach 100 career WAR. Who will be the next player to reach that milestone?
• Francisco Rodriguez had some pretty fancy shoes to record his 400th save in. He's giving them to his grandmother, who raised him.
• R.J. Anderson examines how Bruce Bochy gets the most out of his bullpen. A strong bullpen has been a hallmark of the Giants even-year dynasty.
• Mike Scioscia wants to keep managing the Angels for a long time. Hasn't he already managed the Angels for a long time? He wants an even longer time.
• Jared Diamond looks at how the role of managing has changed, from absolute dictator to middle management.
• Despite going through first basemen the way Spinal Tap goes through drummers, the Yankees are back on a winning path.
• Neil DeMause examines whether the new Braves stadium is the worst stadium deal for the taxpayers of all-time.
• David Ortiz talks to Bob Nightengale about his career and insists that despite the terrific season he's having, this will definitely be his final year.
• Eddie Matz writes that the Orioles Brad Brach is the most underrated reliever in baseball.
• I get to do another soccer story! Mike Piazza bought an Italian football team. It's in the third division, but if he can get them up to Serie A, that would be a heck of an investment.
• August Fagerstrom explains how Billy Hamilton is improving as a hitter with more ground balls.
• The Cubs aren't the only team to wear special uniforms while traveling. The Pirates wore Pittsburgh Penguins gear to support their local team as they compete for the Stanley Cup. I fully expect the Blackhawks to be wearing Cubs jerseys on their road trip in late October, right?
• Two Rockies went to cover first base--neither one got the out. There's got to be a fielder's version of TOOTBLAN here.
• And finally, Prince Fielder connected for a big home run in Arlington yesterday that broke a poor Rangers fan's iPhone.

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