MLB Bullets Has Paid The Price

Let's get one thing straight: I don't care who is playing in an exhibition game. I don't care who got "snubbed" for an exhibition game. I don't care who is and is not competing in a skills contest connected to the exhibition game. I will probably watch these events because "why not? It's baseball." I pay to watch short-season A ball. But who is and isn't competing in an exhibition is of no interest to me, so there won't be anything on that today.

I bet you're glad to have cranky me back instead of nice Duane. And on that note, I'd like to thank him for filling in, but that would ruin my cranky image.

• Mets pitcher Matt Harvey has been diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome on his shoulder and may need season-ending surgery.
• Jay Jaffe looks at what that means for Harvey and the Mets.
• Chris Cwik looks at the fate of other pitchers diagnosed with this condition.
• Joe Posnanski connects this injury directly to Harvey exceeding his innings limit last season, although he admits we can't know for sure the two things are connected. But he makes a larger point about everyone not caring about the long-term fate of athletes as long as they help our teams win.
• We have an actual trade with an actual player that you've heard of involved. The Brewers sent Aaron Hill to the Red Sox for two minor leaguers.
• Mike Axisa has five things to say about this deal.
• Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has asked for a trade.
• Ken Rosenthal talks to Reds team president Walt Jocketty about what changes may yet come to the Porkopolis Nine this season.
• Jeff Sullivan thinks some smart team will take a chance on trading for Rays pitcher Matt Moore before August 1.
• The Red Sox are scouting Phillies pitcher Jeremy Hellickson.
• Cardinals all-star Matt Carpenter went on the disabled list with an oblique strain.
• Mark Saxon thinks the Cardinals pitchers need to step it up in Carpenter's absence.
• The Blue Jays put Marco Estrada on the DL with a back injury.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that the Blue Jays offense is back to its old smashing self, even without Jose Bautista.
• Neil Paine writes that the Indians are hitting like it's 1995 again. The 90's are back in every way.
• Jeff Francoeur thinks the overwhelming majority of major league players support tougher PED penalties.
• Samuel Mann looks at the lawsuit against MLB about minor league salaries. Pay the minor leaguers.
• Andrew Simon looks at what the teams fighting for a playoff berth have yet to do to make it to October.
• Anthony Castrovince makes ten predictions for baseball's second half, because that's kinda his thing.
• MLB Network's Brian Kenny has a new book out, Bryan Curtis talks to him about his career and how he's mellowed in his sabermetric crusades in recent years.
• Sports On Earth has two excerpts from Kenny's book: One on Bill James and the Red Sox 2004 title and another one on how international ideas are going to change American baseball eventually.
• Tim Britton has an interview with Dan Shaughnessy, who is going into Cooperstown this summer.
• Jeff Sullivan examines how Mike Trout is evolving over the past couple of seasons. Sullivan thinks the way that Trout is continuing to play at the same high level is nothing short of amazing.
• Mike Oz thinks Brandon Crawford is the most underappreciated shortstop in the game. He's probably right. No one ever mentions Crawford along with all the other great young shortstops in the game, but they should.
• I like this piece of Craig Calcaterra's: In praise of Don Kelly. It's a tribute to those guys who manage to make a career out of being the 25th man on a roster.
• Nationals GM Mike Rizzo got in a shouting match after the game with umpire Jim Joyce.
• Athletics outfielder Coco Crisp got ejected after tossing his bat in the direction of the home plate umpire.
• Kevin Van Valkenburg has a piece asking why is Bartolo Colon so popular when much of his career has been shrouded in controversy? Or at least controversies that would have sunk other players. Because he's Fat Bart doesn't seem to be a good reason, but it seems to be the truth to me.
• Top Yankees prospect Jorge Mateo will miss the Future's Game on Sunday because he's been suspended for two weeks by the Yankees. There's lots of talk about why he was suspended, but the Yankees aren't saying.
• Nats manager Dusty Baker wants Nats fans to be louder.
• The Braves and Cobb County are finding more ways to fleece their fans, their neighbors and the taxpayers.
• And finally, someone is doing something about America's "first-pitch gap" with Korean baseball. Here's US gymnast Simone Biles doing a "side aerial" before her first pitch in Atlanta.

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