MLB Bullets Is Like A Fish Out Of Water

Good morning, Monday. Death, taxes and Stanton’s season ending early. Also, you can say a lot of things about Alex Rodriguez and most of them would probably be true, but you can never honestly say he doesn’t love the game of baseball.

• Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton is out for the season after injuring his groin sliding into second base.
• Ken Woolums looks at what Stanton’s absence means to the Marlins.
• Jon Tayler thinks Stanton’s injury puts a major dent in the Marlins’ playoff hopes.
• David Schoenfield is more optimistic about the future of the Stanton-less Marlins.
• Marlins team president Michael Hill admitted the team is considering signing Alex Rodriguez, although recently-designated Carlos Gomez is also under consideration.
• Bob Nightengale looks at the pros and cons of Rodriguez playing for the Marlins.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that A-Rod’s last game for the Yankees wasn’t perfect, and that’s what made it perfect for Rodriguez.
• Mariano Rivera said that he was “proud” of A-Rod.
• Rodriguez was pretty darn happy to play one at-bat at third base.
• Mike Piellucci note that the reception that A-Rod got going out was a “public relations miracle,” one that Piellucci doesn’t fully understand.
• Wallace Matthews and Andrew Marchand go behind the scenes as to the decision to offer Rodriguez a front-office and instructor’s job.
• Doug Glanville, who was A-Rod’s teammate for one season in Texas, has a lot of positive memories of Rodriguez. But Glanville says how Rodriguez embraces his role as an instructor is his path to redemption, not just forgiveness. Glanville thinks Rodriguez could play a big role in cleaning up the game of PEDs if he choses to.
• Cliff Corcoran has 13 essential moments to Alex Rodriguez’s career.
• Will Leitch writes that whether you liked him or not, you can’t deny that A-Rod was entertaining.
• David Schoenfield writes about five ways in which Rodriguez changed the game.
• Grant Brisbee writes five alternative histories in which Alex Rodriguez signed with someone else rather than the Rangers in 2000. They all seem to end up with the Cubs winning the World Series, which seems like some sort of schtick, but Brisbee would never do something like that, would he?
• Craig Edwards looks at what the numbers might be if Rodriguez decided to play again.
• After his final game as a Yankee, A-Rod threw a star-studded party with Jamie Foxx.
• In the first post-Rodriguez game for the Yankees, the team gave major league debuts to Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge. The two rookies became the first to both hit back-to-back home runs in their first major league at-bats.
• Tom Verducci reports that the reason for the struggles of Bryce Harper this season is that he’s been playing through a shoulder injury.
• The Nationals say that “Verducci is wrong” although they declined to say what exactly he got wrong or say that Harper was healthy.
• Nationals reliever Jonathan Papelbon asked for his release and the Nats granted his request.
• Might Papelbon return to Boston? He’s interested and the Red Sox haven’t ruled it out.
• In good Red Sox news, Mookie Betts hit three home runs in one game for the second time this season.
• R.J. Anderson looks at the mess that the Dodgers starting rotation has been lately because of injuries.
• Indians minor leaguer Francisco Mejia’s hitting streak ended at 50 games, the fifth-longest streak of all-time.
• Matt Snyder thinks that Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton is finally living up to expectations.
• The Angels attempts to get a new stadium in Tustin haven’t gone anywhere, so there are looking to Anaheim to make renovations to their 50-year-old stadium.
• Jonah Keri has some players who are having a big second-half after a disappointing start to the season.
• Michael Baumann makes the Cy Young case for Orioles closer Zach Britton.
• Neil Weinberg asks why Andrelton Simmons isn’t getting the same credit for his spectacular defense that he used to?
• Craig Calcaterra calls former Cubs first baseman Fred McGriff an “underrated victim” of the 1994-95 strike. It does seem highly-likely that McGriff reaches 500 home runs without the work stoppage and that would likely enhance his Hall of Fame chances.
• Yasiel Puig got really excited that tennis player Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medal. Of course, Puig was excited about sharing a name with the tennis medalist, but he had another reason too: Monica Puig is the girlfriend of one of his Oklahoma City Dodgers teammates.
• I suppose I should take a moment to congratulate Belgian swimmer Pieter Timmers, who won the silver medal in the men’s 100-meter freestyle. No relation, except that I strongly approve of his name.
• You may remember Scott Richmond from his four seasons pitching for the Blue Jays, but you probably don’t. But he made a pretty spectacular catch on a liner at his head in a Chinese Professional Baseball League game.
• And finally, this has been one of my favorite in-stadium bits this season. At PNC Park, Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli is available to answer your questions about dating and romance. That’s Amore!

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