MLB Bullets Is Lacking In Chemistry

If Hollywood is high school with money, then MLB is middle school with money.

• Susan Slusser provides the details of the “altercation” in the Athletics clubhouse that ended up with Billy Butler on the concussion disabled list. If you haven’t read the details, do so now. Danny Valencia was wrong to hit a teammate in the head, but if anyone ever had it coming, Butler did.
• Joe Stiglich gets the “duh” comment from GM David Forst who said that the A’s clubhouse chemistry is currently “not great.” Points to Forst for not saying “What hump?”
• John Shea asks where do the A’s go from here?
• Here’s an artist’s interpretation of the fight. I think he took a few artistic liberties there.
• Following up on another strange story from the weekend, the Yankees have offered to pay for Dwight Gooden to enter rehab, although Gooden still insists he’s fine and hasn’t relapsed. Or maybe he’s just listening to too much Amy Winehouse.
• John Romano writes about what Gooden means to his hometown of Tampa and why they won’t stop worrying about him, no matter what he says.
• And in another story that isn’t going away, Dave Cameron lays out the case as to why the Diamondbacks need to fire team president Tony La Russa and general manager Dave Stewart.
• Will Leitch thinks that La Russa has ruined his storybook ending to his career with the Cardinals.
• Moving on to new stories. Joe Sheehan makes the case that MLB should send major leaguers to compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. It’s about the global growth of the sport.
• David Schoenfield tries to predict what a baseball “Olympic Dream Team” might look like in 2020.
• Mike Vorkunov profiles Max Kepler and the expanding market for baseball talent in Europe.
• And Justice B. Hill looks at the growing interest in youth baseball in Argentina. More major leaguers have been born in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (one) than in Argentina. It’s time to change that, although it may take 25 years.
• The Rangers released outfielder Josh Hamilton. Although as Mike Oz notes, this may not be the end for him as a player for the Rangers.
• Dayn Perry thinks the Astros depth will be challenged by the season-ending injury to Luis Valbuena. Get well soon, Luis. I hold no grudges against you for throwing a baseball and hitting me in the chest with it.
• The Dodgers put pitchers Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson on the DL, which tied a major-league record of putting 27 players on the DL in one season. Yet, they are in first place.
• The Dodgers may break that record soon as outfielder Josh Reddick has injured his finger holding open a door for hotel room service.
• Eric Nusbaum has a great look at blisters in baseball and why Rich Hill has missed so much time with one.
• Clayton Kershaw threw a successful bullpen session as he tries to come back from the DL.
• Blue Jays DH Edwin Encarnacion is fighting a lawsuit he terms “frivolous” from a woman who claims he gave her an STD.
• A day after Phillies infielder Freddy Galvis called for the netting behind home plate at Citizen’s Bank Park to be extended, another fan was injured with a foul ball.
• Jay Jaffe notes that the Royals have gotten back into the postseason chase e and looks at how they did it.
• Mark Simon says the Royals’ trick is all about pitching.
• August Fagerstrom looks at Orioles slugger Chris Davis and finds some troubling trends in the data this season, even if he’s still having a good year.
• Orioles starter Chris Tillman is likely heading to the disabled list.
• Jonah Keri notes how good pinch-hitting is disappearing from the game and how the Pirates are “Buc-ing” this trend. (The pun is mine. Don’t blame Jonah.)
• Lindsey Foltin has six players who could get traded before the August 31 postseason roster deadline.
• Jon Paul Morosi looks at players in this winter’s free agent class who have improved their market lately.
• Grant Brisbee looks at all the rebuilding teams in the National League and what went right for them this year.
• Dayn Perry notes that catcher Russell Martin is having a strong bounceback from a poor first half and that is fueling the Blue Jays rise in the AL East.
• Ben Lindberg details how the “Belt Brothers” of Adrian Beltre and Carlos Beltran are driving the Rangers.
• Astros pitcher Joe Musgrove’s “one-seam sinker.”
• There’s been a lot of talk about infield shifts this season, but Wallace Matthews takes a look at how the Yankees (among other teams) are using data and lasers to shift outfielders. Interesting read.
• If you haven’t seen this fantastic home-run-robbing catch by Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi, now’s your chance.
• While it may not get bonus points for flipping over a wall, I actually like this ridiculous catch by Billy Hamilton even better, if just for the insane amount of ground that Hamilton covers.
• And finally, the city of St. Louis has lost their NFL team and for some reason, they seem to be unhappy about this. They just saved their city hundreds of millions of dollars and if they still want to watch the NFL, they’ll actually get to see good games on TV now. But Thomas Neumann takes a look back at the St. Louis Browns, the team that almost no one was sorry to see go. However, there are those in the Gateway City that keep the memory of the Brownies alive.

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