MLB Bullets Will Just Try To Live

I sure hope we don’t end up facing the Brewers in the playoffs.

• The big story of the weekend is still the suspension of Padres general manager A.J. Preller for maintaining two sets of medical records. Tyler Kepner thinks that Preller’s 30 day suspension was little more than a “slap on the wrist.”
• Dave Cameron also thinks the punishment was too light and that the Padres ended up better off for cheating than if they’d played by the rules.
• Jeff Passan puts what Preller did in the context of baseball’s “information wars” and also argues that the weak, 30-day suspension is giving a green light to potential cheaters.
• Someone else who thinks the punishment was too light is the Boston Red Sox, who are reportedly also outraged that Preller was seen addressing instructional league players on Friday. (Note: Preller’s suspension doesn’t officially start until Monday, so he wasn’t violating the suspension.)
• Michael McCann examines if the Red Sox have any legal recourse to seek damages from the Padres.
• Grant Brisbee is less interested in the legal or ethical dimensions of Preller’s actions than he is in what he terms its simple stupidity.
• But the really bad news out of San Diego comes from infielder Yangervis Solarte, whose wife, Yuliett, died at age 31 from cancer over the weekend. They had three young daughters.
• His teammate Adam Rosales hit a home run on Sunday and paid tribute to Solarte as he crossed home plate.
• The soap opera in Arizona may be coming to a climax as the Diamondbacks fired senior vice president De Jon Watson and team president Tony La Russa said he and GM Dave Stewart may be next. As much as I’d like to see La Russa fired (no one has fired him since Hawk Harrelson did over 30 years ago), I’d rather see the Diamondbacks continue to be terrible for years.
• On the subject of soap operas, the new Fox show “Pitch,” about the first woman to play major league baseball, has been described by network executives as “at heart a soap opera” that will “attract a big number of female fans.”
• And that description, from both this article and from the female baseball fans that I follow on social media, is not going over very well with baseball fans who object to the idea that women couldn’t possibly like a show about baseball without a “soap opera” attached to it. If Katie Nolan is supposed to be making cameos on the show, you think she could have explained that to them. She’s very good at that.
• To the field. Sarah Langs breaks down the three National League teams fighting for two Wild Card spots.
• Doug Padilla notes how the Dodgers are winning with an unconventional strategy this season. Not that unconventional. This strategy was first practiced by General Haig at the Battle of the Somme.
• Rays outfielder Steven Souza may undergo hip surgery, which would naturally end his season.
• White Sox DH Justin Morneau would like to play in 2017.
• Red Sox DH David Ortiz is regretting his announcement of his retirement. He’s not regretting retiring—he’s just regretting having to go through all the tributes before the games.
• Vin Scully explained what he’s going to do next season when he’s retired: “Try to live.”
• Wallace Matthews thinks that because of injuries and trades, the Yankees have gone from “too old” to “too young” over the course of this season.
• Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco was hit in the hand with a line drive on Saturday and will miss the rest of the season with a broken pinky finger.
• Lindsey Foltin wonders if the Indians can survive the postseason with all their mounting injuries to key players.
• Mike Axisa thinks that with all the new money in baseball, teams are more willing to release players and eat bad contracts.
• Michael Baumann looks at the baseball expression “Let it eat.”
• Matt Snyder thinks the Rockies should be the surprise breakout team of 2017.
• But the Rox have to decide what they’re going to do about Carlos Gonzalez first.
• Jennifer Rainwater insists that for those who think Athletics team president Billy Beane has lost his mojo, he’s got a plan for 2020 or so, when he’s hoping he’ll have a new stadium in Oakland.
• A look at the effort to digitize the collection at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cool for fans. Vital for scholars.
• W.P. Kinsella, the author of Shoeless Joe, has died at age 81. Then he emerged out of an Iowa cornfield.
• Tracy Ringolsby interviews Jerry Weinstein, the manager of Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. Jason Marquis is pitching for Team Israel. Wow.
• For a game that has not one but two teams named after hosiery, you’d think they’d pay more attention to them. Well, Seth Berkman has a story on the tradition and retro trend of baseball stirrups.
• Indians slugger Mike Napoli hit an unusual ground-rule double over the 19-foot tall left field fence in Cleveland.
• Yesterday’s game in Anaheim was delayed by a swarm of bees. Someone needs to tell Angels GM Billy Eppler that this is taking the idea of a September call-up a little too literally.
• Finally, a man in Texas was cleaning his house when he found a box of baseball cards from 1957-58 with a contest in it. Noticing that the contest had no listed expiration date, he entered the contest and he got a free baseball glove.

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