MLB Bullets Makes A Resolution

It’s the first MLB Bullets of 2017. For 2017, I resolve to be just as snarky and full of puns as I was in 2016. Except when I don’t feel like it.

• Anthony Castrovince has ten New Year’s Resolutions for MLB in 2017.
• Michael Clair has one resolution for all 30 teams.
• Chris Bahr has one prediction of each MLB team in 2017. I do like his prediction for the Cubs.
• Cliff Corcoran has 11 “stars-in-the-making” to keep an eye on in 2017.
• Phil Rogers has some moves he thinks every team should make. As with most things Rogers, it’s a pretty Chicago-centric list. But if I’m a GM of a second-division team with a need in the outfield, I am calling about Matt Szczur.
• Grant Brisbee looks back at his ten favorite stories of 2016.
• Michael Klopman has three teams with losing records in 2016 poised to rebound in 2017.
• Tracy Ringolsby sees the Rockies and Diamondbacks as candidates to be surprise contenders in 2017.
• Mike Axisa has five weird things that happened in baseball in 2016.
• I’m sure Duane will have this tomorrow in Cub Tracks, but Matt Marrone tells us in an open letter to Cubs fans that we’re hateable now. I got news for him: people have hated the Cubs for a long time.
• On to the Tepid Stove. Nick Cafardo thinks the Red Sox may regret not signing Jose Bautista. Hey, there’s still time. Maybe not any money, but there’s time.
• Contrary to an earlier report that Bautista would be heading back to Toronto, a new report says that the Blue Jays are trying to acquire Yankees outfield Brett Gardner instead.
• Jonathan Bernhardt looks at the Blue Jays future without Edwin Encarnacion.
• The Royals may be interested in free agent Pedro Alvarez.
• Paul Lebowitz thinks that if the Mets are interested in free agent catcher Matt Wieters, they shouldn’t let the cost get in their way.
• Apparently, there isn’t a lot of interest in Jason Hammel in the free agent market this winter. That’s probably a mistake.
• Ben Berkon thinks that the Phillies are having a great winter now that all their terrible contracts have dropped off the books.
• I try to ignore Cooperstown as much as possible because I find all the arguing about it boring. But the Hall of Fame is Jay Jaffe’s thing and he presents the ten players he’d vote for if he had a vote.
• Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are gaining support in Hall of Fame voting.
• Mark Simon talks to scouts, teammates and opponents about the legend of Vladimir Guerrero. Doug Glanville is interviewed about the way the Cubs approached Guerrero in the nineties.
• Ian O’Connor looks back at the friendship between Ralph Branca and Jackie Robinson and its importance in the integration of baseball.
• Here’s a look at the “most impressive Jewish baseball team ever assembled,” the 2017 Israel World Baseball Classic team.
• You’ve already seen the Cubs-themed goalie helmet for Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling, now here’s the Cardinals-themed helmet for Blues goalie Carter Hutton.
• David Ortiz has a new TurboTax commercial that you may have seen—and will undoubtedly see a lot before taxes are due.
• And finally, he may not have won game 7 of the World Series, but Indians ace Corey Kluber chased a coyote off his property by hitting it in the rear with a thrown baseball. The coyote then just walked to first, which got him off Kluber’s front porch.

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