MLB Bullets brings down the hammer

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. Consider spatchcocking your turkey. I haven’t decided if I’m doing it this year and I never have spatchcocked a turkey, although I have spatchcocked ducks and chickens. I’m telling you this not because I care what your turkey tastes like, but because I want to see how many times I can get the word “spatchcock” into a piece. Still, if you want to cut the cooking time of your turkey in half, spatchcock it.

• The office of the commissioner brought the hammer down on the Atlanta Braves this week. As punishment for violating MLB rules about bonus money paid to both international free agents and draft picks, 12 Braves minor leaguers were declared free agents. Additionally, former Braves GM John Coppelella was banned from baseball for life. They also lost a third-round draft pick in 2018, had a contract they had signed with a Korean ballplayer voided and will face severe restrictions on signing international players through the 2021 season.
• Jeff Passan has more details on the punishments. If you were thinking about the Cubs signing one of the players declared as free agents, know that teams are allowed to use their 2018-19 signing bonus pool money instead of their 2017-2018. Teams can use the current bonus pool money if they still have some as well, but teams can’t combine the two.
• If you’re looking for a shopping list, Eric Longenhagen has a scouting report on each player declared a free agent. The big name is Kevin Maitan, who was the number-one international prospect in the 2016 signing period. His stock has dropped sharply since he arrived in America, however.
• Chris Cwik believes the punishments indicate that MLB will no longer turn a blind eye to teams violating rules in signing Latin American players.
• Jon Tayler fears that this incident will be used by MLB as an excuse to institute an international draft, which would only serve to limit the amount of money that Latin American ballplayers get even more.
• Coppolella joins three other people on the “banned for life” list. See if you can name them all. (Note: Joe Jackson is no longer banned from baseball because of the “life” part of “banned for life.” He’s still ineligible for the Hall though.)
• The 2018 Hall of Fame ballot was announced and Jay Jaffe breaks down the ballot.
• Cliff Corcoran also offers his thoughts on the candidates, in case you want a different opinion.
• Joe Morgan is both a Hall-of-Famer and member of the board of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Morgan sent a letter to all Hall voters explaining why they should not vote for known steroid users. Of course, Morgan probably means “PEDs” and not steroids, since the players he’s obviously referring to would never take anything so common as a steroid. But I doubt Morgan knows the difference.
• Tim Brown agrees with Morgan but thinks he should have had the guts to call the players whom he doesn’t want inducted by name.
• Joe Posnanski notes that Morgan isn’t just a Hall-of-Famer, he’s a member of the board and the letter was on official Cooperstown stationary. Posnanski thinks that this letter will be the end of Barry Bonds’ and Roger Clemens’ chances of induction. I don’t think so, Joe. I think all this did is harden positions. The people who were voting for Bonds and Clemens aren’t likely to ever listen to Joe Morgan in the first place. Those who weren’t voting for those two still aren’t voting for them.
• To wit: Gabe Lacques explains why he thinks Morgan’s letter is off-base.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that Morgan is too late and there are already PED users in Cooperstown, even if we don’t know who they are. That’s even leaving aside that it is well-documented that there was a big bowl of amphetamines in the clubhouse of the 1970s Big Red Machine that the players popped like candy.
• Grant Brisbee, whose favorite player of all time is admittedly Barry Bonds, says that Morgan has unintentionally made the case for inducting PED users. So yeah, I don’t think Morgan’s letter changed many minds.
• MLB, NPB and the MLBPA have reached an agreement on a new posting system and Jon Paul Morosi explains it. Shohei’s coming, better hide your heart, girl.
• Mike Lupica calls Shohei Ohtani “the most interesting man in baseball.” I don’t often throw changeups, but when I do, I prefer them to be in the dirt. (And maybe we’ll get a definitive answer on whether he prefers “Ohtani” or “Otani.”)
• The Yankees managerial show must go on. Andrew Marchand has a breakdown of the five main candidates and promises the Yankees will make a decision before the Winter Meetings start. (I hate to wish the Yankees anything good, but the correct choice is “Bam-Bam.”)
• Bruce Markusen has a terrific piece on the circus that surrounded the hiring of Alvin Dark as the Athletics manager in 1974. Dark was the only one willing to work for Charlie O. Finley. Not exactly, but others who were willing were terrible choices (Satchel Paige?) or still playing for a division rival (Frank Robinson).
• Oddsmakers are picking the Giants as the favorites to be the new team of Giancarlo Stanton.
• Jeff Sullivan questions the wisdom of the Giants trading for Stanton, saying that they while the Giants need a slugger and a star, they need a lot more than that. Stanton’s salary could prevent the Giants from getting the help they need in other areas.
• Buster Olney points out that with Stanton’s no-trade clause, he could force a deal to the Dodgers if he wants, and that some close to Stanton think that’s exactly what he wants. He also thinks owner Derek Jeter should be talking more with Stanton before getting too far along in talks with the Giants or Cardinals.
• Olney also reports on the status of a pitch clock for the 2018 season. Basically, it’s coming so get used to it. MLB wants a 20-second clock while the MLBPA is trying to get something closer to 24 seconds.
• Mark Feinsand reports that despite all the rumors about the Blue Jays trading Josh Donaldson, the team still considers Donaldson to be an important part of the 2018 team. Also, he writes that many of this year’s free agents are marketing themselves as multi-position players like Ben Zobrist, even if they have limited experience at multiple positions.
• Jon Heyman also reports that the Blue Jays are a “dark-horse” to sign free agent J.D. Martinez.
• The Brewers are reportedly interested in signing free agent Jake Arrieta. That would be tough to take, but I can understand why the Brew Crew would interest Jake and vice-versa.
• Jonathan Bernhardt has his choices for the best free agent signings of the past five years. I can’t understand why Jon Lester isn’t on the list. The Cubs don’t win the World Series without Lester.
• American League Rookie of the Year Aaron Judge had shoulder surgery. He’s expected to be ready for Spring Training.
• A Dodgers jersey that Jackie Robinson wore in 1947 sold for $2.05 million.
• And finally, Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius swims with the sharks. That opens up a spot at short for Gleyber Torres and . . .Oh, that’s not a euphemism? Didi Gregorius really did swim with sharks and he’s OK? I guess that’s good news for Didi.

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