MLB Bullets is a turkey

I hope everyone is had a safe and happy Thanksgiving and if you’re one of those people who like to hit the malls for Black Friday, I hope you stay safe and find what you’re looking for.

• In tribute to the holiday, Will Leitch has one thing for each team to be thankful for.
• Did you know that softball was invented on Thanksgiving in Chicago? Like most sports in America, it was invented by a bunch of drunk Harvard and Yale kids.
• Here are some ballplayers giving thanks on the holiday. I’ll add Rene Rivera’s thanks.
• I know what MLB has to be thankful for: Maury Brown reports that MLB revenues exceeded $10 billion in 2017.
• If you’re wondering why top billing is going to holiday well-wishers, the news is usually pretty slow on Black Friday. But Mike Axisa points out that this year has been really, really slow compared to seasons past.
• Maybe things will pick up today. Chad Thornburg has some deals that were consummated on Black Friday.
• The only real news is coming out of Miami, where Derek Jeter’s ownership seems like a cunning plot to tarnish his legacy and make Jeffrey Loria look good by comparison. Jon Heyman reports that the Jeter/Bruce Sherman ownership group is looking for outside investors already.
• And Fox Sports Florida fired longtime play-by-play broadcaster Rich Waltz along with analysts Jeff Conine and Preston Wilson. Now it was FS Florida that fired them and not Jeter, but these decisions are always made in consultation with team ownership. Waltz was easily in the top half of the 30 TV PBP announcers and had been with the team 13 years, or since Len Kasper left Miami for the Cubs. It seems highly unlikely that they will be able to hire a broadcaster who is better than Waltz. It does seem highly likely they will be able to hire one that will work for less money. And it’s a better than even chance that whomever they do hire will have some sort of tie to the Yankees.
• Rather than look at which team is most likely to trade for Giancarlo Stanton, Jon Tayler looks at what teams Stanton would find the best fit. Tayler wants the Rockies to get Stanton, for obvious reasons. It would be a cheap way to kickstart the NASA lunar program.
• Scott Lauber writes that the Red Sox need Stanton.
• Following up on the big story from last time, Jeff Passan writes that Joe Morgan’s letter about steroid users and the Hall of Fame has convinced him to give up his vote. Years ago I gave up caring about the Hall because it’s all just so stupid and I realized it always had been. In a way, I’m sorry that a smart writer like Passan is stepping aside and allowing the Murray Chasses of the world to run roughshod, but I completely agree with this and I wish I had written it.

If, by sacred place, the Hall means one in which racists, wife beaters, drunks, gamblers and purveyors of manifold moral turpitude otherwise are celebrated, well, Cooperstown is a shining beacon of divinity set upon a hill of hypocrisy.

• Shohei Ohtani is still coming to America, as far as we know, and David Schoenfield picks seven favorites to land him. The Cubs are on his list. I still think it’s going to be the Yankees. Maybe I’m wrong.
• Mark Townsend reports on the Mariners efforts to land Ohtani.
• The folks at Cespedes Family BBQ have been doing these for a lot of free agents, but I kind of liked their matrix on which team is going to sign Ohtani.
• Buster Olney writes that when Ohtani gets here, his abilities on both sides of the ball will be “revolutionary.”
• The Mariners may or may not sign Ohtani, but they are getting closer to signing former Cubs outfielder Jon Jay.
• Dave Cameron has five free agents this winter who he thinks teams should stay away from.
• Do you think the Cubs should trade for Zach Britton? Well, Stacey Gotsulias has the Cubs on her three-team list of the “best trade fits” for Britton.
• Sam Miller has a piece on a piece of baseball wisdom that fantasy players have known for a long time: who your favorite team’s next closer is going to be is close to a total crapshoot.
• Retiring New York radio broadcaster Mike Francesa thinks he’d do a good job of managing the Yankees. He admits he won’t get the job, though. Kind of big of him, don’t you think?
• Scott Ferkovich remembers the Kellogg’s 3-D Super Stars card sets that came in a box of cereal. I’m pretty sure I had one of these. Probably more than one.
• And finally, if you are curious about the picture accompanying this article, here is the lowdown on the baseball player float in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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