MLB Bullets is taking a nap

Looks like everyone is just sleeping off Thanksgiving. Just like Eddie Rosario up there.

• James Wagner has a look at Shohei Ohtani’s talents and notes that his desire to both pitch and hit is a throwback to baseball’s 19th Century origins.
• Ohtani’s agents sent a questionnaire to all 30 teams asking how they intended to use him. None of the questions mentioned money.
• On Friday, I said that Ohtani to the Twins made a lot of sense and called them a dark horse to sign him. Minnesota GM Thad Levine thinks like me and said that signing Ohtani is a “top priority” for the team. The Twins can offer him the chance to twirl around and throw his cap up in the air on the Nicollet Mall before every game. They can also offer him more money than any team other than the Yankees and Rangers.
• The Twins are also pursuing free agent pitcher Yu Darvish, and that the Twins could make the two Japanese pitchers a package deal.
• Jonathan Bernhardt looks at which destinations for Ohtani would be the best for baseball, not necessarily the best for the team or for Ohtani.
• The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a national treasure. The elections where they induct their “Hall of Fame” are stupid and should be ended. They’ve lost the ability to honor. At this point. they can only insult. I’ve stopped caring about it. But for those who still care, Tyler Kepner breaks down every candidate on this year’s ballot.
• Chipper Jones won’t go into Cooperstown unanimously, as at least one voter left him off the ballot because of his controversial Tweets (including, but not limited to, Sandy Hook denialism, for which Jones has since apologized). (h/t Big League Stew)
• Buster Olney fears that worthy candidates, like Scott Rolen, are going to get forgotten in the voting because of the ridiculous rules changes the Hall has put in place to keep out steroid users. Olney himself has quit voting because he didn’t feel right only voting for ten candidates when there were more than ten qualified candidates on the ballot.
• Sad news as former Phillies pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez died in a traffic accident in his native Cuba. He was 34.
• Also, Brewers minor league infielder Javier Betancourt was shot in the arm in his native Venezuela. He is currently hospitalized but his injuries are not considered life-threatening.
• David Schoenfield thinks that the three teams that won 100 games in 2017, the Indians, Dodgers and Astros, could all be better in 2018.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at the win projections for 2018 and how they guide which teams should buy and which should sell this winter.
• We have an almost-signing in that the Rangers have reportedly come to terms with right-handed pitcher Doug Fister. (Note to self: proofread this sentence carefully.)
• Five teams are reportedly interested in signing Jake Arrieta, including those free-spending Twins.
• Right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw is reportedly weighing has two multi-year offers at the moment.
• The Mets would like to bring back free agent second baseman Neil Walker. Walker played for the Mets until he was traded to Milwaukee this August.
• The Mariners are reportedly interested in a deal with outfielder Jon Jay. Evan Davis writes about what a contending team can expect to get out of Jay.
• Ted Berg has a list of 11 free agents this winter who could turn out to be bargains.
• Jeff Sullivan looks at the kind of impact a 20-second pitch clock could have on baseball and thinks it is smaller than you might think.
• Six minor leaguers in the Blue Jays system were suspended for PED use and the Toronto front office has launched an investigation to find out what’s going on.
• And finally, Nationals ace Max Scherzer celebrated his third Cy Young Award with a pretty awesome baseball-themed cake.

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