MLB Bullets Asks “Who’s On First?”

Good morning. We’ve got no fewer than two Daniel Vogelbach mentions in the linked articles today. Vogy may be gone, but he’s not forgotten.

• Wrapping up the Cardinals hacking scandal fallout, Ken Rosenthal thinks the Cardinals got off easy.
• Tom Verducci agrees, feeling that the Cardinals should have lost a first-round pick.
• Grant Brisbee finds the timing of the punishment “awfully convenient” for the Cards.
• Bob Nightengale feels the punishment was fair and that the damage to the Cardinals reputation will hurt more than the draft picks.
• The Astros, for their part, say that they are satisfied with the punishment.
• The only person who seems to think the Cardinals were punished too harshly is the man at the center of this scandal, former Cardinals farm director Chris Correa. From prison, Correa issued a statement still insisting that the Astros stole information from the Cardinals and should also be punished. MLB and the courts found no evidence that was the case.
• Marlins minor leaguer Kyle Johnson talks to Ted Berg of USA Today about living on the $12,000 a year he earns in the minors. I know some of you say “who cares?” but I continue to insist that this is a black mark on the sport. I also believe that more young athletes, especially from poor backgrounds, would pursue baseball careers if they knew they could make a living in the minor league. It should be noted that the National Hockey League manages to pay their minor leaguers a minimum of $45,000 a year without going bankrupt, and they’re a much smaller revenue sport. (Yes, the NFL manages to convince their minor leaguers to work for room and board and even manages to get it paid for by this nation’s colleges and universities, but that’s another story.)
• Dayn Perry has a guide to understanding defensive statistics. As teams better understand the ways the evaluate defense, this kind of article is very important for fans to better understand the moves of their team.
• Christopher Crawford examines baseball’s biases against fat players, short pitchers and tall shortstops, catchers and outfielders.
• Michael Klopman ranks the six divisions. Thanks, Milwaukee and Cincinnati for dragging down the NL Central.
• Richard Justice has five teams that won January. I prefer winning November, personally, but winning January is better than nothing.
• Mike Axisa rates the amount of pressure to win that each MLB team is under this season.
• Speaking of that, Tracy Ringolsby notes that the Royals are making one last push for a title in 2017 before their window closes.
• Manny Randhawa has a list of all-time great late-winter free agent signings. A couple of famous Cubs signings on the list.
• Dave Cameron is puzzled by teams’ unwillingness to acquire established hitting first basemen and going with question marks instead.
• Speaking of that, last season Chris Carter led the National League in home runs. He may end up playing in Japan this upcoming season.
• Going the other way, Wily Mo Pena has signed a minor league deal with the Indians. Welcome back to the States, Wily!
• The Rockies have signed Domonic Brown to a minor league deal.
• The Nationals have bolstered their bullpen with minor league deals for (former Cub) Joe Nathan and Matt Albers.
• Sam Miller writes that the stats denote that Tigers DH Victor Martinez is the worst baserunner ever and what those numbers mean.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that the Tigers’ baserunning has been terrible for years, so it’s not just Martinez.
• Contrary to earlier reports, the Twins will not re-unite with Justin Morneau.
• The Rays and Rangers are reportedly discussing a deal that would send Jurickson Profar to Tampa Bay.
• Profar was the number-one prospect in baseball just a few years ago. Jay Jaffe looks at his two candidates for that title this year, the Red Sox’ Andrew Benintendi and the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres. (Josh looks at Cubs’ World Series bobblehead to reassure self.)
• Nick Schaefer makes the case for Minnie Minoso for the Hall of Fame. That’s one of the few things that Cubs and White Sox fans can both support.
• The Rockies have a new shade of purple for 2017.
• Indians manager Terry Francona donated $1 million to the baseball program at the University of Arizona. I’m old enough to remember when Francona was a Cubs outfielder.
• And finally, Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams has lost 25 pounds this winter doing pilates. Of course, in Pittsburgh, they lose weight doing pi-rat-es.

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