MLB Bullets Walks Down Dusty’s Trail

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to read MLB Bullets.

• We start with our old friend, Nationals manager Dusty Baker. (And he is a friend. Be nice.) Jon Heyman tells the story of how Baker is back in West Palm Beach for Spring Training, 50 years after he was kicked out of a local pool hall for being black.
• Eddie Matz looks at Baker’s uncertain contract status in Washington and wonders if 2017 isn’t Baker’s last chance to win a World Series ring as a manager. He has a ring as a player with the 1981 Dodgers, of course.
• Jonathan Bernhardt argues that the Nationals recent history of last-season failures has the team underrated going into 2017.
• Bolstering Dusty and the Nats’ chances, Washington signed reliever Joe Blanton to a one-year, $4 million deal.
• Mike Lupica profiles one of the Nats’ stars, second baseman Daniel Murphy and how he transformed himself into a power hitter.
• The Nationals also signed catcher Matt Wieters, and Travis Sawchik notes that this appears to be straight out of agent Scott Boras’ new tactic of negotiating directly with owners rather than general managers. Boras gets along very well with Nationals owner Ted Lerner.
• Ben Reiter has four reasons why free agent sluggers found the market for their services so depressed this winter.
• MLB plans to limit all replay review challenges to two minutes this season, and commissioner Rob Manfred intends to meet with the players about planned rule changes for 2018.
• Jeff Passan reports that MLB is also working on implementing a “sticky ball” for use in games that would eliminate the need for pine tar or other foreign substances to get a grip. We may be a few years away from this one, however.
• Kate Morrison looks at MLB’s marketing efforts and rethinks the whole process and makes some suggestions. Honestly, a campaign focused on Mike Trout, Noah Syndergaard and the weather is a good idea.
• On the other hand, Craig Calcaterra says that “baseball doesn’t need gimmicks to appeal to young fans. It just needs to be baseball.”
• Calcaterra also asks if it is really necessary to have metal detectors at Spring Training games. Or any games, actually. Maybe Al or someone else at Sloan Park this spring can comment on this, but Calcaterra isn’t exactly impressed with how closely the guy with the metal detector wand is checking out fans. Of course, he also thinks that’s probably for the best.
• Mets third baseman David Wright was sent back to New York with a “right shoulder impingement.” How many players can you say “A funny thing happened on the way to Cooperstown. . .” like you can with Wright? Eric Davis and Don Mattingly come to mind.
• Rian Watt has a NL Central preview. He thinks the Cubs are boringly great, the Reds are boringly bad and the Brewers are bad but fascinating.
• Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani has a tender elbow and will miss a spring start. Uh-oh. Please be nothing.
• Ken Rosenthal reports that the Rangers draw inspiration from Tony Beasley, their third-base coach, and his battle with cancer.
• The Rangers gave Carlos Gomez a chance and he’s making the most of it, writes Richard Justice.
• The Rangers also plan to retire Ivan Rodriguez’s number 7 this August.
• Jonathan Bernhardt wonders if the Blue Jays have enough pitching to compete in the AL East.
• Jay Jaffe has five Spring Training position battles to watch.
• Will Leitch has an appreciation of a vanishing breed: players who spend their entire career with one team.
• Andrew Marchand looks at the “boom or bust” potential of Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.
• Jeff Sullivan is fascinated by the slider of Braves reliever Chaz Roe.
• Doug Glanville meditates (and that’s a good word to describe Glanville’s thoughtful writing) on the meaning of the end of the intentional walk. He’s in favor of it going away for reasons of honesty, mostly.
• Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is excited to be representing the USA in the World Baseball Classic.
• Mike Axisa puts together a “dream” Cuban WBC team that includes the players who left the island. It’s good, but I’d still say it would be the fifth- or sixth-best team in the tournament.
• Grant Brisbee notes that Spring Training statistics are meaningless, so he tries to make something out of them anyway.
• A kid had a big reaction to getting Mike Trout’s autograph.
• I’m surprised this didn’t make the post-game wrap yesterday: The Angels had two number 97 players on the basepaths at the same time yesterday. I’m betting the Sloan Park operators missed the chance to play a song by the Old 97s over the public address system too.
• The minor league Altoona Curve have new, reversible “rally caps” this year. They have eyes on the inside for when you turn them inside-out.
• Mike Axisa and some friends tried the “Triple Play Dog” monstrosity at Surprise Stadium. They liked it, but seriously, don’t order this. It will kill you.
• And finally, Petco Park isn’t ready for baseball yet, although it might be ready to host some mock naval battles. It was completely flooded on Monday. Seems it never rains in Southern California.

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