MLB Bullets Had A Bad Day

I’m pretty sure I’d choose coffee over oxygen if forced to make the choice.

• Richard Justice has ten thoughts from the first week of the season.
• And Jonah Keri has ten observations of his own on MLB’s first week.
• Michael Klopman has seven hot starts he believes are real—or actually, that he wants to believe are real.
• One of those he wants to believe in is Yasiel Puig (#puigyourfriend) and he might be right. As Travis Sawchik notes, Puig has joined those who have changed their swing to hit with lift.
• USA Today ranks the 100 most powerful people in baseball. And I’m snubbed again.
• This is actually a serious issue, but former Braves outfielder Otis Nixon is missing. Nixon has gone through a lot of personal problems in recent years, so we hope this is nothing, but fear otherwise. If you know where he is, the local police want to hear from you.
• Jon Wertheim writes that Japanese pitcher/hitter Shohei Otani is going to revolutionize the way baseball is played.
• If he can get healthy, that is. Otani is going to miss four weeks with a hamstring strain. Also, there are more and more rumors that he’s going to come to MLB next season.
• Ken Rosenthal has more on Otani’s desire to play in MLB and upcoming contract situations for Manny Machado and Masahiro Tanaka.
• Michael Baumann writes that teams are using relief pitchers in more than one inning, and this has the possibility of also revolutionizing the sport. A lot of revolutions going on this weekend.
• That’s got to make commissioner Rob Manfred happy, because Manfred recently said that relievers “slow the game down” and “rob action from the end of the game.” He said he’s open to a rules change that would limit the number of pitching changes in one inning.
• The Marlins are for sale, but Jeff Passan writes that their finances are a mess and that has the possibility of scaring off potential buyers.
• Peter Gammons believes that the World Baseball Classic is a celebration of diversity.
• There has been some grumbling about the players who were injured in the WBC (which is not helped by two of the most visible injuries happening to two New York players), but as Ken Rosenthal reports, players who competed in the WBC got injured at a lower rate than players who stayed behind in Spring Training. This isn’t going to mollify the Yankees though, who are still angry about Didi Gregorius.
• Following up on last Friday’s Bullets, MLB will not punish Yadier Molina for having a foreign substance on his chest protector because there is no rule against it. There is a rule that you can’t put anything on the ball and there is a rule that a pitcher can’t have a foreign substance anywhere on him while he’s on the mound. But there’s no rule against a catcher loading up his chest protector. Of course, there’s no rule in baseball that you can’t hack into another team’s database, either. There’s a federal law against it, but no baseball rule and Manfred (barely) punished the Cardinals anyway.
• Buster Olney says that rule needs to change.
• The Mets are reportedly “frustrated” with Steven Matz’s injury.
• Jonathan Bernhardt thinks that Noah Syndergaard could become the biggest star in baseball.
• I don’t normally talk about individual game results, but the Angels scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth yesterday to beat the Mariners, 10-9.
• At least the Mariners are selling toasted grasshoppers at Safeco Field this season. Drown your sorrows in a bowl of insects.
• Jeremy Guthrie is going to need more than a bowl of insects. He gave up ten runs in ²⁄₃ of an inning on Saturday—and it was his 38th birthday. On top of that, he got designated for assignment on Sunday. At least the Nationals waited until it wasn’t his birthday.
• R.J. Anderson explains how Athletics starter Kendall Graveman is thriving with mostly just one pitch: his sinker.
• Bob Nightengale updates us on former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire’s battle with cancer.
• Grant Brisbee has the five most “crucial” players in the NL West.
• Mark Simon talks with Chipper Jones about his new autobiography, dealing with failure and the current Braves.
• Melvin Upton Jr. has signed with the Giants on a minor-league deal. He was released by Toronto at the end of Spring Training.
• Yankees DH Matt Holliday came to bat five times yesterday and was unintentionally walked all five times.
• Joe Sheehan talks about how different writing about baseball is now than it was when he started in 1995. Back then, they had trouble just getting minor league statistics or lefty/righty splits. Now we know the spin rate on every pitch.
• Marlins pitcher Wei-Yin Chen got his first major league hit after starting his career 0 for 51. Even then, he wasn’t sure it was a hit. And Jon Lester’s record is safe for now.
• There is a new app out there that will alert you if you appear in a crowd shot at an MLB game.
• This story has been told before, but it should be told again. The day in 1967 Tigers slugger Willie Horton left Tiger Stadium and went into a riot and talked people into going home peacefully.
• Hayley Glatter writes about what it means for the Padres to be the only game in town these days. This is hard for me because I wish nothing but the best for the citizens of San Diego, but I wish nothing but the worst for the Padres. I’m still not over 1984, thank you.
• This is terrific. The Mets had former Cubs (and a bunch of other teams) reliever Phil Regan throw batting practice for his 80th birthday. Regan has been in the Mets system as an instructor for quite a while now, and despite being semi-retired, he asked if he could pitch batting practice for the St. Lucie Mets on his birthday. They told him he was throwing batting practice for the New York Mets instead.
• And finally, this is the best between innings on-field game I’ve ever seen. The fans at PNC Park now have the chance to play Super Mario Bros. on the LED screen in right field. Just watch it to see how awesome it is.

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