MLB Bullets Is Counting All The Money

Let’s just get on with it.

• Forbes has released their annual list of MLB team values. The Yankees are still number one, worth an estimated $3.7 billion. The Dodgers are second, the Red Sox third and the Cubs are now the fourth-most valuable team at an estimated $2.68 billion. If you’re looking for a bargain, the Rays check in last at $825 million.
• The average value is $1.54 billion, yet as Bill Baer notes, they still claim that they can’t afford to pay minor leaguers the minimum wage.
• Jeff Passan writes about how the presence of the mother of Yordano Ventura at Kauffman Stadium helped the Royals deal with their grief over Ventura’s death.
• Now that the Cubs have won the World Series, Jay Jaffe has five more baseball things he’s looking forward to seeing in his lifetime. Or sooner, if that makes sense. It doesn’t.
• Following up on last time, former outfielder Otis Nixon has been found safe. Police aren’t releasing any other details.
• Another piece from last time dealt with MLB’s declaration that players who compete in the World Baseball Classic are no more likely to get injured than those who don’t. Ben Lindbergh saw that piece and had some issues with the methodology that MLB used to reach that conclusion. So he did his own research and while his conclusions aren’t quite so definitive, he came to pretty much the same conclusion.
• Indians DH Carlos Santana talks about how much the city of Cleveland means to him.
• Chris Bahr ranks the current top seven rivalries in baseball.
• On that topic, the Mets and Phillies are feuding again after a brushback pitch.
• The feud apparently has nothing to do with Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard stealing the Phillie Phanatic’s ATV. That’s between Thor and the Phanatic. Syndergaard might be the only thing Mr. Met and the Phillie Phanatic agree on.
• Grant Brisbee continues his series with the one player on each AL West team that matters the most.
• Speaking of Grant and the AL West, he also broke down the Angels seven-run ninth-inning comeback on Sunday. The Angels came back down three runs in the ninth last night too. Meanwhile, the Giants haven’t come back to win when trailing after eight innings since May of 2015.
• Mike Axisa looks at how the Athletics and the Reds are throwing out the “traditional” bullpen roles.
• Manny Randhawa thinks the Rockies should be optimistic about their start to the season.
• Jonah Keri has ten trends he’s spotted to start the season.
• Jeff Sullivan looks at which pitchers have gained or lost the most velocity at the start of the year.
• Matthew Trueblood shows how Adam Wainwright made a rare, mid-game adjustment. He moved from the first-base side to the third-base side of the rubber.
• David Schoenfield has a list of hitters whose at-bats he tries to never miss.
• This won’t come as any surprise to Cubs fans, but Matt Snyder notes that the newest trend in baseball is leadoff hitters with power. A Mr. Schwarber is prominently mentioned.
• Dave Cameron thinks the Astros need to get a new first baseman.
• Mets manager Terry Collins jokingly asked the FBI to go look for the “real” Jose Reyes after his slow start to the season.
• Dave Hogg predicts that Joe Jimenez is the Tigers closer of the future, and the future may be closer than you think.
• The Red Sox have been dealing with a bad case of the flu being passed around the clubhouse, so they had the entire place fumigated. Although as that piece notes, perhaps they shouldn’t have.
• Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda had a perfect game going in the seventh inning before Martha Stewart jinxed it.
• Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez is expected to miss four weeks with a biceps strain.
• Buster Posey went on the 7-day disabled list after he was hit in the helmet with a pitch.
• The Braves signed ex-Cub Jason Motte to a minor league contract.
• A dad wrote every MLB team asking why his newborn son should be a fan of their team. He got some interesting letters back.
• A cat ran onto the field at Marlins Park yesterday and the normal chaos that comes with a cat ensued. Of course, he hid in the home run thingamajig, which meant that the Marlins weren’t going to use it if a homer was hit. That led, of course, to people asking if the Marlins could always have a cat in the sculpture.
• The toasted grasshoppers at Safeco Field sold out on Opening Night. Mariners fans can’t get enough of their grasshoppers.
• Although one member of the Astros broadcast team who tried them was disgusted. That’s right, men. Make the one woman on your broadcast team try the grasshoppers first.
• Finally, in the “adorable little kids that make our day just a little brighter” category, Hunter Pence got to meet his own Mini-Me. Yeah, there’s pretty much no way that kid grows up to be normal now. But thank you for being so cute, kid.

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