MLB Bullets Is Open For Business

I don’t have a link for this, but HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel will have a report on their upcoming Tuesday night’s show on “Dangerous Driving in the Dominican Republic,” which is something that’s a pretty big issue in baseball lately. Because it’s on HBO, I’m sure there will be a ton of times to see it, including on-demand.

• Baseball’s newest stadium will officially open tonight when the Braves take on the Padres at SunTrust Park. Here’s a quick preview of tonight’s festivities.
• Jay Busbee has seen the the new stadium and came away extremely impressed with the place, although he notes that it’s designed to get you to part with as much of your money as possible. So it’s kind of like a Vegas casino that way.
• The Braves are going out of their way to make it more difficult to park the first two days, so that people will learn to buy parking passes in advance.
• John Perrotto thinks the new park will favor hitters. Those of you who grew up watching the Braves on WTBS (as it was called then) can remember that the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was nicknamed “The Launching Pad.” Atlanta was the major league city with the highest elevation at the time (the stadium was at 1050 feet above sea level) and the ball would fly out of there. It was a preview of what was to come at Coors Field.
• It turns out the Braves new stadium has already tied up traffic when thousands of foam tomahawks spilled out all over the interstate. Remember, all highways take the definite article “the” before their number.
• Speaking of tomahawks, a spokesman for Rob Manfred has revealed that the commissioner has made it clear to the Cleveland Indians that MLB wants to see “Chief Wahoo” discontinued and that progress in that area has been made. The Indians AL Championship rings did not have the Chief on them, for one.
• Corbin Smith has some not-so-serious suggestions for replacements for Chief Wahoo, but his point is that almost anything would be better.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Jerry Crasnick has an interview with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria about the team, as well as how he and the team are dealing with the grief over the death of Jose Fernandez.
• Craig Calcaterra read the interview and says while he has no doubt that Loria deeply cares about Fernandez, the team and Marlins employees, nothing in the article indicates that he cares at all about the fans.
• Jorge L. Ortiz writes that for the Athletics, the new Moneyball is caring about the fans.
• The Marlins are putting up a bronze statue of Fernandez at the park.
• The Mariners put up a statue of Ken Griffey Jr.
• As we approach Jackie Robinson Day, Bob Nightengale talks to African-American ballplayers about trying to get more African-Americans to take up the sport. Two of the players he talks to are Jason Heyward and Carl Edwards Jr.
• Jon Heyman has a list of 50 ballplayers to admire, and no fewer than eight of them are Cubs.
• Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis is happy about the extended netting at Citizens Bank Field, although he thinks they still need to be extended a bit more. The Phillies, for their park, say that no one has complained about the netting.
• Mike Oz got a look at MLB.com headquarters and looks at what they are doing this year to improve the fan experience.
• Joe Sheehan looks at the issue of pace-of-play and notes that games have been getting longer since 1884 when pitchers went from just serving up the ball to throwing overhand and actually trying to get people out.
• Jeff Passan thinks that baseball needs to implement a pitch clock.
• Travis Sawchik wonders if we really need all those mound visits.
• Former Cubs outfielder Lou Brock has been diagnosed with bone cancer. Brock played for the Cubs from 1961 to 1964 and he kind of disappeared after that. I don’t know what happened to him. (But seriously, get well and good luck to the Cardinals Hall of Famer. I hope you have many more Opening Days at Busch.)
• The Reds are off to a hot start to the season and Matt Snyder thinks that manager Bryan Price’s unconventional bullpen usage is a big reason why.
• David Schoenfield thinks Reds pitcher Amir Garrett is showing the potential to be even better than expected, plus other notes on the past week.
• Mark Simon looks at the chances for the teams off to good starts to keep it up all season. He’s not optimistic about the Reds.
• Ryan Davis believes that Dexter Fowler will turn around his slow start to the season, but that is probably not enough to save the Cardinals.
• Anthony Castrovince has ten players off to good starts who badly needed good starts.
• Joe Posnanski creates a ranking for “How much should teams off to bad starts panic?” called PANCON.
• Joe Sheehan has a simple recommendation for each National League team. He even wrote “Play Albert Almora Jr. more” before yesterday’s game.
• Buster Olney thinks the era of four-man outfields are coming. Not against every hitter. Just certain fly ball hitters.
• Ben Lindbergh is impressed that the Padres have found a way to tank like no team has ever tanked before.
• On the other hand, Manny Randhawa thinks the Padres may have found a superstar in Wil Myers.
• Dylan Hernandez asked Joe Maddon to compare Theo Epstein to Andrew Friedman, and Maddon said they were really similar, except that Epstein can play guitar. It’s part of a piece comparing the respective paths to the World Series for the Cubs and Dodgers.
• Andrew Marchand thinks that Yankees assistant GM Jean Afterman has what it takes to be the first woman general manager, and her boss Brian Cashman agrees. There’s only one problem: she doesn’t want the job.
• Top Yankees pitching prospect James Kaprielian will undergo Tommy John surgery.
• This development throws a big curve ball the the Yankees plans for their starting rotation over the next few seasons.
• Sam Miller notes that we’re seeing more great hitters under six-feet tall recently, and some other statistical-based observations.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus has completely reinvented himself as a hitter.
• The agent for Carlos Correa says the Astros shortstop has no interest in signing an early long-term deal.
• Grant Brisbee continues his series with the five most crucial players in the AL Central.
• Now that Vin Scully has retired, Chuck Hildebrandt has some recommendations for what other Ford C. Frick-award-winning radio broadcasters you should be listening to.
• Rookie Marlins shortstop J.T. Riddle got perhaps the oddest first major league hit you’ll ever see.
• And finally, do you want to examine the ball that got stuck to Yadier Molina’s chest protector? It’s for sale, although the high bid is $1010 as I write this.

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