MLB Bullets Has A Heart

I hope you all had a good holiday weekend, or at least a better holiday weekend than the Cubs had.

• In a follow-up to the successful heart and kidney transplant that Hall of Famer Rod Carew underwent over the offseason, we now know that the organs belonged to former NFL player Konrad Reuland. In a further coincidence, Reuland met Carew when he was 11 years old.
• With baseball celebrating Jackie Robinson Day over the weekend, Ken Rosenthal notes that the lack of African-Americans in baseball is still a big problem for the sport.
• David Hosansky examines the curious history of Willard Brown, the first African-American to hit a home run in the American League. For his efforts, his teammate smashed the bat. But it may not have been motivated by racism, just superstition. But it was an example of how poorly received he was by his St. Louis Browns teammates.
• Craig Calcaterra commented that acts of public patriotism at baseball games are inherently political and he got death threats for pointing that out. That is probably why we can’t get rid of any of them.
• It’s still early, but the Rockies are in first place. Jorge L. Ortiz credits their suddenly-terrific bullpen for the Rox turnaround.
• However, Rockies starter Jon Gray went on the disabled list with a fractured foot and will miss over a month.
• Tony deMarco believes that Gray’s absence is a big blow to the Rockies postseason hopes.
• The Dodgers suffered a blow as Rich Hill left yesterday’s game with a blister again.
• David Schoenfield notes that while this is worrying for the Dodgers, the team should have enough pitching depth to weather Hill’s absence.
• Travis Sawchik believes that Drew Pomeranz could end up being the “Rich Hill”-type pitcher that the Red Sox need.
• Michael Baumann thinks that Yankees starter Michael Pineda is showing the signs of becoming the ace we thought he’d become back in 2011.
• The Dodgers and the Brewers are once again talking about a deal that would send Ryan Braun to LA.
• Orioles closer Zach Britton hits the DL with “forearm soreness.”
• Orioles rookie Trey Mancini is on a tear, hitting seven home runs in his first 12 major league games, which ties a major league record last achieved all the way back in 2016 by Trevor Story.
• And the answer to your trivia question is “Ender Inciarte.” If we’re playing Jeopardy, then the question is “Who hit the first home run in SunTrust Park history?”
• Because you can’t get enough of Bartolo Colon (OK, because I can’t get enough), Bradford Doolittle takes a look at the pitcher after he won his first game for the Braves.
• Braves president John Hart talks about how the new stadium affected the Braves roster this year. (VIDEO)
• Buster Olney notes that the Blue Jays poor start to the season could cause the team to undergo a complete teardown. Olney also lists some of the players who could be leaving Canada this season if that happens.
• Athletics pitcher Sean Manea had a no-hitter going through 5+ innings on Saturday, but manager Bob Melvin took him out of the game anyway.
• Marlins pitcher Dan Straily had a no-hitter going through 5.1 innings on Sunday, but manager Don Mattingly took him out of the game anyway. Where have I read that before?
• Paul Swydan has a solution for the problems Twins outfielder Byron Buxton is going through: just let him play through it.
• Paul Lebowitz examines the options that the Mets have for dealing with Jose Reyes’ poor start to the season.
• Dave Cameron wonders why in the world are the Cardinals playing Matt Adams in left field? I’m convinced it’s some sort of Punk’d-type reality show.
• Jon Heyman notes that Mike Trout’s agent was drafted higher than Trout was. And no, Trout is not represented by Ken Griffey Jr.
• Jonah Keri has ten observations from the last week in baseball.
• Seven odd stats so far this year.
• Evan Davis examines the candidates for the best offense in baseball.
• The White Sox started an “All-Garcia” outfield on Friday. It’s the first time that all three starting outfielders for a team ever shared the same last name. (For those who say “What about the Alou brothers?”: While the Alou brothers did all play in the outfield at the same time three times, they never all started the same game. That’s because the Giants of the time had two other, non-Alou outfielders with the last names of Mays and McCovey.)
• Indians infielder Michael Martinez, of whom Cubs fans will always have a warm memory, pitched a scoreless inning of relief on Thursday.
• Todd Radom explains why he loves the ugly baseball uniforms of the 1970s. I’ve got to agree with him here. At least with most of them. The Cubs “PJs” road uniforms of the era are best forgotten.
• Angela Natividad reports on how an ad agency got MLB to start putting accent marks on the names on the back of uniforms for Spanish-speaking players.
• Marlins cat has a home. Because as Grant Brisbee notes, what could possibly go wrong with putting a feral cat inside your home?
• And finally, Teddy Roosevelt was all set to win the Presidents’ Race at Nationals Park on Sunday before the Easter Bunny came out and tackled him.

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