MLB Bullets Is A Big Misunderstanding

Good morning Monday.

• You’ve probably heard by now that Giants ace Madison Bumgarner went on the disabled list with a shoulder sprain that he suffered while dirt-biking on an off-day in Colorado. He’s expected to miss six-to-eight weeks.
• Jerry Crasnick says that both statistically and psychologically, this development is a gut-punch for the already reeling Giants. It’s also feeding into the narrative that the Giants are better off not getting out of bed in an odd-numbered year.
• Nicolas Stellini looks at what this means for the Giants playoff hopes. It’s not good.
• Manny Randhawa says that the currently-struggling Giants offense needs to step up.
• Robert Murray writes that the Giants’ offense needs reinforcements as he surveys the current lineup.
• John Perrotto notes that Bumgarner was likely not supposed to be dirt biking and reports that many baseball executives are upset that there will be no additional consequences for Bumgarner.
• Buster Olney believes that the Giants were right not to punish Bumgarner. For one, Bumgarner was honest about the whole thing and two, a good relationship with Bumgarner is more important to the Giants than setting an example.
• The last word on Bumgarner goes to Giants fans, who are not happy with the Ford Motor Company for continuing to run a commercial with the tagline “What Madison Bumgarner does on his day off. ..”
• The other big news over the weekend started on Friday when the Orioles’ Manny Machado slid into Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia left the game and has not played since, although the Red Sox have not put him on the disabled list.
• Then on Sunday, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes was ejected after a pitch went up at Machado’s head.
• Pedroia made it clear to Machado and everyone else that he had nothing to do with the pitch.
• Michael Baumann writes that Barnes had no excuse for throwing at Machado’s head.
• The Twins and the Tigers got into an on-field brouhaha yesterday after a pitch went behind Miguel Sano.
• The Pirates are reportedly in the market for another outfielder.
• One of the players they are looking at is Leonys Martin, who was designated for assignment by the Mariners. The M’s called up Dan Vogelbach to take his place on the roster, so congratulations to the Cubs minor league legend. He went 1 for 4 with a walk yesterday.
• The Dodgers are considering a change in their starting rotation after Kenta Maeda’s ERA jumped over 8.00.
• Jeff Passan goes on a quest to find something that Mike Trout is not good at. He does eventually find some things.
• Mark Simon notes that Bryce Harper is off to another MVP-like start to the season.
• Michael Baumann has some fun with early small sample sizes.
• Bob Klapisch wonders why the Mets have been so bad so far?
• Jack Magruder notes that the Diamondbacks are off to a terrific start to the year.
• Mike Axisa says that the change in Eric Thames since his return from Korea is an improved plate discipline.
• Pirates pitcher Ivan Nova issued his first walk of the season. Of course it was to an American League pitcher in his first professional at-bat.
• Matt Eddy makes the case for the DH in the National League.
• Marly Rivera interviews White Sox manager Rick Renteria about being the only current Latino manager.
• Dave Cameron points out that Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer hasn’t been very good lately. And by “lately” he means over the past year.
• Ken Levine remembers longtime Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus.
• The Athletics picked up outfielder Ryan LaMarre from the Angels.
• The Phillies got infielder Ty Kelly from the Blue Jays. Both deals were for cash.
• Kate Feldman has a profile of Kelly’s Team Israel teammate (and the only player on the team born in Israel) Shlomo Lipetz.
• Add Tom Glavine and Tagg Romney to the list of people interested in buying the Marlins.
• Reds minor leaguer Tyler Mahle threw a nine-inning perfect game for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He only took 88 pitches. It was the first nine-inning perfect game in the Southern League since 1970.
• Bill Nye talks about having Hunter Pence on his new talk show on Netflix.
• Would you like to buy the original 1876 constitution of the National League? It’s up for auction and is expected to sell for around $3 million.
• Rockies manager Bud Black took over a ticket sales window at Coors Field in order to get to know the fans.
• And finally, Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig wanted to give a young fan a souvenir, but it took a few tries before he finally got it right. #puigyourfriend #eventually

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