MLB Bullets Is Underway

I guess that MLB wants us all to wear caps today. You’d think they’d publicize it more.

• Tom Verducci hails all the young, power-hitting stars of today’s game in a season preview.
• Ken Rosenthal makes all of his postseason predictions.
• Fifteen reasons to get excited about the 2017 baseball season.
• Jonah Keri explains why we’re going to see more home runs and more strikeouts in the future.
• Just before yesterday’s deadline, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina signed a three-year, $60 million extension. Ken Rosenthal thinks it’s money well-spent.
• Giants ace Madison Bumgarner became the first pitcher to ever hit two home runs on Opening Day. Joe Posnanski marvels at how unprecedented this was.
• Still, Bill Baer points out that Bumgarner isn’t a very good hitter, by hitter standards.
• Jason Kirk looks at the new turf at Tropicana Field and pronounces it good.
• Morgan Moriarty visited Atlanta’s new SunTrust Stadium and was impressed with the facility, but not the trip to get there.
• The Yankees are now third in payroll in 2017, behind the Dodgers and Tigers. It’s the first time since 1993 that they weren’t first or second.
• J.J. Cooper updates you on what happened with all the Rule 5 picks.
• The Rangers sent Keone Kela down to the minor leagues to start the season as punishment for his poor behavior during a “B” game. Ken Rosenthal says Kela’s demotion is a sign that the Rangers believe that character matters.
• Brewers reliever Tyler Cravy got demoted to Triple-A despite a great spring. He said he might just quit baseball because of it.
• The Blue Jays released Melvin Upton Jr. But B.J. still has a job, right?
• Blake Parker made the Angels Opening Day roster after striking out the final 17 batters he faced in Spring Training. This article starts with “Even the most die hard baseball fans probably aren’t familiar with Blake Parker.” But if you’re a long-time reader of Minor League Wrap, you know him really well. Congratulations to the ex-Cub.
• Pedro Moura looks at all the players in Angels camp drafted ahead of Mike Trout and notes how the draft is an inexact science.
• Maury Brown gives an update on efforts to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal.
• Longtime MLB executive Katy Feeney died on Sunday at 68.
• Chipper Jones and Scott Boras have different recollections of a meeting where Jones declined to hire Boras as an agent almost 30 years ago. Here’s Chipper’s side and here is Boras’ recollections. Rashomon, it’s not.
• Travis Sawchik talks to Adam Warren about the differences between the Cubs and Yankees “clubhouse culture” and finds that they aren’t as different as some portray it.
• Former outfielder Aubrey Huff opens up about his addiction to Adderall, which once had him contemplating suicide.
• Jon Heyman notes that the Mets plan to stock up on pitching is working, despite all the injuries.
• James Wagner looks at how hard Noah Syndergaard throws and talks to people who argue that we probably have reached the limits of human ability to throw a baseball fast.
• David Roth remembers the extraordinary range of former Mets shortstop Rey Ordonez.
• Rob Neyer looks back at Earl Weaver’s decision to make Cal Ripken Jr. a shortstop.
• Katie Barnes looks at a new autobiography of female pitcher Ila Borders.
• Mark Kingwell notes the advantages of not thinking while playing baseball.
• Alex Kolodziej sarcastically declares the Yankees season over after an Opening Day loss to the Rays.
• Jeff Passan writes about the new Diamondbacks front office, all of whom learned the craft working for Cubs president Theo Epstein, either in Boston or Chicago.
• Unlike Vin Scully, new Dodgers play-by-play broadcaster Joe Davis will not mention a no-hitter on the air.
• An investigation of a wall in Brooklyn that may or may not have been part of the Dodgers home before Ebbets Field.
• I’ve got one last WBC story to get in: Nate Freiman tells The Player’s Tribune about what a wild, wonderful trip it was playing for Team Israel in the WBC. They were a group of mensches.
• And finally, we have video of Manny Ramirez hitting a single in independent ball in Japan and then dancing on first base.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. But first, tonight, go Zags.