MLB Bullets Is A Mess

Good Wednesday morning.

• Mets pitcher Matt Harvey apologized for missing Saturday’s game which led to his three-game suspension. You can read pretty much any of the Harvey links to find out what led to his headache that caused him to stay home.
• Jerry Crasnick writes that while apologies are necessary, Harvey will be judged on his actions and behavior going forward, not his words.
• Mike Lupica thinks that the whole Mets team has a headache right now.
• Jon Heyman questions why the Mets sent a security team out on Saturday to check up on Harvey.
• Jesse Spector believes that we shouldn’t laugh at Harvey’s off-the-field troubles. While Spector doesn’t come out and say that Harvey has a problem with alcohol (because he doesn’t know), he thinks we should consider that Harvey may have some sort of problem instead of mocking him.
• On that front, Grant Brisbee writes that the Mets need to drill a new commandment into the heads of their players: “Thou shalt not LOL Mets.”
• Buster Olney thinks the Mets should consider sending Harvey to the minor leagues to teach him a lesson, and coincidentally gain another year of control.
• Craig Calcaterra explains why he thinks that’s a bad idea.
• To Mets fans who think that the team should trade Harvey, Dayn Perry explains why Harvey has very little trade value at the moment.
• Katie Baker assesses how the once-bright future of the Mets is now cloudy with a chance of meatballs over the plate.
• We never like to give the butcher’s bill, but we especially hate it when it involves cancer. And Pirates pitcher Jameson Taillon underwent surgery for suspected testicular cancer.
• Travis Sawchik outlines how hard it is going to be for the Bucs to replace Taillon.
• Orioles closer Zach Britton will miss the next six-to-eight weeks with a left forearm strain. This is slightly mitigated because manager Buck Showalter was just going to leave him in the bullpen anyway.
• The Red Sox announced a lifetime ban from Fenway for a fan who used a racial slur at a game. Alex Reimer asked how the Red Sox planned to enforce the ban. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• The Braves released Ryan Howard. Is this the end for the former NL MVP?
• Will Leitch remembers Howard’s career.
• Eddie Matz notes that Bryce Harper looks as good as he’s ever looked in 2017.
• Will Leitch notes that Harper’s career is still just getting started and he could still end up as one of the greatest players ever.
• Speaking of the greatest ever, the Dodgers still have one of the greatest ever broadcasters calling their games. Andrea Canales profiles Dodgers Spanish-language broadcaster Jaime Jarrin as he approaches his 60th season calling Dodgers baseball. She also talks about the long relationship and friendship between Jarrin and Vin Scully.
• Bob Timmerman notes how his inability to get Dodgers broadcasts has caused his once-rabid fandom to grow more distant. (I should mention, though, that he complains that he can’t get radio broadcasts because of nearby mountain. MLB Audio broadcasts are not blacked out locally, so he could listen to games on the internet.)
• Craig Calcaterra believes that the Dodgers are in danger of losing a generation of fans because of their greed.
• Doug Fister is close to signing with a mystery team that is not the Mets. (And Craig Calcaterra plays up his most famous typo ever.)
• Ken Rosenthal is predicting a wild trade market at the deadline.
• Grant Brisbee writes that no matter how bad they get, the Giants are never going to go through a rebuild phase.
• And in the sad metaphor department, the Giants bus broke down on the way to the airport in Kentucky.
• Jerry Crasnick explains why the Braves decided to build their franchise around Freddie Freeman.
• Francisco Rodriguez is out as the Tigers closer.
• Tony DeMarco argues that Rockies shortstop Trevor Story needs to make some adjustments as he struggles in his sophomore season.
• John Perrotto explains how playing in Korea made Eric Thames change his whole approach at the plate. For the better, of course.
• Alex Wong writes that the Blue Jays window of contention is rapidly closing and that they have a lot of work to do to keep it open for even the rest of this year.
• Travis Sawchik explains how robot umpires would benefit hard-throwing pitchers.
• David Schoenfield looks at the trend of sluggers batting leadoff.
• Ben Lindbergh got a look at MLB’s investigation of their baseballs and finds that the balls are not “juiced.” So look for another reason for the home run explosion over the past year.
• Probably the best story of the 2017 season so far is Pirates shortstop Gift Ngoepe. Tyler Kepner has perhaps the most in-depth profile of the first African major leaguer yet.
• Dave Cameron welcomes pitcher Alex Wood back to the world of good players and explains how he did it.
• Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray is making a lot of noise on the mound. Literally. He’s the Monica Seles of pitchers.
• Thirteen years after the Padres made him the first pick in the draft, Rangers pitcher Matt Bush finally played a game at Petco Park. He called it “a dream come true.”
• R.J. Anderson notes that currently, the Marlins have a very weird roster.
• Fielding porn. Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar made a terrific play in center field.
• Derek Jeter regrets not having kept a journal as a player.
• There are at least 51 dogs in New York City named “Jeter.” I can just hear Michael Kay saying “Jeter just peed all over the carpet again” or “Jeter is drinking out of the toilet. Amazing!”
• If you’ve ever wanted to smell like a major league catcher, the Yankees now have a fragrance that smells like Gary Sanchez. (Not really, it’s one of those humorous promotional spots. But it’s solid and it does feature ex-Cub Adam Warren.)
• What is it like to be woken up by Hawk Harrelson? Jim Margalus investigates.
• The Cardinals got in trouble with a sexist Tweet about one of their in-game promotions.
• And finally, is there anything that outfielder Adam Jones is not a winner at? Between innings at an Orioles game in the Bronx, he beat a fan at rock-paper-scissors.

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