MLB Bullets has some extra tickets

Lots of stuff on the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets today. You know what this means, don’t you? It means that I’m ready to work for ESPN.

• The Yankees are in first place, yet their attendance is still sharply down. Billy Witz explains the possible reasons why and how the loss of revenue is affecting the Yankees.
• Jimmy Traina doesn’t think any of this is a mystery: The Yankees are simply charging too much for tickets and then being tone-deaf when asked about it.
• Craig Calcaterra notes that ticket sales always drag behind the team’s performance on the field. A successful outcome to 2017 will mean that the fans will return in 2018.
• Sean Newell thinks the ironic thing about all this is that the Yankees are finally fun again this year. He also blames the Yankees’ “World Series or failure” mentality for creating a bad experience in the past.
• One of the reasons that the Yankees are “fun” is the play of outfielder Aaron Judge. Jeff Passan explains why people think that Judge could replace Jeter as the leader of the Yankees.
• The Yankees are also promoting Judge as the future of the Yankees, making a “Judge’s Chambers” cheering section at Yankee Stadium. Cliff Corcoran has some other players who he thinks should get their own cleverly-named cheering sections.
• Andrew Marchand notes that the Yankees have no idea what is wrong with Masahiro Tanaka.
• Over in Boston, the Red Sox are struggling. General manager Dave Dombrowski has given manager John Farrell the dreaded “vote of confidence.” (Dun dun dunnnnn!)
• Jon Heyman believes that it is too soon to fire Farrell.
• The Red Sox plan to activate pitcher David Price on Monday.
• Alex Smolokoff argues that the Red Sox can’t expect Price to save their season.
• Mets manager Terry Collins announced that he’s no longer allowed to give updates on injured players because he (and the team, to be honest) just don’t know anything. You know the old saying: Say nothing and everyone will think you’re an idiot. Speak and remove all doubt.
• Jesse Spector thinks the Mets miss having Bartolo Colon on the team and he misses being on the Mets.
• Bartolo Colon is having a miserable season and Craig Calcaterra fears the end is near for Big Sexy’s career.
• Jon Heyman lists 70 players who could be on the trade block this summer.
• Buster Olney thinks Sonny Gray could be the number one trade target this year.
• You really can’t judge a multi-year free agent contract just two months into it, but Will Leitch does that anyway and the results aren’t good.
• Jose Bautista has rebounded from a poor April to a red-hot May.
• Jeff Passan looks ahead to the monster free agent class of 2018 and outlines where each team stands going into the offseason after next.
• The MLB draft is coming up soon and Jon Heyman reports that the Twins are expected to pass on high school right-hander Hunter Greene and his 100-mph fastball.
• Grant Brisbee notes that some teams just can’t develop a catcher.
• The Nationals have finally named Koda Glover as their closer, but Eddie Matz reports that the Nats bullpen issues go much deeper than just the closer.
• Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, but Jonah Keri notes that the gap between Trout and the second-best player on the Angels is now reaching historic levels.
• Joe Posnanski uses Statcast to find some of the most unusual home runs of the season, including one by Trout.
• Chris Bahr has some “shocking” stats so far this year.
• Anthony Castrovince has ten things you need to know about this weekend.
• Jon Heyman reports that the sale price of the Marlins continues to drop.
• Rob Arthur has some bad news for commissioner Rob Manfred and those trying to speed up the game. His study shows that pitchers who take more time between pitches throw harder, and that is a big reason for the increasing time of the games.
• Travis Sawchik notes that the Dodgers have essentially gone to a six-man rotation.
• Eno Sarris notes that Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija has improved his game this year by cutting down on the turn in his windup.
• Ken Rosenthal explains why Brewers slugger Eric Thames has been drug tested so often this season.
• Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre has been cleared to report to extended Spring Training.
• Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis talks to Ken Rosenthal about his battle with cancer and his goal of pitching again this year.
• Rachel Robinson will receive the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hall of Fame.
• Athletics reliever Sean Doolittle and his fiancée, Eireann Dolan, write about the need to help military veterans with “bad paper,” meaning less-than-honorable discharges. Many of their poor discharges were the result of PTSD suffered while in the military and now they are denied the help they need because of those discharges.
• The Indians dropped a bag of “quicksand” in the visiting locker of Billy Hamilton in order to try to slow him down.
• Matt Ellentuck calls “MVP Baseball 2005” the greatest sports video game ever. Yes!
• And finally, I’ve been critical of this country for falling behind South Korea in our first-pitch techniques. So I have to take the time to praise Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin for stepping up for America with her flip first pitch before Tuesday night’s game at Wrigley Field.

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