MLB Bullets hit the wall

Has the last Expo fallen? (That’s sounds like a really bad action movie title.) I don’t count Ian Desmond and the “Vermont Expos.”

• Is it the end of the road for Big Sexy? The Braves have designated Bartolo Colon for assignment.
• Jorge L. Ortiz has an appreciation of Colon and notes that he’s not alone in appreciating Colon.
• Grant Brisbee notes that Colon may have pitched his final game and looks at the various career stages of Bartolo.
• David Schoenfield also thinks it’s the end of the line for Colon and recaps his career.
• But wait! The Mets are considering bringing Colon back.
• When an umpire is in the news, it usually isn’t because he did something good. But John Tumpane is the exception because he kept a woman from jumping off the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh.
• Tumpane is being honored as a hero and even got a standing ovation at PNC Park.
• The Marlins sale is expected to be completed soon, although the final sale price is expected to be well below initial reports. It’ll still cost over a billion dollars though.
• Jon Heyman reports that the bid by Derek Jeter is currently in third place to buy the Marlins, but that he definitely is not out of the running and could still pull off the sale.
• Fifteen-year old Jason Lockhart, the son of former major leaguer and current Cubs scout Keith Lockhart, has emerged from his coma that he suffered after having been hit in the face with a baseball. So more good news there. (Jason’s older brother Daniel was also a minor leaguer in the Cubs system. He’s in the D-Backs system now.)
• Apparently, the Angels officially changed their name to just the “Los Angeles Angels” a year and a half ago and no one noticed until now.
• More bad news for the Nationals yesterday than just their bullpen blowing another game. Shortstop Trea Turner suffered a broken wrist after getting hit with a Pedro Strop pitch.
• Eddie Matz writes that the injury to Turner hurts, but the Nats will get through it. Playing in the NL East helps.
• Matz also writes that Stephen Strasburg is living up to his $175 million contract. So far.
• It’s supposed to be a happy day when a rookie makes his major league debut. But for Yankees right fielder Dustin Fowler, it turned sour when he suffered a season-ending knee injury after colliding with the wall in foul territory in the first inning. He didn’t even get a chance to bat.
• Rob Arthur has even more evidence, thanks to StatCast, that the balls are indeed “juiced.” However, he does note that the “juicing” could well be unintentional and could flip back at any time.
• Jeff Passan notes that as the Tigers slip out of the playoff hunt, many observers in the game expect to Tigers to make Justin Verlander available for trade. Hmmm.
• Paul Leibowitz has three teams that might be interested in dealing for Phillies third baseman Maikel Franco.
• Jon Heyman notes that the Padres asked for Gleyber Torres when the Yankees called about reliever Brad Hand. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask. I mean, Hand and Aroldis Chapman are of similar value, right?
• Mets infielder Asdrubal Cabrera retracted his request to be traded, saying he now wants to remain an Amazin’.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at five rebuilding teams that could end up being one of the next powerhouses in MLB.
• Jesse Spector doesn’t think the Rockies should panic over their recent losing streak.
• Michael Baumann notes that while Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is great, he still isn’t as good as Clayton Kershaw.
• Ben Reiter notes that the Angels actually got a lot better after Mike Trout got injured. Some of this he attributes to random chance, but he also wonders whether subconsciously, Trout’s Angels teammates relied on Trout to win games too much.
• On that note, the Angels won a game on a walk-off strikeout, and Jeff Sullivan is fascinated by that.
• Andrew Stoeten tries to diagnose what is wrong with Marco Estrada, with limited success.
• Scott Lauber examines why Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts looks like a good defensive player, but his defensive statistics tell a very different story.
• Cliff Corcoran looks at some teams that are playing better on the road than at home this year.
• Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo on what he’s learned from studying how Cubs manager Joe Maddon fills out a lineup card.
• Gabe Lacques has five players in the MLB Futures Game you should keep an eye on. Well, four players and Eloy Jimenez, whom you were already going to watch.
• Do you know the saying “You see something you’ve never seen before every time you go to the park?” Sam Miller decided to test that statement and watched all 12 games on June 22. And guess what? He found something new in every game.
• You can now relive “Disco Demolition Night” in an exhibit at the Elmhurst History Museum. Or maybe experience it for the first time.
• The Potomac Nationals have one of the best promotions in the minors this summer with an “Ode to Tommy John surgery” statue giveaway, complete with a removable tendon.
• Joey Votto dressed up like a donkey to campaign to get Zack Cozart into the All-Star Game. Votto has promised to buy Cozart a donkey if he makes the team.
• And finally, in a story that the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner was born to write, he notes that MLB is currently being overrun with Tylers.

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