MLB Bullets reaches 3000

I predict that in a shocking deal just before the deadline today, the Cubs are going to send Ernie Broglio back to the Cardinals for Lou Brock.

• Let’s pause from all the trade talk for a moment (believe me, there will be plenty of time for it) and read about how former Cubs Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock announced that the doctors said he was cancer-free. I think Brock played for another team after leaving the Cubs, but I can’t remember which one at the moment. But let’s just enjoy the good news.
• More good news is that Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre got his 3000th hit yesterday. So give him a pat on the head.
• Neil Paine explains why everyone should love Beltre. He’s one of my favorite active non-Cubs players, along with Mike Trout and Chris Archer.
• Jeff Passan notes another reason that everyone should love Beltre: his toughness. Actually, Passan has a pretty in-depth profile of Beltre that touches on a lot of things, including that not-wanting-to-be-touched-on-the-head thing. But toughness and dedication are the main themes throughout the piece.
• David Schoenfeld notes that much, much more than this, Beltre did it his way.
• There were Hall of Fame induction ceremonies yesterday.
• Bradford Doolittle explains that the town was overrun with Expos fans celebrating the induction of Tim Raines. It’s also a sign, according to Doolittle, that Montreal still loves baseball.
• Doolittle also outlined how “statheads” put Raines into Cooperstown. Raines even thanked lifelong Expos fan and stathead Jonah Keri in his induction speech.
• New inductee Ivan Rodriguez was known as a terrific defender when he was playing, but R.J. Anderson asks how does Pudge rate under our new catching metrics? Not quite as terrific, but still pretty darn good and Hall-of-Fame quality.
• Cliff Corcoran has highlights from the new Hall of Fame inductees.
• Mike Axisa looks at the complicated legacy of commissioner Bud Selig.
• OK, now to trade news. We’re covering Justin Wilson and Alex Avila to the Cubs elsewhere, but the Twins traded Jaime Garcia to the Yankees for two minor leaguers, just six days after the Twins got him from the Braves.
• Paul Swydan breaks down the deal, calling Garcia the “poor-man’s” Mike Piazza, after Piazza’s memorable week with the Marlins in 1998. But he also compares the prospect the Twins sent to the Braves to the ones they got from the Yankees for Garcia.
• Andrew Marchand writes that the Yankees need to add Sonny Gray now.
• The Royals got a second go-round with outfielder Melky Cabrera, getting him from the White Sox for two minor league pitchers.
• The Nationals traded for Howie Kendrick from the Phillies, for some reason.
• The Mets surprised everyone by getting Marlins closer A.J. Ramos. Now Ramos is under team control through next year, so it’s not like the Orioles picking up Jeremy Hellickson.
• Speaking of Hellickson, his arrival to the Orioles was delayed after he got in a car accident on the way to the airport. He’s fine, but his girlfriend was hospitalized.
• The Rockies got catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the Rangers for a player to be named later. I want to name him “Batter McBatface.”
• Jeff Sullivan notes that in Lucroy, the Rockies got a player in a puzzling and steep decline, although he’s still a better catcher than the ones Colorado are currently using.
• Shaker Samman notes that when Justin Verlander is traded, it will signal an end of an era in Detroit that will be tough for that beleaguered city to process.
• Buster Olney has the position players on hugwatch watch today.
• David Schoenfield notes that while the Dodgers are a great team at the moment, they still need to add another starter.
• Michael Baumann takes note of the surprising contribution the Dodgers have gotten from unheralded outfielder Chris Taylor.
• Tim Brown doesn’t think the Red Sox need to make a move at the deadline.
• Red Sox legend David Ortiz thinks that David Price needs to apologize to broadcaster and Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley.
• Jack Dickey thinks that Price’s criticism of Eckersley was just plain wrong.
• Jonathan Bernhardt wants to know what happened to Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy?
• Paul Lebowitz notes that Phillies outfielder Nick Williams has been a pleasant surprise in a crappy season.
• Grant Brisbee remembers the 20th anniversary of the trade that sent Mariners prospects Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocum, calling it “one of the worst trades in baseball history.”
• Top Padres prospect, RHP Anderson Espinoza, will undergo Tommy John surgery. The UCL is a cruel mistress.
• Andy Martino writes about how baseball still has a problem with cocaine. No, this isn’t a recycled column from the eighties.
• Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray is recovering from being hit in the head with a line drive. (The video at this link is not for the squeamish.)
• Rosemont is getting a new independent league team: The Chicago Dogs.
• Doug Glanville defends ESPN broadcaster Jessica Mendoza from her sexist critics and notes that she has as much right to be a broadcaster as he does, even if she brings a different life experience than he does.
• A fan in Oakland asked Twins third baseman Miguel Sano for a hug and he obliged. A different kind of hugwatch.
• Also in Oakland, a seagull narrowly avoided being “Randy Johnson-ed” by Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey.
• More good stuff from that Athletics/Twins series that you probably paid no attention to. A’s third baseman Matt Chapman caught a ball in foul territory and then had to leap over the Gatorade jugs in the Oakland dugout.
• Jeff Passan reported that the Marlins scored ten runs off of Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish because he was tipping his fastball. Darvish thanked Passan for telling him.
• New Jersey governor Chris Christie got angry at a Cubs fan in Milwaukee yesterday.
• And finally, the new CBA leaves no detail overlooked, mandating that all visiting clubhouses have to be fully stocked with toilet paper. So the A’s players no longer have to share a square with the visiting team.

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