MLB Bullets hopes something is brewing

We’re one week closer to the end of this horrible offseason.

• Maybe we’re getting a thaw as the Brewers have reportedly made an offer to free agent pitcher Yu Darvish. Al will have a full story on this development at 8:30 Central time today.
• There were also reports that the Brewers were close to making a trade, although that’s really pretty vague. It might be an outfielder and it might be with the White Sox.
• There hasn’t been much interest among MLB teams in signing Ichiro Suzuki this winter and he’s considering playing in Japan next year. Whitney McIntosh is upset by this development, as well she should be.
• Buster Olney writes in his column is that a big reason for the slow winter is that the front offices of the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs are run by extremely disciplined men dedicated to efficiency. Olney also has some thoughts on baseball’s current labor issues.
• Indians reliever Andrew Miller, who is active in the Players’ Association, is against a pitch clock and hopes that MLB and the MLBPA can agree on ways to speed up the game without an angry face-off. Good luck with that.
• Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale has no problem with a pitch clock, nor does Hall-of-Famer Pedro Martinez. Of course, they both worked very quickly.
• Tommy Stokke is in favor of a pitch clock, but says that it’s not going to solve baseball’s problems.
• Joe Posnanski explains the slow free agent market by noting that teams are aware that big contracts to players in their 30s are usually a bad idea, giving several examples why.
• Posnanski also remembers the late Yordano Ventura and how much he meant to Kansas City.
• Mike Axisa has five suggestions that the Players’ Association could fight for to get more money to young players.
• Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson would like to sign an extension with the team and finish his career in Toronto.
• Mets third baseman David Wright knows that his health makes his future uncertain, but he’s not ready to retire yet.
• The Mets are also considering bringing back Bartolo Colon.
• The Orioles are exploring signing free agent center fielder Jarrod Dyson.
• Pitcher Dillon Gee has a new team, and it’s the Chunichi Dragons of NPB.
• Eric Longenhagen gives a scouting report on Conner Greene, the prospect the Cardinals got from the Blue Jays for Randal Grichuk.
• Richard Justice has five teams that were under .500 in 2017 who could be surprisingly good in 2018.
• Travis Sawchik looks at what happened to the Pirates over the past three seasons and how their dreams of a title fell apart.
• Jerry Crasnick profiles the Phillies Rhys Hoskins as he prepares to make the move to left field in 2018.
• Cliff Corcoran, inspired by Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria going to the Giants, looks at the best “second acts” in baseball history of players who left their first team after they turned 30.
• The autopsy came back on Roy Halladay and he had high levels of prescription drugs in his system when his plane crashed.
• OK, I’ll do some Hall-of-Fame stories, despite my better judgement. David Schoenfield asks how should voters take defense into account? As he points out, people voting for Omar Vizquel keep citing his defense as a reason he should get in, but then they’re not voting for Andruw Jones, who was one of the greatest defensive center fielders ever. Of course, he’s missing a big reason they’re voting for Vizquel and not Jones. Vizquel was one of the players most generous with his time and helpful to sportswriters and Jones was not. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I stopped caring about Cooperstown.
• Matt Kelly makes the case for former Cub Fred McGriff to go into the Hall. I know McGriff is better known for his time in Toronto and Atlanta than anywhere else, but he’s an ex-Cub around here.
• Jon Heyman proposes four changes to Hall of Fame voting.
• Diamondbacks outfielder Yasmany Tomas was arrested after driving 105 mph in Arizona.
• The Red Sox are the latest team to announce that they are extending the netting behind home plate.
• Petco Park announced that they are installing baseball’s biggest solar power system. San Diego would be a good place for something like that, but they hope to blaze a trail for other teams.
• The White Sox have lost their radio deal as Cumulus media has declared bankruptcy.
• A baseball fan in Pennsylvania bought a bowling alley that was built by Hall-of-Famer Nellie Fox.
• Brian Wilson, the former closer and not the Beach Boy, makes an appearance on the British car show “The Grand Tour.” He’s shaved since retiring.
• Yankees third baseman Todd Frazier met with the Mets fan who started the “thumb-down” thing.
• Mike Trout went to the Eagles NFC Championship game and wore a dog mask. I guess that’s a thing. I don’t watch football much anymore.
• Angels outfielder Justin Upton went to “Angels Night” at the NHL Anaheim Ducks game. He did not wear a dog mask. I guess it’s not a California thing.
• And finally, Red Sox pitcher Tyler Thornburg had surgery last summer to remove a rib to deal with thoracic outlet syndrome. His parents keep the rib in a jar on their counter. If Tyler Thornburg’s parents invite you over to their house to have ribs for dinner, just say no.

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