MLB Bullets is in the dustbin of history

Good morning, Wednesday.

• Sad news as former Diamondbacks and Padres general manager Kevin Towers passed away from thyroid cancer at age 56.
• Tim Brown remembers Towers as an old-school baseball man who enjoyed every day he had in the game.
• Buster Olney talks about the experiences he had with Towers and gets others in the game to share their thoughts about Towers. It should be mentioned here that Towers gave Theo Epstein his first job in baseball operations, and Theo’s thoughts on Towers are in the article.
• Many players shared their thoughts on Towers’ passing.
• This is an important article as we all await our new robot umpire overlords. Four writers at Baseball Prospectus look at the technology behind automated calling of balls and strikes and conclude that the tech is nowhere near ready to take over for human umpires. So we may have to wait on our robot umpire overlords a bit longer. They also warn about all those Twitter accounts that provide instant reports on whether a pitch should have been called a ball or a strike and says that maybe fans shouldn’t take those as gospel.
• Also, to prevent cheating, MLB will start listening in on calls made with dugout phones. I can just see the Yankees bullpen coach calling Aaron Boone and saying “The crow flies at midnight when the moon is full” and Boone replying “Yes, but when the dogs are silent, the rabbits run free.”
• There was a trade! The Royals traded first baseman Brandon Moss and pitcher Ryan Buchter to the Athletics for pitcher Jesse Hahn and a minor league pitcher.
• Because we don’t have a lot else to talk about on the transactions beat, Jeff Sullivan evaluates the deal.
• There are reports, or maybe just informed speculation, that this trade opens up the possibility of free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer re-signing with the Royals.
• Brandon Moss also commented on the state of affairs this winter and believes that the players “have to get together” and discuss things before the next collective bargaining agreement talks.
• The reaction to the Indians decision to scrap Chief Wahoo in 2019 continues. Anthony Castrovince grew up an Indians fan and took the mascot for granted. But now he explains why it was time for Chief Wahoo to go with an anecdote about a friend of his.
• Jeff Passan reports that he wore a Chief Wahoo Indians cap for years, but he’s going to throw it out now, if he can ever find it. (He hasn’t worn it recently.) He says this isn’t about political correctness. This is about right and wrong.
• David S. Ward wrote and directed the Major League movies in which Chief Wahoo featured prominently. He said that he thinks it’s time for everyone to move on from Chief Wahoo and leave it a part of history.
• Craig Calcaterra argues that MLB and the Indians weren’t driven by moral concerns over Chief Wahoo as much as they were making a commercial decision.
• Marc Normandin is upset that the Indians are still going to profit from Chief Wahoo by selling his merchandise in the Cleveland area.
• Bob Nightengale agrees that the Indians should not continue to sell Chief Wahoo merchandise (and there seems to be some dispute about what is necessary to maintain a trademark) but goes a step further and thinks that the Cleveland ballclub should pick a new nickname. I don’t think most people think they need to go that far, but I do know there is a lot of support to reclaim the name “Spiders.” (Not anywhere near as much support as there is to leave them the “Indians,” of course.)
• Back to the Cold Stove. The Diamondbacks have signed former Cubs catcher Alex Avila. Avila figures to be starting in Arizona.
• The market for relievers continues to be the only functioning market as the Brewers have inked former Nationals reliever Matt Albers.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that the Brewers signing Albers is evidence that Milwaukee believes in “breakout” seasons.
• The Reds signed right-handed reliever David Hernandez.
• Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman announced that he wants to remain a Brave forever. “Forever?” Really? I don’t know how Freeman is going to be able to hit after we encase him in amber, but if that’s what he really wants. . .
• Jon Paul Morosi gives an update on the market for the big name free agents who haven’t signed yet. He assures us they will sign eventually. He thinks.
• If the unsigned free agents open Spring Training in their own camp, Ben Lindbergh points out that it’s happened before. Unsigned free agent players had their own Spring Training camp in 1995 after the strike season and there is an interesting story to it that Lindbergh tells.
• Outfielder Nori Aoki signed a three-year deal with the Yakult Swallows of NPB.
• In six of the last seven seasons, a team that finished last in their division the year before has made the playoffs the next season. Grant Brisbee looks at the six last-place teams from 2017 and predicts which one is most-likely to be playing in October in 2018. One guess which one Brisbee picks? He’s probably right, but . . .
• David Adler explains how the speed of the Mariners’ Dee Gordon will help him make the transition to center field.
• New Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson got to meet his idol, former Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre. Brinson wants to wear #9 in tribute to Pierre and Pierre said that would be the only thing the two players would have in common.
• Anthony Castrovince ranks the top five double-play combos currently in the game.
• The Rays have cut ties with a doctor accused of sexual misconduct.
• Official MLB historian John Thorn gave a speech about the history and character of keeping score in baseball.
• A man in Texas started making bats as a hobby five years ago. Eventually it turned into a business and now Xylo bats have officially been approved for use in major league games. Claire Kowalick has their story.
• And finally, the story of that Mets fan who wanted to take her prom pictures at Citi Field. Last time I told you that she got her 500k retweets, so the Mets were going to honor her request. But she didn’t have a date for the dance. So Mr. Met came to her high school and asked her to the prom. Of course, that meant that Noah Syndergaard asked if that meant that Mrs. Met was free that night.

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