MLB Bullets says “Happy Holidays”

My wife insists that there are 12 days of Christmas (she’s right) so we’re only on day two now. So don’t go back to work until after January 6. You’ll get in a lot less trouble if you’re a public school teacher, however.

OK, I’m supposed to give you a recap of all the baseball news that took place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Forget it!

• United States National Team wunderkind Timothy Weah announced that Paris Saint-Germain will loan him out to another team for the next six months, with Scottish powerhouse Celtic as the favorite.
• Joe Prince-Wright argues that Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino should leave Spurs to take the vacant Manchester United position.
• Grant Wahl has ten people and/or trends that will dominate soccer in 2019.

OK, I’m sorry. That’s just a joke. (Although they are real links. I could have done the NBA instead, but I don’t follow it that closely anymore.) Here are some real baseball links. I’m sorry that there are so few of them, but it’s Christmas.

• Someone made an Instagram post that said that the Dodgers were the favorites to sign free agent outfielder Bryce Harper and Harper himself liked the post. That has led many to assume that Harper wants to sign with Los Angeles. It has led others to point out that Harper loves to troll people.
• The Dodgers are rumored to be interested in Tigers outfielder Nicholas Castellanos.
• The Blue Jays and Padres have been discussing a deal to send pitcher Marcus Stroman to San Diego. The two sides are not close to an agreement at this time. This is what passes for news at the moment
• Zach Kram looks back at the rookie season of Shohei Ohtani and argues that Ohtani is breaking the way we understand the game. Do you remember all the people who argued right here during Spring Training that Ohtani needed to go down to the minors? Maybe you were one of them. No shame in admitting it. But yeah, Ohtani took everyone by surprise except himself.
• Jonah Keri has an offseason overview of the Angels and notes that the team is changing it’s approach this winter.
• Mark Zuckerman asks if the Nationals should have an “Expos Day.” So far, most Nats fans tend to ignore the team’s Montreal roots.
• One Hall-of-Fame voter doesn’t like closers and decided not to submit a ballot so as not to have to vote for Mariano Rivera. People are upset about this for some reason. By not voting, he’s not hurting Rivera’s chances to go into the Hall or being elected unanimously, which some people think is important for some reason. This is why you shouldn’t care about Cooperstown elections.
• Josiah Viera, a 14-year-old baseball fan who had a rare genetic condition, has passed away. Viera had been adopted by the minor league State College Spikes as an honorary bench coach.
• And if it is possible to be a celebrity fantasy baseball player, Lawr Michaels would have qualified. Michaels died last Wednesday and Paul Sporer has a remembrance of Michaels.
• Andrew Simon looks at five players who said goodbye in 2018. That makes it sound like they died. They just retired. This is good news. I’d say Adrian Beltre goes into Cooperstown in five years. Joe Mauer joins him, but he’ll have to wait a few years. Chase Utley may or may not go, but he’ll definitely have to wait longer than Mauer. And I promised to stop caring about Cooperstown. I’m a hypocrite.
• Matt Kelly has ten historic performances from 2018.
• Mike Petriello has ten great moments from the 2018 season.
• If you’re looking for something to do today (other than watch soccer), Tyler Kepner has a pretty difficult trivia quiz.
• And finally, Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. got into the Yuletide spirit by doing his morning workout in Christmas pajamas.

And tomorrow will be a better day that today, Buster. I’ll try to do better next time.