MLB Bullets is too long

Can the season start already?

Oh, and congrats to Loyola and any of their students or alumni who might be reading this. I’m pulling for you now!

• Let’s start out with something positive. Paul Lukas has his annual roundup of all the uniform changes this season. Find out what the fashion-forward ballclub will be wearing in 2018.
• Phillies prospect Scott Kingery signed a six-year extension worth $24 million before he even plays his first major-league game. There are also three team options that could take the value of the contract to $65 million. He’s only the second player to sign a multiyear major-league deal before his first game in the majors. The other? Jon Singleton. The Phillies expect that this deal will work out better than the one the Astros signed with Singleton.
• OK, now on to the bad news. Giants ace Madison Bumgarner was hit in the pitching hand with a line drive and will now miss several weeks with a broken finger.
• So yeah. With Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija out to start the season, the Giants Opening Day starter will be Ty Blach.
• The next three articles all pretty much say the same thing. Michael Baumann writes that Bumgarner’s injury could doom the Giants postseason chances in 2018.
• Bradford Doolittle writes that the Giants are in deep trouble already.
• Connor Grossman writes that the Giants 2018 hopes are already mostly dashed.
• Red Sox ace Chris Sale exited his Spring Training game after being hit in the hip with a line drive. It sounds like he just has a bad bruise, but they’ll see how he’s feeling today.
• Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet will start the season on the disabled list with a sore elbow. The injury caused him to exit his start on Sunday early.
• Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright will start the year on the DL with a hamstring strain.
• Craig Edwards believes that the Cardinals have a potential problem with their starting rotation.
• Rangers minor league hitting coach (and former Cub—look it up!) Howard Johnson was hospitalized after being hit in the face with a line drive. He was released shortly thereafter. He suffered a broken cheekbone, but he won’t need surgery.
• Craig Calcaterra uses the examples of all these injuries to say that Spring Training is much too long. Yes, they could cut about two weeks off of it it, but we all know why $pring Training is as long as it is.
• Peter Bourjos wasn’t unemployed for long. Just a few days after the Cubs released him, Bourjos signed a major league deal with the Braves.
• He’ll be joined by former Orioles infielder and former Cubs minor leaguer Ryan Flaherty, who is also close to signing a major league deal with Atlanta.
• The Braves also released pitcher Scott Kazmir, eating his $16 million contract. That came as a surprise to everyone, including Kazmir.
• The Rangers released icon/right-handed pitcher Bartolo Colon, but Colon could re-sign with the club in a couple of days if a different team doesn’t make him an offer. So Big Sexy’s career isn’t over yet.
• The Diamondbacks sent outfielder Yasmany Tomas down to the minors. I wish he could refuse the assignment, because then he could sing “They tried to make me go to Reno but I said ‘No, no, no.’”
• David Schoenfield wonders whether Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani wouldn’t be better off starting the season in the minors.
• Jeff Passan thinks it’s a “joke” that the Angels are pretending that Ohtani is major-league ready (while also adding that he should be great one day.) Passan also has nine other “thoughts” in that column and he apologizes to the Cubs for picking them to win the World Series this year. (I take it Passan feels he doesn’t have a great prediction record.)
• Sam Miller looks at how we got to the point where titles in baseball are won through losing.
• Michael Baumann looks at how the Yankees are just a better version of the Red Sox these days.
• Richard Justice has some storylines to watch for in 2018.
• Wayne Cavadi predicts what minor-league prospects will have the quickest major-league impact in 2018.
• Buster Olney has some predictions that he would “bet the farm on” in 2018. Personally, I think the Nationals will finish ahead of the Marlins in the National League East. Hot take, I know.
• A look at the problem of tipping pitches.
• Bradford Doolittle explains the evolution and the continuing problems with the new defensive statistics.
• MLB announced that Twins third baseman Miguel Sano will not be suspended over assault allegations due to “insufficient evidence.”
• Original Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga has died at age 80.
• Frank Jackson wonders which current ballplayer most resembles Dave Kingman. Whichever one would rather be fishing than playing baseball.
• In honor of their 20th anniversary, Marc Topkin presents the 20 greatest quotes in Devil Rays/Rays history. Some of them are pretty good.
• Joe Posnanski has a terrific profile of Ken Brett, the original pitcher/hitter. Today he is mostly remembered as George Brett’s older brother, but there was a time that Ken was considered the better prospect of the two.
• A look at the new “Corner Ballpark” that sits on the site of the old Tiger Stadium.
• This Saturday is Cesar Chavez Day in the state of California and the early start to the season means that the Athletics can have a game honoring the civil rights icon. Of course, that means the concession stands won’t be selling salads and there will be no lettuce available on the hamburgers. (That last part is a joke. The ceremony honoring Chavez isn’t.)
• And finally, the A’s have decided to do something about all the Giants fans who come to the Oakland Coliseum to cheer for the team on the other side of the bay. The A’s are now charging $50 for any Giants fan to park in the stadium lot. However, theey can get the price knocked down to the normal (but still expensive) price of $30 by saying “Go A’s!” On the one hand, that seems like a pretty innocent trolling that anyone with a brain would be able to get around. On the other hand, if they had a brain they would have taken the BART for a lot less.

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