MLB Bullets won’t come if you build it

The MLS season is underway. I’m watching Galaxy vs. Timbers right now. What are you waiting for, MLB?

• It’s Spring Training (which I have to capitalize these days), so we get stories like this: Joe Posnanski writes about the new feeling of optimism that new first baseman Eric Hosmer brings to the Padres. I so wonder if it’s anything intrinsic to Hosmer (as Posnanski writes) or whether the team is just optimistic that the Padres gave someone $144 million.
• The Royals signed Lucas Duda last week to replace Hosmer at first base and some people don’t think the Royals will lose much or anything. But Paul Lebowitz compares Duda to Hosmer and explains why those who think the two players are equivalent are mistaken.
• Tyler Kepner writes about how the other pitchers in Angels camp regard Shohei Ohtani with respect and jealousy. They are in awe of his talent and wish that they could still hit too.
• Bob Nightengale writes about the important role that Albert Pujols will need to play in Ohtani’s MLB career with the Angels.
• Angels top prospect Jahmai Jones comes from a big football family (father played in the CFL. Brother T.J. plays for the Detroit Lions.). But Jones found in baseball a way to travel his own path. Plus, he got some help from his summer league coach, ex-Cubs catcher Michael Barrett.
• So far, the Mariners are impressed with the way Dee Gordon has played in center field.
• Red Sox pitcher left a game with “forearm tightness,” which is never good and sometimes very bad. But even in a worst-case scenario, R.J. Anderson explains why he doesn’t think that the Red Sox will look to add another starter.
• The worst case did come about for former Cub Travis Wood, who tore his ACL and will be out for the season.
• Chris McCosky writes that in his short time with the Tigers, Wood established himself as “one tough hombre.” Wood actually pitched an inning after he tore his ACL.
• Anthony Castrovince responds to some overreactions to the first week of Spring Training.
• Jim Duquette lists some players who could be traded at mid-season.
• Jon Paul Morosi reports that the White Sox are “keeping in touch” with free agents Mike Moustakas and Carlos Gonzalez.
• The Athletics have designated Brandon Moss for assignment.
• Tyler Kepner looks at the current state of the Cardinals and explains why rebuilding is never an option for the Redbirds.
• Derrick Gould writes about the Cardinals cute tradition of signing babies to “contracts” as soon as they are born.
• Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels isn’t a fan of the team’s plan to go to a six-man rotation.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the Yankees’ infield options.
• Buster Olney looks at the many reasons stolen bases are disappearing from the game.
• David Adler looks at which batters combined the best speed on the basepaths and speed of the ball off the bat, according to Statcast. A couple of Cubs on the lists. One won’t surprise you but the other might.
• Justin Verlander used some Statcast data to show that the balls have been flying farther in the past two seasons.
• Jeremy Dorn has a brief preview of the NL West.
• Sad news as former Orioles pitcher Sammy Stewart has died. Stewart pitched three times in the 1983 World Series when the Orioles beat the Phillies in five games.
• Roger Cormier tried to figure out what a limit of six mound visits would have had on the game last season with mixed results. But above all, he can find no logical reason that MLB decided on six mound visits being the limit except maybe that it was Joe Torre’s number.
• The staff at The Ringer wonder if there was an “XFL-style” alternative to MLB, what rules would they change to make the game more interesting? Personally, I’d have “dog-innings” where dogs would be allowed on the field and they could pick up a grounder and run around with it in their mouths for an inside-the-park home run unless some infielder could catch the dog and pry it out of their mouth.
• A mint rookie Mickey Mantle card is expected to break the record for most expensive baseball card ever, even beating the famous Honus Wagner card.
• Scorecard! Scorecard! You can’t tell the players without a scorecard! Or in the case of the Angels, you can’t tell the players with a scorecard as they had three “number 9” players in the game at the same time.
• For the Academy Awards, the staff at SI.com made up an idiosyncratic list of essential baseball movies. They do stress that these aren’t necessarily the best baseball movies, however.
• For that, we have Mets reliever Jerry Blevins. Or more exactly, we have Jerry Blevins controversially explaining why Field of Dreams a bad movie.
• Mark Townsend has a quick look at the debate around Field of Dreams.
• It’s no question for Craig Calcaterra. Field of Dreams is a bad movie. I’ve got to admit, I pretty much agree with Blevins and Calcaterra, although as a transplanted Hawkeye, I love the movie for the line “Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa.” The rest of the movie I could do without.

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