MLB Bullets flies like an eagle

Welcome to another edition of MLB Bullets. Remember, these baseball links are for entertainment purposes only. Please, no wagering.

• My favorite piece of the day is this story by Anthony Castrovince about the 30-year friendship between MLB VP Billy Bean and Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. It was a friendship that took a 10-year hiatus as Bean pushed all of his baseball friends away to hide the secret of his sexual orientation. But they are now close friends again and Lovullo introduced Bean when he spoke to the Diamondbacks about the importance of inclusion and tolerance.
• My second-favorite article of the day is this piece by Paul Lukas about the history of the C-Flap. What’s the C-Flap? It’s that thing that attaches to a batting helmet that protects a hitter’s face, like Jason Heyward wears. I bet you didn’t even know it was called a “C-Flap.”
• The bronze winner of our links of the day is this one by Ben Lindbergh, who writes about the impact that Statcast has had on the companies that provide statistics. Once it was thought that Statcast and other video-based statistics would put those companies out of business, but instead they’ve only expanded the importance of these stat providers.
• Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon has signed a six-year, $108 million extension with the team.
• Jeff Sullivan thinks that Blackmon made the right call to take the certainty of the contract now rather than test an uncertain free agent market next winter.
• Jon Tayler writes about Blackmon’s career and future and opines that while Blackmon would have done better in free agency a few years ago, this was a good deal in the current climate.
• Jeff Passan writes about the meaning of Blackmon’s extension on the future of free agency. Passan also reports that the Twins tried to lock up three of their young stars (Byron Buxton, Jose Barrios and Max Kepler) and were turned down by all three.
• David Schoenfield writes about what this deal means for the Rockies and free agency in general.
• New Phillies manager Gabe Kapler got a warm Philadelphia welcome on Opening Day, by which I mean that he was roundly booed when introduced before the game.
• And Kapler is hearing it from his players as well. Outfielder Nick Williams, when asked why he wasn’t starting, he complained “I guess the computers are making [the lineup].”
• Jon Heyman writes about the challenges that Kapler is facing in the coming weeks. Heyman also notes that beyond his non-traditional baseball decisions, Kapler is also facing criticism based on his personality, which has been described as “polarizing.”
• Jon Tayler writes that everyone really needs to give Kapler a longer chance than just a week before drawing any conclusions about his skills as a manager.
• Heyman also draws up his first list of 2018 of managers on the “hot seat” and Kapler is already at number four.
• Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre got his 3,045th career hit yesterday, which puts him past Rod Carew as the record-holder for most hits by a player born in Latin America.
• Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani hit his second MLB home run off Indians ace Corey Kluber. David Schoenfield tries to figure out what Ohtani’s hot start means for his immediate MLB future.
• Zach Kram thinks it is impossible to overreact to what Ohtani has accomplished so far.
• Grant Brisbee watched the first “Facebook-Only” MLB broadcast and was horrified by what he saw.
• Matt Snyder has the five dumbest things of the first week of the MLB season, and the Facebook broadcast doesn’t even make the list.
• Jon Heyman gives odds about where Bryce Harper will be playing next year.
• Heyman also explains why the market for Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas never developed this offseason and that he thinks Moustakas will be much in demand at the trade deadline.
• Scott Lauber writes about how outfielder Mookie Betts has become a team leader both on- and off-the-field.
• Twins pitcher Jose Berrios threw a complete-game shutout and Craig Edwards looks at how it was a pretty rare feat.
• Whitney McIntosh believes that 2018 will be the season of the inside-the-park home run.
• Some supporters of soon-to-be deposed Indians mascot Chief Wahoo will be protesting at the Indians home opener, which is ironic because many of them told those protesting against Chief Wahoo in previous years that they shouldn’t get so worked up about a mascot.
• There was a really weird play in the Blue Jays/White Sox game.
• The Athletics claimed outfielder Trayce Thompson off waivers, which means he will be playing in the same city as his brother Klay Thompson, who plays for the Golden State Warriors. Not only will the two brothers be in the same city, Trayce is going to move in with Klay. We’ll see how long that lasts.
• A kid Angels fan got to meet Mike Trout and the expression on his face was priceless. The kid’s face, not Trout’s. Trout’s expression only changes when he’s standing in the path of a major storm.
• And finally, the viral video of the day. Maybe of the season. The Mariners brought a bald eagle onto the field to soar about during the Star-Spangled Banner and instead of flying, he decided to land on the back of pitcher James Paxton. Paxton later said that he knew he wasn’t going to outrun an eagle, so he decided to just stay there and try not to freak out.

And tomorrow is a better day than today, Buster.