MLB Bullets has been cut short

Good morning.

• Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper had a bad game on Sunday, which isn’t uncommon lately. David Schoenfield looks at Harper’s struggles and he believes that the chance of a $400 million free agent contract for Harper is likely gone now.
• Dayn Perry examines Harper’s struggles and agrees that defensive shifting is partially to blame, but that Harper should snap out of it eventually.
• Jon Heyman reports that the grade 2 ulnar collateral ligament tear suffered by Shohei Ohtani is a completely different injury than the grade 1 tear he was diagnosed with in the Spring. Heyman argues that the Angels did everything right and Ohtani got hurt anyway.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at the problem with stars and baseball and argues that while losing Ohtani is bad, baseball will be fine without him in 2018. Maybe the Angels won’t, but MLB will.
• Except that baseball attendance is down and Travis Sawchik looks at what has caused $2 million fans to go missing. Yes, tanking is an issue, but I’d argue fans would still turn out if teams cut ticket prices. But they don’t want to do that because they believe they make more money by selling fewer tickets at higher prices. I know, that’s crazy talk.
• It’s probably not helping (although how much it hurts is questionable) that many of the biggest stars may skip the Home Run Derby.
• Buster Olney suggests making the home run derby a contest of “David vs. Goliath” or more accurately, hitters over six feet tall on one team and hitters six feet and under on the other. Not players who are six feet under. That would be silly.
• Braves pitcher Julio Teheran came off the disabled list and threw six innings of no-hit baseball. After which he was taken out of the game and the no-hitter ended the next inning.
• Shane Tourtellotte looks at the history of taking pitchers out of a game with a no-hitter going. And this was published before Teheran’s outing on Sunday. Good timing.
• Chris Cwik looks at the Mariners strong start to the season and how the longest playoff drought in MLB could end this year.
• The Mariners have fallen out of first place because the Astros have won 11 in a row.
• The trade deadline is coming up but the Yankees have made it clear they’re not going to deal infielder Gleyber Torres.
• Speaking of former Cubs, Jorge Soler went on the disabled list with a broken foot. At least it’s not a pulled hamstring. Soler was having the best season of his career before this.
• As long as we’re on players the Cubs have traded away, David Laurila talks to Jeimer Candelario about his approach to hitting.
• Claire McNear believes that Nationals rookie Juan Soto is going to be a star and lead the Nationals to glory, because that’s possible now that the Capitals have won the Stanley Cup. Not sure how the two things are related, but Soto looks like he’ll be great and the Capitals thing is a harmless hook, I guess.
• Orioles first baseman Chris Davis was on track to have the worst season in MLB history, but the Orioles have finally benched him, at least for now.
• Padres manager Andy Green told Joe West what most fans have thought about him for years. He’d already been ejected at that point.
• Grant Brisbee writes that audio of managers arguing with umpires is awesome, but he understands why MLB won’t permit people to hear them.
• Giants third baseman Evan Longoria will miss 6 to 8 weeks after hand surgery.
• Hall-of-Famer Goose Gossage knows he’s an angry old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. He also understands why he’s persona non grata at Yankee Stadium these days. But he says he’s not going to change his ways.
• The Dodgers’ Matt Kemp and the Rangers’ Robinson Chirinos (Hey, another ex-Cub!) were both suspended one game for their fight last week.
• The Pirates activated infielder Jung Ho Kang from the restricted list and sent him down to Triple-A.
• For Father’s Day, Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley talks about being a father and letting his children give him the gift of shoes.
• I think Al has mentioned this before, but here’s the story of the father of the late Ryan Freel and his attempt to get a complete binder of baseball cards of Freel to give to each Freel’s children. Freel briefly played for the Cubs and I made a few jokes about his “imaginary friend” Farney. I don’t know if Farney was just a sign of a fun-loving man who never wanted to grow up while getting paid to play a children’s game or whether it was a sign of the CTE that may have played a role in his eventual suicide. If it was the former, I’m glad to celebrate his quirks, which was my intention. If it was the latter, then I feel bad for making fun of a disability, even if it was never my intention.
• Fielding porn alert. Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton made a spectacular catch on a ball to rob Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli of a double.
• And then there is White Sox outfielder Trayce Thompson, who went to rob a home run. Not only did he not catch the ball, he got stuck in the outfield fence.
• Mets pitcher Robert Gsellman rode the bullpen cart at Chase Field and thinks that the Mets should get one of their own. However:

• And finally, Brewers rookie pitcher Adrian Houser got sick on the mound. Twice. Just a warning. Don’t watch the video if you don’t want see someone vomit.

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