MLB Bullets will put a stop to it

Good morning. The days are getting shorter now, you know.

• Jeff Passan reported late last night that MLB has banned all player signings out of the Mexican League (LMB) just ahead of the July 2 date for the opening of international signings. Passan quotes that MLB believes that LMB is full of “fraud” and “corruption” and that MLB is going to insist upon a system similar to what MLB has with the Japanese NPB and the Korean KBO. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this is a huge story, but it’s a huge story. Basically, MLB is preventing any major league team from signing any Mexican player in this international period, at least until a deal is reached.
• The other big news has been an injured Giants reliever, which is odd, but that’s where we are. Hunter Strickland told a Bay Area sports talk station that Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson “disrespected the game” for celebrating a big hit before Strickland punched a wall and broke his hand.
• Despite all that, Strickland insisted that “I don’t think I have an anger management problem.” Whitney McIntosh gives several examples to the contrary from as far back as 2014.
• On Thursday, Strickland somewhat changed his tune after apologizing to his teammates and said that he’d “consider” counseling for anger management.
• The whole brouhaha that Strickland started continued when Marlins pitcher Dan Straily threw at Buster Posey in retaliation for Giants pitcher Dereck Rodriguez hitting Brinson. Straily was suspended for five games and manager Don Mattingly for one. Dudes. You don’t throw at Buster Posey. MLB makes rule changes to protect Buster Posey.
• The Dodgers got off to a terrible start to the season and Rian Watt explains how the team turned their fortunes around and are again the favorites to win the NL West.
• Zach Kram writes that the Astros have the best lineup in baseball. You know, to go along with their best pitching staff in baseball. You need a complete set.
• The Nationals, on the other hand, have an offense that hasn’t lived up to expectations, writes Eddie Matz.
• According to Mike Axisa, the Cardinals have two big problems, bullpen and defense. Axisa argues that while the bullpen problem is fixable, the Cardinals problems with their infield defense may not be.
• This past winter, the Colorado Rockies spent $100 million on free agents to improve the team’s bullpen. Currently, writes Mark Townsend, the Rockies have the worst bullpen in baseball.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that it looks like 2018 may become the first year since 2003 where the National League will have a winning record in interleague games. The AL still has time to turn things around, but they’re falling pretty far behind.
• This may be one reason for it. Meg Rowley notes that the five American League playoff teams are pretty much set. The other ten teams don’t have a lot to play for at the moment.
• Bob Nightengale writes that MLB has a big problem with baseball currently being “bad” and “dreadfully wrong.” There’s a lot of old man screaming at the kids to get off his lawn in this piece (How dare they put OBP on the scoreboard on equal status to the glorious RBI!), but I have to admit that Nightengale is an expert in “bad and dreadfully wrong” and he does make some solid points about the pace of play and the lack of putting the ball into play that others have also made. And that have been made around here as well.
• One guy who isn’t “bad” or “dreadfully wrong” is Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who is currently playing the best baseball of his career. That’s really something when you can say that about Trout. So we’re talking Stevie Wonder “Talking Book/Innervisions/Fullfillingness’ First Finale/Songs in the Key of Life” good. Do us all a favor, Mike, and skip the “I Just Called To Say I Love You” period.
• Another player who is not “bad” is Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez, who, as Mike Axisa notes is a great player in part because of his ability to put the ball into play.
• Jack Dickey looks at the breakout season of Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo.
• David Schoenfield looks at what offseason free agents are improving their market this season.
• Jon Paul Morosi breaks down the trade market this summer for third basemen. He’s reporting that the Phillies have shown interest in the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre.
• Morosi also reported that the Diamondbacks have shown interest in Manny Machado, but Jon Heyman writes that the Padres are at least exploring a deal for Machado. That makes absolutely no sense and Heyman agrees that it doesn’t, but he also correctly notes that the Padres do a lot of inexplicable things.
• The Royals and Tigers will play a regular season game in Omaha before the College World Series next year. The Royals should totally change their name to the “Kansas City-Omaha Royals” before that game and wear uniforms inspired by the NBA of the seventies. One player need to grow an Oscar Gamble ‘fro by that game too.
• Speaking of the College World Series, catch this Florida outfielder complete a double play on a throw while sitting on his butt.
• Jeff Sullivan explains why he’s so impressed with Yankees pitcher Domingo German.
• The Blue Jays signed Jaime Garcia to a one-year free agent contract this winter, but he’s struggled and the team is considering moving him to the bullpen.
• This is a cool event that MLB planned for the summer solstice yesterday. They played a continuous 24 hours of baseball and softball in Fairbanks, Alaska yesterday. They’ve played a “Midnight Sun” game in Fairbanks every year since 1906, but MLB didn’t want the fun to stop with one game and had youth and community teams keep the action going around the clock.
• A Phillies Phan was injured after getting clocked in the face with a hot dog from a hot dog cannon. Man, it’s hard not to laugh at that because it’s not really funny. Except that it is. But it’s not. The woman is a big Phillies fan and said she does not plan to sue. The Phillie Phanatic has apologized and the team has offered her free tickets to future games.
• The Dodgers are giving away a “Puigy Bank” which is all sorts of awesome.
• Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer threw one of the most pathetic wild pitches you’ll ever see, proving that even the greatest among us have bad moments.
• And finally, Ichiro Suzuki may not be an active player or even an official coach anymore, so he’s not allowed in the dugout during games. But he put on his best “Bobby Valentine” disguise and sat on the bench last night at Yankee Stadium for a few innings.

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