MLB Bullets goes to Hollywood

I’m still trying to get my head around Joe Buck calling Nolan Arenado “easily among the top five third baseman in the history of the game.” Arenado is currently ranked 66th in career WAR by third baseman. He’s easily one of the five best third baseman in the game today, I’ll grant him that.

I don’t care whether or not Bryce Harper “cheated” in the Home Run Derby and neither should you. If you’re taking the Home Run Derby seriously, then you need to rethink your priorities.

• They’re saying it’s pretty much a done deal. Orioles shortstop Manny Machado is going to the Dodgers for top prospect outfielder Yusniel Diaz and some other stuff we don’t know about yet.
• Machado was already celebrating with his new teammate Matt Kemp at the All-Star Game. Actually, it was during the All-Star Game. (See above photo)
• Jon Tayler writes that the whole All-Star Game was pretty awkward for Machado.
• Jorge L. Ortiz thinks that getting Machado will allow the Dodgers to pull away from the rest of the NL West.
• Before the trade was announced, Michael Baumann looked back at past deadline deals and notes that most teams don’t regret dealing for a star at the deadline.
• I’m going to assume that you know the American League won the All-Star Game 8-6. I hope you realize that there were a record ten home runs in the game.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the starting American League outfield: Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Aaron Judge, is one of the greatest All-Star outfields ever. Brisbee notes the “Mays, Aaron, Frank Robinson” All-Star Game outfield of 1957 which is an almost impossible collection of talent to even conceive of. He thinks Trout, Betts and Judge could end up as the second-best. (But when the worst outfielder in that 1957 lineup is Frank Robinson and he’s currently the 24th-best player in career WAR in the history of the game, you just shake your head at that talent.)
• Eric Stephen offers reasons to love the All-Star Game.
• The All-Star Break is a time when the commissioner talks to the media. Commissioner Rob Manfred said, essentially, that the reason that Angels outfielder Mike Trout isn’t more famous is that he doesn’t want to be more famous. Or at least he doesn’t do the stuff someone needs to do to market oneself to a wider audience.
• Manfred also said he was confident that the Rays would get a new stadium in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
• He also stated that MLB has no intention of having the Athletics leave the East Bay, saying that there isn’t a better site in North America for a team. (He’s right.)
• MLB is also going to be more flexible in what shoes the players are wearing. This all was so silly, but I do agree with Manfred that MLB should not allow “guerrilla marketing campaigns” on a player’s shoes. Of course, that wasn’t what any of the players who got letters were doing.
• Manfred and MLB Players’ Association director Tony Clark disagreed on the current state of free agency and making the DH universal.
• If you’ve got a subscription to The Athletic, Jayson Stark has a chilling piece about the poor state of labor relations in baseball and how a work stoppage looks quite possible ($) in 2021.
• Steve Gardner profiles Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer and argues that his “anti-hero” personality makes him a welcome alternative to a lot of polished and guarded ballplayers.
• Brewers All-Star reliever Josh Hader did not have a good night last night. I’m not talking about the three-run bomb he gave up to Jean Segura. That was the least of his problems. No, someone went back through his Twitter account and found several vile, racist and homophobic comments that he made when he was still a teenager. Hader did apologize for the comments after the game.
• Back to the trade deadline, since that’s the next big event on the baseball calendar, unless you count the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The agent for Jacob deGrom has requested that the Mets either sign his client to a long-term extension or trade him. Mark Townsend weighs how likely it is that deGrom gets dealt this month.
• On that front, Dan Szymborski has some players who should get traded this month but probably won’t.
• The Indians are pursuing Padres closer Brad Hand.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that the Athletics have two relievers at the back of their bullpen that could bring in a fortune in trade. The only problem is that those two relievers have been so good, the A’s are in the running for the playoffs now. It’s a good problem to have.
• John Fisher has three starting pitchers who have been overlooked but could be valuable trade pickups this season. I’ve wondered what it would take to bring Cole Hamels to the North Side.
• Speaking of that, Sheryl Ring admits this deal is probably never going to happen for non-baseball reasons, but she argues that it would make a lot of sense for the Yankees and Cubs to trade Tyler Chatwood for Sonny Gray. Basically, she’s saying both players need a change of scenery.
• Jon Heyman gives a quick update on the Cardinals manager situation and reports that Joe Girardi absolutely wants to manage again, although he was careful to say nothing about the Cardinals. Heyman also reports what I was saying: that many in the game think Dusty Baker would make a lot of sense for the Cardinals too.
• Jeff Sullivan has the worst-called ball in the first-half and it’s fodder for all you robot umpire overlords fans. It was a strike that Dylan Covey threw right over the heart of the plate to the Cardinals Jedd Gyorko. It will not surprise you that both the TV and radio broadcast teams of the White Sox caught the terrible call and both Cardinals broadcast teams ignored the obvious mistake by the umpire.
• Speaking of the worst ever—Jonah Keri brings you Orioles first baseman Chris Davis.
• Tyler Kepner profiles A’s pitcher Edwin Jackson, the ultimate journeyman pitcher.
• A five-year-old boy got fascinated by the little MLB pocket schedules so he wrote every team asking for one. He got a lot more back than he planned on.
• We all know that the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958. But that wasn’t their first time playing in San Francisco. The first time was a barnstorming team of Giants players that spent three winter months in San Francisco in 1887.
• Finally, some more fun from the All-Star Game. If you were watching, you saw weather geek Mike Trout give a weather report on the air.
• From the red carpet before the game, Bryce Harper explained his snazzy suit lined with pictures of DC landmarks.
• And Gemma Kaneko gives out awards for the best in fashion by the MLB All-Stars.

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