MLB Bullets is a pleasant surprise

Good morning. There just wasn’t a “big story” today. So the links are being presented in a slightly more random order than normal.

• Sam Miller looks at a debate that’s been raging in MLB all year about shifting. Miller notes that while shifting does a good job at preventing hits, it doesn’t prevent runs. Basically, pitchers pitch differently when the shift is on.
• Alden Gonzalez explains how big a role that shifting has played a in the decline of Angels first baseman Albert Pujols. Pretty big.
• I mentioned this in the Minor League Wrap a couple nights ago, but the Florida State League Tampa Tarpons lost a perfect game in extra innings when the runner started the inning on second base under the new minor-league extra innings rules. The runner then scored and Tampa lost a no-hitter, 1-0.
• R.J. Anderson ranks all 30 MLB managers on how likely they are to be gone by 2019.
• At least one report says that the Blue Jays will have a different manager next season as John Gibbons is not expected to be back.
• One of the best stories of the year has been the Oakland Athletics, who now have a 63.7% chance of making the playoffs according to Fangraphs. Grant Brisbee looks at how the A’s turned into a contender in five “easy” steps.
• One big reason is A’s closer Blake Treinen. R.J. Anderson explains why Treinen has been so dominating this year.
• Speaking of Treinen, who pitched for the Nats last year, Eddie Matz looks at how the weak Nationals bullpen could cost the team a playoff spot. Sean Doolittle is injured and the team bizarrely decided to deal Brandon Kintzler and Shawn Kelley.
• If the Nats do play in October, it will be because of rookie outfielder Juan Soto, whom Jeff Sullivan argues that Soto is maybe the greatest teenage hitter in MLB history.
• And Braves announcer Joe Simpson stuck his foot in his mouth again for the second time in a month when he questioned whether Soto really was 19. Simpson later apologized. Also, it should be noted that the era of falsified birth dates ended over a decade ago when the US government tightened visa requirements.
• In case you hadn’t noticed, another reason the Nationals have a chance is that Bryce Harper has started hitting again ike Bryce Harper. Just think how good he’d be if he hadn’t messed up his swing in the Home Run Derby.
• As long as we’re on the Nats, there was a bizarre play where Juan Soto was called out for passing Trea Turner on the basepaths after Turner thought the Braves had caught a fly ball that actually bounced off the outfield wall.
• Getting back to broadcasters sticking their foot in their mouth, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay apologized to Clint Frazier for comments he made about Frazier being on the disabled list. Kay said it was a joke that came off wrong.
• Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy has seen his cancer return.
• Sheryl Ring looks at the legal jeopardy that Astros pitcher Roberto Osuna finds himself in, which is a big reason he won’t admit he did anything wrong in connection to the domestic violence charges he faces. He could certainly lose his work permit, which would prevent him from playing in MLB.
• Former White Sox All-Star Esteban Loaiza will plead guilty to drug trafficking charges. He’s looking at a minimum sentence of ten years in prison.
• Former Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich has signed with a team in Taiwan. However, it is expected that the CPBL league will cancel the contract based on his juvenile child molestation conviction.
• A look at the teams on-pace to win and lose 100 games.
• Jay Jaffe thinks that the Giants are stuck in neutral.
• A sign of how well the Giants season is going is that there was a fire at AT&T Park before Monday’s game. It was even before the game, which is bad but not nearly as bad as it would be if it happened during a game. That’s the Giants. Not good, but not nearly as bad as they could be.
• Here’s a story in The Athletic that, if you have a subscription, you’ll want to read. Levi Weaver discovered who broke Rangers infielder Jeff Baker’s thumb giving him a “high five” in 2013. ($)
• Dan Szymborski explains just how good Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez has been this year and where he ranks among the elite third baseman of all time. He’s been MIke Trout-good this year.
• Congratulations to Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon, who became the winningest Latin-born player of all-time. Who’s the winningest foreign-born pitcher? I thought it would be Ferguson Jenkins, but it’s not.
• Two minor league teammates for the Pirates Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis both hit for the cycle in the same game. Not only that, but both players completed their cycle in the same inning.
• The Rays traded shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria to the Pirates.
• The Yankees were the only team who hadn’t had (or announced) an LGBTQ night before, but reportedly they are planning to have a special night to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 2019.
• Jake Mintz makes a slow-pitch softball team out of MLB players.
• Dave McKenna has a long (but interesting) piece on the umpiring career of late Steve Fields and how he was run from the game.
• Here’s another long (but interesting) article on the broadcasters of the Cape Cod League. Yes, just like college baseball players head to the Cape Cod League in hopes of honing their skills and getting noticed by professional teams, college students who want to be broadcasters do the same. The guy who started the tradition and continues as the head of the program is Dan D’Uva, who is now the radio voice of the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
• Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez struck out his good friend, Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre, and then rubbed it in by laughing at him from the mound.
• And finally, in independent baseball you get the kinds of antics that have been banished from organized baseball years ago. Like this Fargo-Moorhead player who, after getting ejected, put a trash can behind home plate where the umpire normally stands.

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