MLB Bullets has a golden arm

Good morning.

• The Red Sox are like the villain in a slasher movie—just when you think they’re dead, they spring back to life. Over the weekend, the Red Sox swept the first-place Rays and Joon Lee writes that all the early-season concerns about the Red Sox are gone—at least for now.
• Dawn Klemish has four “takeaways” from the Boston sweep of Tampa Bay.
• Joon Lee also has the story of Red Sox prospect Michael Chavis and his wild trip from Triple-A to St. Petersburg to make his major league debut. Chavis’ chaotic schedule had him arriving in the fifth inning of Friday’s game and was immediately told to hurry up and get in a uniform because he was pinch-hitting in two batters. (It turned out, they didn’t need him and he made his debut on Saturday.)
• Buster Olney writes that if the Red Sox don’t right the ship and get back in the playoff hunt soon, they will have some difficult decisions about selling veterans before the trade deadline. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Speaking of the first-place Rays, Bradford Doolittle has some advice for the other 29 teams that are considering making a deal with Tampa Bay: Don’t do it. You’ll lose the trade. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• The Yankees are also in the AL East and they’ve signed first baseman Logan Morrison, just two years after Morrison’s famous comment about Yankees fans: “You can’t fix stupid.” Both Morrison and the Yankees say that’s all water under the bridge now. We’ll see what “stupid” Yankees fans have to say.
• The Yankees have Gio Gonzalez pitching for them in their minor leagues at the moment, but it doesn’t seem like that will last as Gonzalez is expected to use the opt-out clause in his contract to look for a different team.
• The Yankees might not miss Gonzalez, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees certainly will. Gonzalez has been buying gifts and paying for meals for his teammates while he’s been in Triple-A.
• As long as we’re still on the Yankees, this is as good a place as any to list the butcher’s bill. Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge joins a long list of injured Yankees as he heads to the injured list with a strained oblique. The injury is being called “significant” and that Judge will miss a good chunk of time.
• Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker will miss a lot more time as Shoemaker is out for the season with a torn ACL.
• The Pirates got bad news when shortstop Erik Gonzalez and center fielder Starling Marte collided going after a pop in short center field.
• Gonzalez has a broken collarbone and will miss at least two months. Marte went on the IL with less serious injuries.
• Rays outfielder Austin Meadows went on the IL with a sprained thumb.
• In good injury news, Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor has been activated for the first time this season. Veteran Hanley Ramirez has been designated for assignment to make room.
• The Diamondbacks have traded for veteran catcher Blake Swihart. The Red Sox had earlier designated Swihart for assignment.
• So far, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich has been unstoppable. Plus other observations from the last week of baseball.
• Except there is one way to stop Yelich: go over the fence to rob him of a home run like Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger did.
• Zach Kram looks at Bellinger’s terrific start to the season and writes that not only is Bellinger a strong candidate for NL MVP, he’s been the best player in the Los Angeles-market this season.
• Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano turned in another unbelievable catch that turned into one of the oddest double plays you’ll ever seen.
• David Schoenfield marvels at the plays Laureano has made on defense and wonders how many assists Laureano will have by the end of the year.
• Angels first baseman Albert Pujols just passed Babe Ruth on the career-RBI list. Sort of. Runs batted in wasn’t an official stat until 1920, so MLB doesn’t count some 224 RBI that Ruth had while he was still pitching for Boston. But Pujols will pass Lou Gehrig and Barry Bonds on the career-RBI list sometime in the next few days.
• Angels first baseman Justin Bour showed why you always have to run out a popup, as the Mariners infield let it drop for an easy double play.
• Tim Brown looks at the Mariners up-and-down season and how the team is searching for the consistency that would make them better than just average.
• The Orioles have set a record for most home runs allowed in a season before May 1.
• Maybe Orioles first baseman Chris Davis needs to pitch more. He may be struggling at the plate, but Davis recorded this strikeout with a nasty fastball. I hate to mention that it was only an 82 mph fastball, but it really had good movement on it.
• Ben Clemens writes that in the never-ending battle between pitchers and hitters, the pitchers are winning right now and are likely to keep on winning. Not counting Orioles pitchers, I guess.
• Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard got his first home run of the season, thanks to an assist by Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler, who helped the ball over the wall.
• Rep. Steve Cohen makes the case to reverse the current administration’s decision to cancel the deal between MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation.
• Indians first baseman Carlos Santana became a U.S. citizen and his cute daughters stole the show at his swearing-in ceremony.
• And finally, here’s the story of a fan who intends to attend all 30 MLB ballparks this summer—and also make a painting of each one while he attends the game.

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