MLB Bullets is turning Japanese

I don’t think today’s first story is getting enough attention. It may end up being a one-off aberration, but it also has the possibility of changing the business of the sport entirely.

• Carter Stewart was the eighth pick in the MLB draft last June, but he couldn’t come to an agreement with the Braves after the Braves claimed Stewart was injured. (Stewart disagreed.) So Stewart went to a junior college and was eligible to re-enter the draft this year. He was expected to go in the late-first or early second round. Instead, Stewart just signed a six-year, $7 million deal with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s NPB.
• Jeff Passan notes that this deal presents a lot of risk and high reward for Stewart. The risks should be obvious. The rewards are that instead of a $2 million bonus and then working for sub-minimum wage for a few years in the minors, Stewart gets $7 million guaranteed. He also can potentially become a free agent at age 25 if he is good enough to return to MLB.
• Adam J. Morris writes that Stewart’s deal should terrify MLB.
• Now let’s return to “LOLMets,” which is kind of the “Freebird” of MLB Bullets. Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes suffered a severe ankle fracture in an accident on his Florida ranch. Cespedes hasn’t played yet this year but before this accident, the Mets were hoping he’d be back in uniform before the season ended. That almost certainly won’t happen now.
• Second baseman Robinson Cano was benched for Monday’s game for his lack of hustle in two plays during the Marlins series over the weekend. But the Mets have won two straight against the Nationals since getting swept by the Marlins.
• Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen declared that Mickey Callaway is “our manager going forward,” whatever that means. It means they’re not firing him today.
• Ken Rosenthal argues that the Mets need a veteran manager to take the helm to get the team back on track. (The Athletic sub. req.) Rosenthal suggests Dusty Baker, Joe Girardi or Buck Showalter. He also suggested Mike Scioscia later on Twitter.
• Mike Axisa says that the Mets problems go far beyond Callaway and Cano.
• Craig Edwards lists many things that are wrong with the Mets.
• Jeff Passan places the blame for the Mets firmly on ownership and their lack of spending.
• Michael Baumann writes about how the Mets are Amazin’—Amazingly bad. (Isn’t that what Casey Stengel meant when he called the Mets “Amazin’” in 1962?)
• Mark Martell writes that the worst thing the Mets could do is nothing. He suggests they tear everything down and start over with a full rebuild.
• Another team that is in deep trouble is the San Francisco Giants, but at least they can point to three World Series titles earlier this decade. But Dan Szymborski argues that the team hung on to the glory of those teams too long and failed to plan for the future. They need to acknowledge that a full teardown is now necessary.
• The feud between Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton and Mets third baseman Todd Frazier erupted on the field on Monday.
• Dan Bernstein tells the story of how this feud started when the two players were teammates on the White Sox in 2016.
• Barry Petchesky just thinks the feud between Eaton and Frazier is the dumbest thing around right now.
• Former Cub Matt Szczur hit for the cycle for the Triple-A Reno Aces on Monday, and he wasn’t even the player of the game since teammate Yasmany Tomas hit four home runs in a 25-8 win over Tacoma. Major league baseballs plus altitude plus smaller minor league ballparks give you games like this.
• The Orioles became the fastest team in MLB history to allow 100 home runs.
• Matt Snyder makes the case for Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger to hit .400 this year. I realize he’s hitting .404 right now, but I don’t see it. I suppose it’s possible, just very, very unlikely.
• Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke recorded his 2500th career strikeout.
• There was a trade as the Braves have dealt pitchers Jesse Biddle and Arodys Vizcaino to the Mariners for pitcher Anthony Swarzak.
• Former Cubs pitcher Koji Uehara has retired. I guess you could argue that Uehara is the last remaining player from the 1990s, as he made his debut of the Yomiuri Giants of NPB in 1999.
• The Blue Jays’ Ryan Feierabend has been pitching in the majors, the minors or Korea since 2003. On Monday, he made his first MLB appearance since 2014 and his first MLB start since 2008. (When he faced his teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s father.) But his start was remarkable for another reason as he became the first left-handed knuckleballer to pitch in the majors in 20 years. Jay Jaffe has Feierabend’s story. (Also, kudos to anyone who can name the last left-handed knuckleballer in the majors without reading the article. Hint: He has a World Series ring. OK, that’s not much of a hint.)
• The Angels got bad news as shortstop Andrelton Simmons and DH Shohei Ohtani were injured on consecutive plays on Monday. The good news is that Ohtani played last night. The bad news is that it sounds like Simmons is going to be out for a while with a severe ankle sprain. The only good news is that nothing was broken.
• Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton had a setback as he missed a rehab game with a sore knee.
• Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias has been reinstated after a alleged domestic violence incident. MLB is continuing the investigation, but it sounds like they’re not getting much cooperation.
• Are these sketches of a potential new Diamondbacks stadium?
• Reds utility player Derek Dietrich has made it his mission to bring more fun into the game.
• When the Yankees and Red Sox play this summer in London, they’ll be playing on artificial turf. Which means the Cubs and Cardinals will almost certainly also be playing on artificial turf in 2020 in London.
• I guess it’s better than playing on snow, which is what Coors Field is covered with on May 21.
• Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper threw a ball to the fans in the stands of last night’s game at Wrigley. Except he threw it all the way into the rooftop seats across the street.
• And finally, a Tigers fan offered Marlins outfielder (and former Tiger) Curtis Granderson a treat if he got a hit. So when Granderson delivered, the fan delivered a huge bag of popcorn to Granderson in the visitors dugout.

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