MLB Bullets suffers a blow

Andrew McCutchen is one of those guys who is easy to cheer for even if he’s not playing for your team. I hope he comes back as good as ever next season. Also, I hope he uses this time to further his skills as America’s greatest short film maker.

• Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen has suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season.
• Matt Gelb breaks down the “five fatal seconds” that ended McCutchen’s season (The Athletic sub. req.) and discusses where the Phillies go from here.
• Matt Snyder notes that without McCutchen, the Phillies have a real problem in center field.
• Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera has a chronic knee condition that will mean he’s probably done playing in the field.
• Free agent pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are still unsigned as I write this, but the Yankees have emerged as clear favorites for Keuchel, according to reports.
• Jesse Yomtov tries to find the best fits for Keuchel and Kimbrel.
• Usually when I’m talking about the “butcher’s bill,” I’m talking about players. But three umpires had to leave games on Tuesday because of injuries.
• Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier made a couple of big errors in a Sunday night loss to the Red Sox. Then after the game, Frazier refused to speak with the media. This has become a huge scandal among some in the media and among Yankees fans, but Craig Calcaterra asks should we as fans really care?
• Frazier did speak to the media on Tuesday and he was unapologetic. At least for not talking to the media. As far as his defense goes, he said “I sucked.”
• Jay Jaffe examines exactly how bad is Frazier on defense. (Hint: “It’s bad, it’s bad.”)
• Bruce Bochy won his 1000th game as the Giants manager. He joins John McGraw as the only two managers to do that.
• Andrew Baggarly profiles Bochy as he approaches retirement and looks back (The Athletic sub. req.) at all he’s accomplished as a manager.
• Teams have long requested that their Latin American players learn to speak English, but Jesse Dougherty notes that many teams are now encouraging their Anglophone players to learn Spanish.
• And on the flip side, the dog whistle that Pirates broadcaster Steve Blass has been blowing for years is starting to reach a frequency that people can hear. Blass blasted Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. for wearing “all the jewelry and all the stuff” and then proceeded to mutter that Acuña was a “prick,” which violates George Carlin’s rules about two-way words in the Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television. Blass has earlier criticized Javier Baez for his “flashiness.”
• Mets broadcaster Ron Darling returned to the booth a month after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer. Darling said he was moved by the several thousand “Get Well” letters he received from Mets fans.
• MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says that it’s not likely that MLB will extend the netting in foul territory during the season.
• Emma Baccellieri has a great piece about how the save rule came about. The story about sportswriter Jerome Holtzman coming up with the rule and then it getting adopted a few years later isn’t exactly wrong, but is so very, very incomplete.
• Ben Clemens notes that MLB pitchers thought that they’d figured out a way to get Angels outfielder Mike Trout out. Except that Trout just closed that hole as soon as they started to exploit it.
• Michael Baumann argues that the first pick in the draft, Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, isn’t as good as Buster Posey. Instead, Baumann argues that Rutschman will be better than Posey.
• In an excerpt from their new book, Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik write about how the Houston Astros have revolutionized player development.
• David Laurila speaks with three MLB pitchers about their splitter.
• The Brewers have demoted rookie second baseman Keston Hiura and have activated infielder Travis Shaw off the injured list. It’s a move that only a Cubs fan could love. Actually, Reds, Pirates and Cardinals fans could love it too.
• The Brewers got blown out by the Marlins last night (not Shaw’s fault) and that led to position player Hernan Perez pitching along with a exaggerated wiggling windup.
• A minor league hitter broke up a no-hitter with a bunt with one out in the ninth inning. Of course, benches cleared after that.
• Baseball and softball are different sports. Still, they are close enough that I feel comfortable giving a big congratulations to Women’s College World Series Champions UCLA and how they won the title on a thrilling close play at the plate.
• And finally, in times like this, don’t you think we need more pictures of dogs wearing baseball helmets? You know we do.

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