MLB Bullets suffered a huge blow

Good morning. As of today, the children born on the day of the 9/11 attacks are officially adults.

• The big news is that Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich broke his kneecap on a foul ball and is out for the season.
• OK, this article is pretty cruel in light of that news, but Zach Kram looks at how Yelich and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. have brought back the “power/speed” player. Yelich had a chance to be baseball’s first 50/30 player before the injury.
• The Red Sox fired team president Dave Dombrowski late Sunday night. Why? We’re not sure as the front office and ownership group refused to hold a press conference on the matter. That article explains why they didn’t and team CEO Sam Kennedy said it was unfortunate that manager Alex Cora was left trying to answer reporters questions on the matter.
• Craig Calcaterra tries to guess as to why Dombrowski was fired.
• Bob Nightengale thinks we deserve an explanation from the Red Sox front office why Dombrowski was fired.
• Zach Kram writes that Dombrowski did everything he was supposed to do and got fired anyway. A “win-now” strategy, writes Kram, will only be tolerated as long as the team is still winning.
• Jon Tayler writes something similar in that today’s owners are only willing to spend money in exchange for a World Series title.
• Tim Brown writes that Dombrowski’s firing proves that just winning one championship is not enough and he also takes some thinly-veiled shots at tanking.
• Jon Tayler argues Dombrowski’s firing is a lesson in how quickly things can fall apart.
• Until a new person is hired to take over the Red Sox baseball operations, the team will be run by a group of four current top Boston executives, including Rachel Ferreira, who becomes the first woman to hold a decision-making position at the top of a franchise. Or at least a quarter of that position, but it is progress.
• Mark Feinsand has 17 candidates to replace Dombrowski, including the Cubs’ Jason McLeod and even Theo Epstein.
• Dombrowski may not be the only person to leave the Red Sox this year. Reports out of Boston are that outfielders Mookie Betts and/or J.D. Martinez are not likely to be with the team in 2020.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the decision the Red Sox have to make about Betts this winter.
• Some good Red Sox news as legend David Ortiz made his first public appearance since his shooting to throw out the first pitch at Fenway. Ortiz also made a short statement, thanking God, the fans and the Red Sox for their support.
• There’s a federal probe in the signing of former major leaguer Hector Olivera that is revealing many of the seedy and outright criminal activities connected with the signing of Cuban baseball players and Latin American players in general.
• I’d like to say more about this piece later in the week, but it’s causing a bit of a stir in my neck of the woods over the past two days. Travis Sawchik looks at current notions of player development and wonders if the minor leagues are really necessary anymore.
• There were many effective rebuttals to this piece that make me wonder whether I should even bother rebutting it. But here’s an excellent rebuttal on why we need the minors form Albert Burneko.
• On to today’s episode of “The Young and the Pirates.” Closer Felipe Vazquez and setup man Kyle Crick got into an “altercation” in the clubhouse that resulted in Crick undergoing season-ending finger surgery. Both players have been fined.
• Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Mets of our Lives. Mets ace Noah Syndergaard was reportedly “livid” over having to pitch to catcher Wilson Ramos rather than backup catcher Tomas Nido.
• Syndergaard explained himself and said the whole thing was blown out of proportion. He’s also upset the incident became public, and you have to wonder who made it public.
• Matt Ehalt says it sure sounds like Syndergaard will be leaving Flushing sooner or slightly-less sooner.
• Ehalt also writes about how Mets’ third baseman/outfielder J.D. Davis was able to turn his career around after being traded from Houston to the Mets.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks the ambivalence of the Phillies front office is the reason they’re likely to miss the playoffs this year. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• R.J. Anderson on how Yankees pitcher James Paxton has relied more on his curveball as he’s been leading the Yankees to a division title.
• David Adler is in awe of the curveball of Braves’ pitcher Max Fried.
• Tom Verducci notes that MLB has a historically-great crop of rookies this season.
• Jay Jaffe notes that the Twins’ hopes to go deep in the playoffs took a major hit with the suspension of pitcher Michael Pineda.
• Another blow to the Twins is that outfielder Byron Buxton is out for the season after shoulder surgery.
• The Twins then traded for Braves outfielder Ryan LaMarre in exchange for the much-traded Mr. Cash Considerations. You can still trade minor leaguers after the deadline. LaMarre is not eligible for the postseason.
• Angels outfielder Mike Trout is day-to-day after undergoing a cryoablation treatment on his foot.
• Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia decided to skip season-ending (which for him would be career-ending) knee surgery in hopes to come back and pitch in the World Series this year.
• Marc Normandin believes that the “juiced ball” this season is going to play havoc on contract negotiations this upcoming winter.
• Sam Miller looks back on some of the greatest pitching performances of Pedro Martinez’s career, including one he calls the “Pedro Game” which took place 20 years ago yesterday.
• Giants manager Bruce Bochy is retiring at the end of the season, but a lot of people think he should have retired after Monday night’s game. Bochy, whose managing career started in 1995 and will conclude in 2019, had a career won-loss record of 1995-2019 after Monday’s game.
• And finally, Corey Brock has the story of the invention of “Big League Chew” bubblegum and its creators, (The Athletic sub. req.) ballplayers Rob Nelson and the late Jim Bouton. Also their connection with the Portland Mavericks, undoubtedly the most famous independent baseball team of all time.