Outside The Confines: Rocky Mountain Low

I got my second Pfizer shot on Friday and I only suffered minor side effects for a few hours, and it’s hard to tell whether they were from the shot or from seasonal allergies and lack of sleep. I am a little bit disappointed that the conspiracy nuts are wrong and it didn’t change my DNA. I would have really liked to be able to fly or shoot laser beams out of my eyes.

• Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich resigned on Monday. Or he was fired. The team just says it was a “mutual decision.”
• Bob Nightengale writes that the Rockies had to choose between GM Bridich and third baseman Nolan Arenado and now they have neither.
• Dan Szymborski looks at how the Rockies got in such a sorry state and why it will be difficult to get back to contention.
• Thomas Harding has the top five priorities for the new Rockies GM, whoever that might be.
• R.J. Anderson has five reasons the Rockies GM job is the worst one in baseball.
• Jeff Passan explains how a new GM can build a winner in Denver. (ESPN+ sub. req.) The first and hardest step, Passan explains, is to get the owner to stop meddling with the team.
• Keith Law also outlines a plan for the Rockies to return to contention. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• There is no love lost between the Dodgers and the Padres, which for now, at least, is the most compelling rivalry in baseball. The Dodgers are convinced that Fernando Tatis Jr. was “peeking” at the catcher before he hit his home run. Bill Plaschke compares Tatis Jr. looking back at the catcher to the Astros sign-stealing scandal in one of the more overwrought claims of victimhood in MLB in recent years. I include it so you can mock Plaschke’s hyperbolic rantings, but also because he has all the details and quotes from everyone involved.
• The Padres denied that Tatis Jr. was looking back at the catcher.
• Ken Rosenthal asked three retired catchers for their opinion of the “scandal.” (The Athletic sub. req.) Some thought Tatis was looking back at the catcher, but all of them felt that the Dodgers were overreacting and that it was Dodgers catcher Will Smith’s responsibility to not move too early.
• Ben Clemens is not a fan of intentional walks, as a general rule. But he praises Padres manager Jayce Tingler for issuing two of them in the 10th inning of their win over the Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball. He also explains why the two free passes were the right call.
• R.J. Anderson claims that aggressive base running has been the secret weapon in the Padres wins over the Dodgers this year.
• Some teams and players are off to a rough start to the season. Anthony Castrovince tells you how freaked out you should be about this.
• Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did something that not even his Hall-of-Fame father ever did: He hit three home runs in one game last night.
• There was a trade yesterday and it involved two major leaguers! The Giants sent left-handed reliever Wandy Peralta and a player to be named later to the Yankees for outfielder Mike Tauchman.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred said he was “optimistic” that baseball could avoid a work stoppage in 2022. The owners and the Players Association have sat down for their first talks, although no proposals have been exchanged. There is a feeling that neither side has the stomach for a work stoppage after the losses of the 2020 season.
• Manfred also said that at least 70% of MLB personnel have gotten at least one shot of a COVID vaccine. That number includes players, coaches and any support staff that comes into close contact with them.
• And finally, Manfred said that if you want an expansion team in the future, it’s going to cost you. The commissioner said that a new expansion team could cost as much as $2.2 billion, although he added there are no plans to expand at the moment. Just for comparison, the Rays and Diamondbacks each paid $130 million to join in 1998.
• The independent (but MLB “Partner League”) Pioneer League will experiment with deciding tie games with a home run derby. Why not just do penalty kicks or a game of horse?
• Batting averages are way, way down this year. They’re lower than they have been since the deadball era of the early 20th Century. Brendan Gawlowski tries to explain why no one can hit this year.
• In a study that I’m sure is related to the last one in some way, Devan Fink notes that pitchers are throwing a lot more fastballs in the strike zone this season.
• Bradford Doolittle has the “sore spot” in a team’s history that is a position that they can never seem to fill properly. (ESPN+ sub. req.) The Cubs are number one with a problem position on this list and the position is not third base anymore.
• Here’s a story that some of you are going to be interested in. Mark Bowman talks to Braves catching prospect William Contreras about how he wants to follow in his big brother’s footsteps.
• Mets left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins announced his retirement. He had been at the team’s alternate site but he decided to retire rather than report to the minors next week. This is bittersweet for me because Blevins was one of the Cubs minor league players I wrote about when I first started doing the Minor League Wrap in 2007. The only other player still technically active who was in the Cubs system when I started is Jeff Samardzija, and he’s a free agent without a team currently. Josh Donaldson is still playing, but he didn’t join the Cubs system until later in 2007 after he was drafted.
• C. Trent Rosecrans explains what it is like for the Reds broadcasters to call a game remotely. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Is Reds rookie Jonathan India wearing shorts? No, but . . .
• It’s the 40th anniversary of “Fernandomania” and Rob Mains and José Hernández Lagunes both explain what that meant back then and what it means 40 years later.
• And finally, I know the 1969 Mets aren’t real popular around here, but I think we can all agree that they didn’t do anything all of us would have done if we could have. Elizabeth Merrill has a story you really should read on how the lifetime friendship between the teammates and how tough it has been getting through the past year of loss through the pandemic. Art Shamsky seems to be the main guy who seems to make sure the team keeps in touch with each other, along with the team’s retired media relations chief. It’s a touching story of some lifelong friendships and the losses along the way.

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