Outside The Confines: There’s no “there” there

If you don’t recognize the title, it’s Gertrude Stein’s famous quote about her hometown of Oakland, California: “There’s no ‘there’ there.”

• The Oakland City Council approved a proposal to build a new ballpark for the Athletics in the Howard Terminal area. However, the A’s are saying that the conditions that the city council insisted upon are “not a business partnership that works for us.”
• The A’s behavior and unwillingness to work with the Oakland city council’s conditions are not winning the team any fans among the citizens of Oakland.
• Now for a long section about the trade deadline. Jeff Passan has the biggest questions heading into the trade deadline. (ESPN+ sub. req.) This is where Passan writes that Kris Bryant “is as good as gone.”
• Ken Rosenthal also has the top ten questions heading into the trade deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Mark Feinsand has a top trade chip for all 30 teams.
• R.J. Anderson has the top 21 trade candidates.
• Will Leitch has ten players who would have the biggest “wow” factor if they were dealt.
• Leitch also has five teams that should do nothing at the trade deadline.
• Mike Petriello looks at the trade market for Twins DH Nelson Cruz.
• Molly Knight has four starting pitchers that the Dodgers could trade for. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said that lots of teams are calling him about possible trades.
• Mike Axisa proposes ten potential deals.
• Jesse Rogers talks to players who are rumored to be on the trading block about how they are dealing with everything.
• Moving on from the trade deadline. Padres manager Jayce Tingler said that he “couldn’t be prouder” of the way his players guided fans into the dugout during the shooting incident outside of Nationals Park on Saturday.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at what teams are hurting and which ones are benefitting from the crackdown on foreign substance use by pitchers. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• They’re using robot umps in the Low-A Southeast and now MLB is going to adjust how the machines call pitches after complaints from the players. There were a lot of breaking balls in the dirt that got called strikes, for example.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt talks with players about what they think about the extra-innings rules. (The Athletic sub. req.) Unsurprisingly, there are divided opinions on it.
• Mets manager Luis Rojas was suspended for two games after protesting a play where pitcher Taijuan Walker tossed away a grounder that he felt was foul. That play led to three runs for the Pirates.
• Emma Baccellieri notes that baseball players can have a bad day at the office. Maybe in a very similar way to how you have a bad day at work.
• Giants catcher Buster Posey is having a resurgent season this year after sitting out all of 2020. Zach Crier wonders if the examples of Posey and Salvador Perez (who missed 2019 with an injury) might change the way teams handle the workload for elite catchers.
• The White Sox signed pitcher Lance Lynn to a two-year, $38 million extension. Dan Szymborski explains what the Pale Hose can expect out of Lynn over that time.
• Carmen Ciardiello writes that White Sox reliever Aaron Bummer has an elite pitch and it may not be the one that you think it is.
• National GM Mike Rizzo says he does not expect infielder Starlin Castro to return to the Nats this season. Castro is on administrative leave after a domestic violence allegation.
• Disgraced broadcaster Thom Brennaman has a new job calling high school sports in the Cincinnati area.
• The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have started and baseball and softball are back after a 13-year absence. In softball’s opening game, Team USA shut out Italy, 2-0.
• And finally, Michael Clair looks at the Cape Cod League, what makes it special and how it became the “it” summer league for college amateurs.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. But let’s humiliate St. Louis again today first.