Outside The Confines: No need to panic

Poor Mets. They only have a seven-game lead in their division.

Everton is safe!

• Mets pitcher Max Scherzer took himself out of a start on Wednesday against the Cardinals. On Thursday, the Mets announced that Scherzer will miss six-to-eight weeks with an oblique strain.
• Rustin Dodd writes that Scherzer and Jacob deGrom being injured at the same time is the “nightmare scenario” for the Mets. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• David Schoenfield has a plan for the Mets to survive the next two months without their two aces. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Twins pitcher Chris Paddack underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the year, obviously.
• Jon Heyman reports that a reported off-season deal that would have sent Paddack from the Padres to the Mets was nixed because the Mets didn’t like Paddack’s medical reports.
• Here’s a scary injury to a non-player. Rockies television broadcaster Kelsey Wingert was struck in the forehead with a line drive in Monday’s game against the Giants. Wingert is doing fine now, but she shows off her stitched-up forehead at that link. So if that kind of thing bothers you, that’s a warning.
• The Cardinals are calling up two top prospects, infielder Nolan Gorman and right-handed pitcher Matthew Liberatore. Gorman and Liberatore have been friends since they were five years old and played in the same youth club.
• Emma Baccellieri checks in with Albert Pujols and notes that Pujols is having a great time back with the Cardinals this year.
• The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida released their annual report on MLB’s progress on gender and racial equity and they note that MLB still has a lot of work to do, getting an overall grade of B-.
• Mark Feinsand lists seven teams that could be selling at the trade deadline and yes, the Cubs are on the list. The Yankees aren’t listed as a “selling” team, but he does note the team might deal Joey Gallo.
• Buster Olney has several questions as we move into trade season and made some noise as he reported that there is scuttlebutt that the Nationals might try to deal Juan Soto. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Grant Brisbee argues that if the Nats decide to trade Soto, the Giants (and every other team) should offer everyone they’ve got for him. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Dan Szymborski looks at what young players should get offered long-term extensions by their teams.
• Zach Crizer notes that the Astros may have replaced Carlos Correa with another superstar shortstop in Jeremy Peña. And also a general ranking of 2022 rookies.
• Justin Choi explains why Astros pitcher Framber Valdez is having such a historic season.
• Hannah Keyser profiles Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez and how he got so fast.
• Jonathan Mayo has a mock draft for those of you wondering who the next Cubs’ great might be.
• Dayn Perry has four reasons the Angels have been having a strong start to the season. It’s not just Trout and Ohtani and pray that no one else has to bat or pitch or field anymore.
• David Schoenfield has an appreciation of triples and wonders why if Daniel Vogelbach can hit one, why can’t everyone?
• Jay Jaffe thinks that there’s nothing to worry about with Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.
• Matt Snyder notes that Manny Machado and Bryce Harper are living up to their giant contracts.
• Harper also made a big trade when he traded his cap with a fan’s cap. Yes, he autographed his cap before trading it to the fan.
• Second baseman Joe Panik has retired.
• Haynes Gardner has a look at the early season attendance figures and notes that it’s close to the 2019 figures and that the Orioles are actually drawing better than they were then.
• We found out why the Yankees cut 2019 third-round pick, outfielder Jake Sanford. Apparently Sanford was stealing equipment from teammates and selling the items on-line. He also allegedly sold memorabilia to fans and never delivered.
• Betelhem Ashame reports on history-making Kelsie Whitmore of the independent Staten Island FerryHawks.
• Notre Dame’s Jack Brannigan stole home while crawling on all-fours.
• Eugenio Suárez showed some mad soccer skills (or hacky sack) on a foul ball.
• And finally, David Wharton has a big story on the Savannah Bananas, the independent barnstorming team that wants to put the “fun” back into baseball.

OK, one more Everton note. Can you imagine the fans of an MLB team celebrating like this when they just clinched (at least) 17th place? No way! Maybe this isn’t World Series-winning level, but it might have been a winning the NLCS-level celebration.

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