Outside The Confines: That hurts!

Good morning. I hope today will be better than yesterday. And that the Cubs win. I guess that goes without saying. Several of my stories look dated after the Cardinals just beat the Cubs twice at Wrigley.

• There’s still been a lot of fallout from the Cardinals decision to move Willson Contreras off of catching, just six weeks into a five-year deal. Zach Crizer argues that the Cardinals are using Contreras as a scapegoat for the failures of their pitching staff.
• Jay Jaffe thinks the Cardinals are panicking. Also that they’ve constructed a roster that just doesn’t fit together.
• Jaffe also notes that Nolan Arenado’s prolonged slump is adding to the Cardinals’ problems.
• Dayn Perry is having trouble understanding the Cardinals thinking.
• Perry also lists the six most disappointing teams so far and yes, the Cardinals are on it.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at how the fates of all 30 teams has changed since Opening Day. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Gabe Lacques looks at MLB’s toughest division, the “AL Beast.” Or AL East to the rest of us.
• Tom Verducci believes that while the Red Sox are off to a good start to the season, Boston’s poor starting pitching will eventually bring them back down to earth.
• After a poor start to his MLB career, Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida has been red-hot lately. Cole Jacobson looks at what’s changed for Yoshida and whether he can sustain it.
• Ben Clemens tries to figure out what’s wrong with Brewers’ starting ace Corbin Burnes. And yes, this one has a great title that suggests a solution.
• R.J. Anderson has five struggling MLB veterans who could get released. Yes, Eric Hosmer’s name is on the list.
• Dan Szymborski has eight veterans whose current teams should sign them to a contract extension. Yes, Marcus Stroman is on the list.
• Kiley McDaniel asks anonymous MLB executives to predict what Shohei Ohtani’s next contract will look like. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• The collective bargaining agreement agreed to last year has finally been finalized. J.J. Cooper has all the important changes.
• Stolen bases are way up this year. Emma Baccellieri looks back at the period of 1973 to 1975, when stolen bases also jumped way up.
• The Athletics’ deal to build a new stadium on the Strip in Las Vegas is already in trouble. They are now looking at other sites in Las Vegas to build a stadium.
• If you’ve watched any Iowa Cubs games over the past two weeks—at least on the weekend—you know Triple-A is experimenting with a challenge system where umpires call the balls and strikes but players can make a challenge where they go to the automatic ball-strike system (or “robot umps”) for calls they think are bad. Ted Schwerzler looks at how the system works and he comes away impressed.
• Jason Beck has more details on the ball-strike challenge system.
• The Braves have placed ace Max Fried on the injured list with a forearm strain. Unfortunately, forearm strains are often a precursor to Tommy John surgery.
• The Mets have signed former All-Star catcher Gary Sanchez to a minor-league deal.
• The Rays have signed left-handed reliever Jake Diekman to a major-league deal.
• Thomas Harrington has an early look at the MVP race in both leagues.
• As part of MLB’s world tour. the Dodgers and Padres are expected to open the 2024 season in South Korea.
• And after the Cubs and Cardinals play in London later this year, the Mets and Phillies are expected to face off in London next season. Then someone is going to play in Paris in 2025, if MLB gets its way.
• The Brewers have decided to reverse course and once again end alcohol sales after the seventh inning. Not because they fear extending it to the eighth inning will lead to more drunk driving. They’re doing it just because no one was buying beer in the eighth inning.
• Brittany Ghiroli interviews Lindsay Berra, Yogi Berra’s granddaughter, about the upcoming documentary coming out on the Yankees great. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• I almost didn’t include this article, because it’s basically an advertorial for New Era. But it’s still pretty interesting anyway with a lot of things you might not know. Michael Clair has a piece on the history of the baseball cap.
• Daniel Brown profiles Athletics rookie broadcaster Johnny Doskow, who has finally made it to the major leagues after 30 years of calling baseball games in the minors. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, nothing beats “football in the groin.” Or in this case, baseball in the groin. The Tigers’ Akil Baddoo got thrown out stealing in the most painful way possible when Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez tagged him out after catching the ball on the bounce off of Baddoo’s you-know-what.

Here’s the play in slow motion.

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