Outside The Confines: No Rays of sunshine

Just a few months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were the biggest story in the game for the best start to a season since the 1984 Tigers. Now, they’re the biggest story in the game for not-as-pleasant reasons.

• The Tampa Bay Rays placed star shortstop Wander Franco on the restricted list. Franco reportedly agreed to the move. I’m not going to go into the reasons why because you almost certainly already know why and if you don’t, you can click on the link.
• Evan Drellich and Brittany Ghiroli explain what the next steps are for the Rays, Franco and MLB. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• John Romano has some background on Franco and the investigation.
• Daniel Brown writes that the Rays are trying to focus on the game and not outside distractions. (The Athletic sub. req.) He also looks the Rays plan for top prospect Oslievis Basabe to fill in for Franco while he’s on the restricted list.
• And if things weren’t bad enough for the Rays, their ace pitcher Shane McClanahan needs Tommy John surgery. He is expected to be out until 2025.
• Also Rays outfielder Manuel Margot will miss 3-to-4 weeks after having surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
• More bad news for the Angels and all of MLB. Shohei Ohtani will miss his next start with “arm fatigue.”
• Sam Blum writes that the Angels were counting on their pitching to be a strength, but it sure hasn’t worked out that way. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Hannah Keyser writes that the Angels plan to go all on this year has backfired.
• This is a fun infographic article. Bradford Doolittle estimates just how much value (in dollars) can Othani provide a team that signs him next year over the course of the contract.
• Zach Crizer ranks the top ten expected free agents this winter.
• Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker is not one of them, as he’s a few years away from free agency. But Dan Szymborski examines what it would take for the Astros to sign Tucker to a long-term extension.
• One presumes that Ohtani will have this title eventually (health permitting), but as for now, Padres hurler Yu Darvish set a new MLB record for career strikeouts by a Japanese-born pitcher.
• Cole Jacobsen profiles what he calls “the best rivalry in international baseball”: the USA vs. Japan. In particular, he looks at where the rivalry truly started—in the Little League World Series.
• Juan Toribio explains why the Dodgers have been so hot this month.
• Grant Brisbee has several “fun facts” about the Giants and walk-off home runs by catchers. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Mike Axisa has five reasons that the Yankees have been in steady decline since 2017.
• Ben Clemens has come to praise Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar.
• Brian Murphy has some surprising rookies on playoff contenders. There’s one Cub on the list!
• Dayn Perry has the biggest question for each team through the rest of the season.
• Matt Snyder looks at the candidates for the National League Cy Young Award.
• Former Cub Daniel Murphy has ended his comeback attempt and officially retired.
• Astros first baseman Jon Singleton hit his first major league home run in eight seasons.
• Umpire Ángel Hernández’s appeal of the dismissal of his lawsuit against MLB was rejected.
• The big story in college football these days is the collapse of the Pac-12 conference. But Michael Baumann asks what does this mean for college baseball?
• Thirty years ago, Baseball America founder Allan Simpson wrote an article “20 Ideas to Save Baseball.” Matt Eddy looks at that article and sees what Simpson got right and wrong. (Free to all.)
• Former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria ripped Derek Jeter for removing the home run statue and other changes made to Marlins Park.

• A fan told Mookie Betts he’d name his daughter after him if he hit a home run. So meet Francesca Mookie Mancuso.
• Benjamin Hill has the story of a blind minor league baseball broadcaster.
• Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming finished last in his fantasy football league last year, so he had to spend three innings as the Giants bat boy. As many have said, people would pay good money to do that for three innings and Fleming was “punished” with it.
• And finally, Rustin Dodd asks “Are baseball brawls a dying breed?” (The Athletic sub. req.)

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