What is the story about?
Good
morning.
- Some teams are off to a hot start to the season. Others are not. Those are the ones were interested in right now. Dayn Perry gives a “panic meter” rating to the struggling teams and he thinks the Phillies should be more worried than the Mets.
- Michael Baumann explains on what is going wrong with the Phillies in general and takes a special look about how worried should Philadelphia be about lefty Jesús Luzardo in particular.
- The Phillies also released right-hander Taijuan Walker. The Phillies still owe Walker $15 million.
- The Mets have now won two in a row after losing 12 straight. But they got bad news as star shortstop Francisco Lindor will miss “quite a bit” of time with a left calf strain.
- Ben Clemens is very impressed with Mets right-handed starter Nolan McLean and he’ll tell you why.
- In surprising news, the Dodgers and Giants still hate each other and Dalton Rushing seems to be the one stirring the pot. Maria Guardado and Sonja Chen report.
- Ryan Phillips has more on Rushing’s general jackassery.
- Jordan Schusterman examines what the Dodgers options are now that expensive closer Edwin Díaz is out for much of the season.
- Former Athletics owner Lew Wolff blasted the Giants as “despicable” for blocking the teams move to San Jose, which led to a move to Las Vegas instead. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
- Chris Kirschner reports on how Yankees ace Gerrit Cole helped turn Cam Schlitter into an elite pitcher. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- For some reason this has been big news. Bryan Hoch reports that the Yankees players are pushing for the team to adopt a road alternate uniform. They’re calling for the team to wear their Spring Training uniforms in selected road games this year.
- Aaron Judge made the point that the tradition of the Yankees’ two iconic uniforms has already been defiled by an advertising patch on their sleeve. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
- Chris Kirschner argues that for the Yankees to take an alternate uniform would be a near-fatal blow to the hallowed traditions that make the Yankees special. (The Athletic sub. req.) Or something like that.
- In any case, Brendan Kuty reports that while the Yankees will consider the players’ request, no decision on the matter is coming anytime soon. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
- Ben Clemens looks at the numbers behind White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami’s hot start to his major league career.
- Dayn Perry also looks at the metrics on Murakami and is a little more pessimistic on his long-term outlook.
- Jordan Schusterman looks at how Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez got even better this year.
- Michael Baumann wonders how Brewers second baseman Brice Turang keeps improving year after year.
- The Royals announced plans for a new $1.9 billion stadium in downtown Kansas City. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
- Eight early season statistics to play attention to, according to the staff at ESPN dot com.
- Walks are at a 75-year-high this year and players are saying that the Automatic Ball/Strike system is responsible.
- The Padres signed free agent Lucas Giolito to a one-year, $3 million deal with incentives.
- Dan Szymborski examines what the Padres are getting in Giolito.
- Josh Jacobs explains what is powering the surprisingly-good Cardinals offense this year.
- Thirty-year-old Peyton Gray made his major league debut for the Rangers after eight years in the minor leagues.
- Braves rookie JR Ritchie’s first major league pitch was hit for a home run by James Wood. But he righted the ship and allowed just one more run over seven innings to get his first major league win.
- Ken Rosenthal reports on how Walt Weiss’ relationship with the Braves players hasn’t changed since his promotion to team manager. (The Athletic sub. req.) Weiss also admits he wasn’t ready to be a manager when he took over the Rockies.
- Max Scherzer tells Bob Nightengale that playing the piano has rescued his major league career. Basically, playing the piano until his fingers are sore is the only kind of physical therapy he’s found that’s solved his issues with his sore thumb.
- There was a big scare this week when top Brewers prospect Luis Peña collapsed in a minor-league dugout. The game was called and Peña was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, he appears to be fine now after treatment for overheating.
- The MLB Pipeline gang has the pitching prospect with the best fastball in each team’s system.
- Stephen J. Nesbitt gets players to answer questions about what life is like on the road. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Oneil Cruz hit a home run that bounced off the top of the foul pole at Globe Life Field.
- And finally, in a happy follow-up to a story on Monday, Alicia Funderburk, the wife of Twins reliever Kody, gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Monday. The birth was complicated by Alicia being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during the pregnancy.
