If you read only one thing…

The big story is the fact that the Kansas City Royals now have seven players that would start for the American League all-star team. Mike Trout is the only non-Royal leading his position at the current time. Leading vote getters include the illustrious Omar Infante. Infante is hitting a robust .204/.213/.283. Folks, that’s a .496 OPS. UZR has him as a positive three runs defensively, but I don’t care if he’s the reincarnation of Bill Mazeroski. I’m not even sure if he should be allowed to buy a ticket to the game, much less be anywhere near that dugout.

Now, how does MLB handle this problem? It’s pretty clear that internet voting is a large part of the problem. Do they have the wherewithal to check IP addresses, run down phantom email addresses and all that jazz? Perhaps, they put it back in the hands of the fans at the ball park exclusively. That would take away some participation from folks that don’t live in a major metropolitan area. Perhaps, they go all 1958 on us and remove the fan vote entirely. This just might be the first major decision by the commissioner. Meanwhile, let’s see how good these Royals are.

Just as we expected…

Maybe someday the seamheads will march on New York and demand a change in the win rule. Francisco Liriano moved to 4-5 on the season in spite of a 2.94 ERA. Granted, hurling a shutout helps the ol’ ERA, but let’s dispense with the “good pitchers know how to win” talk. Unfortunately for most of us, wins are still a major category for starters. Most seamheads probably don’t own pitchforks, so maybe they can bring slide rules. Ironically, three shutouts were thrown on Monday night. All three winning pitchers have losing records. Only one has an ERA above the league average.

Remember when everyone was worried about George Springer? He was hitting around the Mendoza line and the power numbers weren’t coming. After Monday night, he’s hitting .269 with ten home runs. He is batting lead off, so the 23 RBI may seem a little low, but he’s added double digit steals at this point as well. With his patience at the plate, he also offers huge OBP numbers.

But we didn’t see this coming…

It was in a losing cause, but there may be signs of life coming from Jonathan Lucroy. He had two doubles, three RBI, and a walk in the loss to the Royals on Monday night. No, the performance won’t make anyone forget Mickey Cochrane or Bill Dickey, but it’s a welcome sight for Brewers fans that want to know what happened to their all-star catcher. If he continues to peck away at it, his numbers might actually approach career norms by the end of the season.

Yovani Gallardo was supposed to be a third or fourth starter with the Rangers, but their rotation has been ravished by injuries for the second season in a row. He continues to throw solid innings and evened his record at 6-6 with seven shutout innings. His ERA dropped to a stunningly low 3.16 considering where he is pitching and where he has been the last few seasons in Milwaukee. They now trail the division leading Houston Astros by only 2.5 games.

The Rest of the Details

Save Chances

• Luke Gregerson (converted)
• Jason Grilli (converted)
• A.J. Ramos (converted)
• Shawn Tolleson (converted)

Lineup Moves

• Cubs promote catcher Kyle Schwarber
• Ronald Belisario opts out of contract with the Rays
• Kevin Gregg opts out of contract with the Mariners
• Red Sox designated Jeff Bianchi for assignment
• Mets designated Dillon Gee for assignment
• Rays sign Grady Sizemore to minor league deal
• Mets outright Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Rumors and Transactions

The Padres made Bud Black the second managerial casualty of the 2015 season. The Padres had been hovering around the .500 mark, and considering all of the additions they made this offseason, you can see some of the reason for the impatience. Still, Black had been at the helm for nine years and had dealt with low payrolls for most of that time. When you consider that he had to play in the same division as the free spending Dodgers and the wildly successful Giants you had to feel for him. They didn’t even give him a half season with the revamped roster.