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The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we're running here at MLBDD and rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us at @mlbdailydish on Twitter.
Good morning baseball fans!
With Hunter Pence being hurt, it’s not shocking to see rumors linking the Giants to outfielders, even Ryan Braun. That being said, talks between the two teams are minimal.
In an effort to bolster their pitching depth, the Cubs signed former Oriole Brian Matusz to a minor-league deal.
After opting out of a minor league deal with the Rangers, the Dodgers inked Will Venable to a one-year deal.
Did Bartolo Colon actually break James Shields?
The crowd is looking at the ball jump off Colon’s bat. The catcher and umpire are staring wide-eyed, trying to remember if they’d ever seen Colon hit something that hard. Bartolo is about to get a fit of the giggles. Shields is only just realizing what he’s done.
We don't know if Bartolo Colon broke James Shields. The results immediately following that game indicate that this isn’t the case. It's a simple question created by narrative run amok. But we’ve seen this happen before. We’ve seen poor Brad Lidge be crushed by the baseball version of Conan the Barbarian and subsequently wander lost in the desert. Has Shields fallen victim to a delayed version of the same curse?
The fans on the South Side pray that it isn't true. Only time will tell.
The Mets are close to getting back one of their key offensive players in Travis d’Arnaud.
One Met, Michael Conforto, is in a deep slump.
Michael Conforto is better than this, and by season’s end, I figure he’ll be productive again. He’s already shown too much to be just some flash in the pan. Yet Conforto seems like he might be pressing, being unaccustomed to being in a slump, and as a hitter who might be pressing, he’s not getting the fastballs he’d like in order to break out of the rut. That would only make the frustration worse, and this is where a guy could use some deep breaths. It’s easy for us to say from the outside that Conforto is too good to struggle like this for much longer. Conforto himself is having a devil of a time. Even if he’s confident he’ll find a way out, he still has to find it. That part is entirely up to him.
If the MLB wants more prospects to show up at the draft, they need to reform it.
Here is a roundup of news from around the American League East.
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Today in Baseball History: In 1977, Mets fans are in shock when the team trades both Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman.