This Week in (Dumb) Baseball: Angels issues; rule change complaints – CBSSports.com

Hey, there’s a full week of baseball in the books and it’s Monday, so it’s time for another edition of This Week in (Dumb) Baseball. As regular readers already know, this feature has the title, sure, but it’s mostly for fun. Keep that in mind. Please.

For all This Week in (Dumb) Baseball columns, click here.

1. Angels have issues

Ever since we learned publicly of Josh Hamilton‘s relapse, the Angels haven’t been painting a picture of themselves as the most empathetic organization, seemingly more worried about getting out of paying Hamilton instead of his well-being.

In the past few weeks, things have gotten worse, with owner Arte Moreno saying “I will not say that,” when asked if Hamilton would ever play for the Angels again. The club is reportedly looking to fight against the CBA and argue that it included language in Hamilton’s contract forbidding him from certain behavior.

The problem now, though, is that C.J. Wilson — the Angels’ union rep and No. 2 starter entering the season — is speaking out against the club, via latimes.com. Among his many comments, Wilson said the Angels hired a private investigator to monitor him before signing him and general manager Jerry Dipoto said that is “100 percent not true.”

So there’s turmoil here that needs to be dealt with behind closed doors, not through the local media. Meanwhile, the Angels are 2-4.

2. D-Backs as uniform police again?

A few years ago there was a big Internet story about the Diamondbacks making a Dodgers fan in the Chase Field Batters Box Suite change out of Dodgers gear and into D-Backs attire, in order to not have an opposing fan constantly in the TV shot. Via deadspin.com (with video), it appears it happened again this past weekend.

I understand that it looks bad to have opposing fans in TV shots, especially when they are front and center on every pitch, but you know what looks worse? Policing what people wear. That’s a real bad look and reeks of an inferiority complex.

3. All the complaining about rule changes

Every single time there’s a rule change, the first two to three weeks of the season we continually see that the change is “ruining the game” from fans on Twitter. People said it about replay, the so-called Buster Posey rule and now, believe it or not, the rule that requires hitters to keep one foot in the batter’s box.

Seriously, a fan said that to me, that this rule is ruining baseball. So I’m to believe that this fan enjoys watching players step far out of the batter’s box and take 10-15 seconds standing still between pitches? Cutting down on that is ruining the game?

And think about the contradiction. Last year, instant replay was ruining the game because it was taking too long. Now MLB is taking steps to cut down on game times and that’s bad, too?

Speaking of which, the clocks to keep time between innings and during pitching changes are so small and hidden that you have to look for them to see them. I’d bet my house that I could find legions of people who would go nuts that there’s a clock involved in a baseball game, though.

Gametimes are down so far. Of course, when I pointed this out on Twitter, I was met with people saying it’s because many games are too low-scoring.

It’s just complaint after complaint after complaint.

Look, if you hate baseball, stop watching it. If you love it and constantly complain about it, though, are you sure you actually love it? Many of us love it and enjoy watching it (pretty much everyone reading this qualifies under the latter, so I’m probably preaching to the choir).

4. Bryan Price’s comments on Jason Heyward

OK, so watch this play on MLB.com at around the 12-16 second mark. Take note of Jason Heyward clearly checking on Todd Frazier at third base. Even if he slid late, I’d be hard pressed to call that a dirty play. That’s what Reds manager Price did, though (via stltoday.com):

“Something happened at third base with Heyward. I thought that was a bad slide there,” Price told reporters. “I thought that was a dirty slide and I didn’t like that at all. He’s not a dirty player, but I just thought it was a bad slide and a dirty slide. It could have really affected Frazier and I’m not happy about that nor are any of our players. Hopefully we’ll be able to use it as fuel in this series to find ways to win games like (this).”

Obviously it’s good for a manager to stand up for his players, but the Reds and Cardinals already hate each other enough that the flame doesn’t need to be fanned like this. Let’s keep in mind, though, that Price was ejected in the game and the Reds lost two in a row after starting the season 4-0. Emotions could have gotten the best of him here and I’m willing to give him a pass initially.

As is customary in these parts, time to wash away the dumb with some fun.

Minor-league food item of the week

Take it away, West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers‘ Class A affiliate):

Introducing The Joey Pankakes! Consisting of two pancakes, hickory flavored pulled pork and bacon, topped with syrup. pic.twitter.com/jLHBdSCGQC

— Whitecaps (@wmwhitecaps) April 8, 2015

Minor-league promotion of the week

Thanks to reader Jeff C. for pointing me to the Durham Bulls’ Game of Thrones night, which takes place on April 23. The team’s official blog has the details, and it sounds great.

Thief of the week

This wasn’t even a competition, given the game circumstances under which George Springer caught this one:

Baseball card of the week

Hat-tip to my Uncle Mike on this one, it’s Willie Mays!

Possibly dumb pop culture rankings of the week

AMC’s Better Call Saul ended its first season last Monday and I finally got around to watching it Sunday night (hey, I had to do work things all week!). It was a great first season that exceeded my expectations. I just figured a spinoff of Breaking Bad was bound to disappoint. It did not. Anyway, let’s rank the top five characters.

1. Mike Ehrmantraut
2. Jimmy McGill (soon to be “Saul Goodman”)
3. Kim Wexler
4. Marco
5. Tuco Salamanca

Sure, Tuco was barely in there, but it’s freaking Tuco. C’mon, he has to make the list. I also loved Marco in the season finale enough to give him a bump. The top three was easy, it was only a matter of slotting them but the Mike backstories were the best part of the season for me.

Anyway, let’s put a bow on this thing until next week.

Suggestions (dumb stuff, random videos, baseball cards, pop culture rankings topics, etc.) or hate mail? Feel free to hit me up: matt.snyder@cbs.com or you could always go to Twitter (@MattSnyderCBS).