Baseball Reveille 7/11/11

Good morning, campers!

Here are recent links that will keep those dreaded TPS reports from being sent in on time:

Will this baseball offseason’s most coveted free agent not be a player? The St. Petersburg Times’ John Romano thinks so, wondering aloud what the future may hold for Tampa Bay Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman.
Pitcher Aroldis Chapman has looked good since being recalled from the minors, but Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports recalls what earned the Reds fireballer the earlier demotion.
Jonathan Eig of Chicago magazine reminds us that 60 years ago Minnie Miñoso donned a White Sox uniform for the first time. Not surprisingly, South Siders still adore the Cuban Comet.
Minor league phenom Bryce Harper was promoted to AA Harrisburg, a development which ought to please many Washingtonians.
Speaking of incredibly talented youngsters being promoted, Mike Trout has made it to the bigs. Fangraphs’ Steve Slowinski tells us what we need to know about the Angels’ new center fielder.
Thanks to Bill Chuck of Baseball Analytics, Jered Weaver fans will enjoy checking out the heat maps that the pitcher has generated this season.
Regarding the no-punches-landed “brawl” in Fenway between Kevin Gregg and David Ortiz, I have two questions: (1) why on Earth did home plate umpire eject Gregg while the ball was in play, and (2) what the #### was Josh Riddick thinking, electing to participate in the fracas instead of touching home plate, thereby forfeiting a run?
To be sure, I am not the only one asking incredibly thoughtful questions these days. The Common Man of the Platoon Advantage wonders: “Why in G*d’s name are so many relievers on the All Star teams?”