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These are the dog days of summer of the Major League Baseball season.  It’s hot.  It’s humid.  It’s miserable.  The season feels long for everyone at this point.  One hundred and sixty-two games in 183 days feels undoable.  Road trips are getting old.  Day games after night games don’t seem fair. 

When we get to this stage of the season, everyone is operating on a short fuse: players, managers and umpires, especially.  Any bad call or negative comment can set one off.  Unresolved feelings and frustrations have been building up and are looking for a reason to explode.  Water coolers, helmets, bat racks and water fountains tend to be at the most risk this time of year. 

Josh Donaldson had a moment during Wednesday’s game.  He struck out and was mad: mad at the pitcher, mad at the umpire, mad at the bat, mad at the ball, etc.  That is a lot of mad.  As he approached the third-base dugout entrance at Yankee Stadium, he chucked his bat through the opening toward the bat rack.  It ricocheted off of it and bounced back toward the steps.  It just so happened that manager, John Gibbons, was standing next to the opening on the top step of the dugout. Other club personnel were nearby, as well, since it is a narrow space that is directly in line with the tunnel that leads from the dugout to the clubhouse.

What Donaldson did in anger was completely inappropriate.  I can understand it, but it was wrong. 

Gibbons immediately went down the steps to address his superstar about his behaviour.  It was a firm and direct conversation.  Donaldson seemed to get defensive, but Gibbons didn’t unlock his eyes from Donaldson’s.  Gibbons made his point even if Donaldson wasn’t able to hear it.  Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Thole stepped between the third baseman and manager and things settled down. 

After the game, Gibbons refused to discuss the matter while Donaldson joked that Gibbons wanted to get close to him and smell his cologne.  Effectively, he didn’t want to seriously talk about it either. 

So now what?

The Jays just move on, but they move on with a strong message delivered.  If Darwin Barney or Ezequiel Carrera had done what Donaldson did and Gibbons confronted them, the message would have been singular for them.  The fact that Gibbons confronted his superstar was a message heard and understood by the other 24 players on the roster, as well as an entire minor-league system.  Gibbons made it clear that no matter who you are, there is an expectation of professionalism and appropriateness. 

I assume Donaldson apologized to Gibby behind closed doors and the apology was readily accepted. 

Gibbons has shown all season long that he has his players’ backs.  He has been ejected more than any other manager, typically, running to the defence of his players.  Gibbons charges out of the dugout whenever his players have a gripe because he wants to protect them.  It is the right thing to do.  On Wednesday, the right thing to do was to confront Donaldson and to run to the defence of the other 24 players and 200 minor leaguers in the organization.  It was the right thing to do. 

Sure, I always want to keep dirty laundry behind closed doors, but this action was so aggressive and so overt that Gibbons had to act in the moment.  Waiting until after the game or pulling Donaldson down the tunnel would have been better for Donaldson, but not for everyone else. 

There shouldn’t be any lingering effect of this.  Confrontations like this are happening in every clubhouse this time of year.  How it is confronted and handled separates the winners from losers.  The Jays are a team of winners led by Gibbons and Donaldson.

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At the trade deadline in 2015, the Washington Nationals “Papelbonned” their closer Drew Storen.  Yes, his name has become a verb.  It describes when a closer is replaced by a perceived better closer.  The Nats traded for Jonathan Papelbon from the Philadelphia Phillies and demoted Storen to the set-up role. 

This year at the trade deadline, the Nationals “Papelbonned” Papelbon.  They acquired Mark Melancon from the Pirates to take over the closer's role.  The veteran, Papelbon, has 368 career saves including 19 this year.  But his 11.37 earned run average after the All Star break worried Washington and compelled them to upgrade.  Upon his demotio,n the veteran righty said he understood and would be okay with it, but his body language and performance betrayed him.  So the Nats released him. 

Papelbon told me in spring training that his goal was to become the all-time saves leader.  He wants to pass Mariano Rivera’s 652-save total.   When he was getting traded from the Phillies last year, he made it clear he only wanted to be a closer.  He didn’t want to go to a team and transition to the set-up role. 

There aren’t many teams that are playoff contenders that are looking for a closer.  That is why they are playoff teams. 

I would not consider Papelbon for any role if I were a general manager today, due to declining performance and uncertainty with his fit in the clubhouse.

Firstly, I am not even sure how much he has left in the tank.  His fastball velocity isn’t what it once was.  I don’t look at him as a shut-down closer anymore.  He needs to be much more refined with his location because his mistakes get hit. 

Secondly, to be nice, he has a big personality.  It is a personality that can suck the wind out of a clubhouse.  In the final six weeks of the season, everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction.  Adding a player who is more focused on his personal situation than the team's is a disaster waiting to happen. Papelbon’s lack of interest in non-save situations scares me away completely.  It is not a risk worth taking.

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The current collective bargaining agreement is due to expire at the end of the year.  Negotiations are ongoing with every hope and expectation that a deal can be reached and a work stoppage avoided. 

One of the issues that will be considered is the reduction of the schedule from 162 games to 154 games.  The 162-game schedule has been in place since 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.  The Major League Baseball Players Association would like to ease the burden and grind of travel on the players, considering they currently cram the schedule into 183 days. 

Did you ever have the feeling that there aren’t enough hours in the day?  We all have had the feeling.  That is what the baseball season can feel like.

So just shorten the season.

It sounds simple, but it is far more complicated than you would think.  If the players want to play eight fewer games, are they willing to take a prorated cut in pay?  Remember eight fewer games means that each team will lose four games' worth of revenue.  There would have to be give and take if it were ever to be seriously considered. 

I personally don’t think it is necessary to shorten the schedule.  There do need to be some adjustments to scheduling and travel rules, but I think we can make the season gentler without shortening it. The MLB currently doesn’t dictate what time games are played other than on Sundays. No games that are televised can conflict with the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game.  This needs to change.  There needs to be additional limitations on the home team for start times of games. For instance, no team should have to play a day game on the first day of a series when they play a game the preceding night.  The Boston Red Sox did that on Thursday in Detroit.  After arriving at their hotel at 3:45am after a rain delay in Baltimore on Wednesday night, they had a 1:10pm day game with the Tigers.  

The Sunday night game creates some issues, as well.  West coast teams that play in that game have an arduous travel schedule when they head back home to play on Monday night.  Major League Baseball should only allow ESPN to choose teams for the Sunday night game that have off-days on the Monday.  Players also have complaints about consecutive days of work.  They also don’t like day-night doubleheaders.  But the bottom line is the bottom line.  Players get paid millions of dollars.  It isn’t supposed to be easy to make the money.  Owners aren’t going to just reduce what comes in and still pay the same amount to the players.

I didn’t even mention the impact on statistics.  I still think the numbers of the game are sacred.  I don’t want to shorten the schedule and then have to prorate the meaning of players’ statistics. The schedule has been this way for over 50 years now.  Can we please just tweak the policies a bit but leave the number of games alone? 

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Spitting Seeds

- There is speculation in New York that if the Mets don’t make the playoffs, manager Terry Collins could lose his job.  That would be a shame.  The Mets started the season with a just-enough offence.  Injuries to David Wright, Lucas Duda, Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes and Travis d’Arnaud have crippled their ability to manufacture runs.  Throw in surgery to Matt Harvey and bone spurs impacting Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz and you have a club in disarray. How is that Collins's fault?

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- Look out for the Kansas City Royals.  They look like the Kansas City Royals again.  They have won nine of 11 games and have made it back to .500.  The starting pitching has stabilized and the offence is starting to come around, led by Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain.  Don’t be surprised if they are playing meaningful games in late September and are battling for a wild-card spot. 

- Yankees rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has made a big splash in his first week in the big leagues.  He has four homers in his first five games.  The Yankees have big expectations for Sanchez and see him as their catcher of the future.  This means that Brian McCann will be available this offseason via trade.  He has a no-trade clause, but I can’t imagine he will be satisfied being a designated hitter and back-up catcher.  I could see the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers having interest.

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- Mookie Betts has put himself in the middle of the AL Most Valuable Player conversation.  He hit five homers and drove in 14 runs over the last seven games.  He also scored 10 runs.  On the season, he is hitting .314/.358/.570 with 28 homers and 85 runs batted in.  They moved him down to the cleanup spot now because of his production.  If the Red Sox make the playoffs, it may give him the edge over Jose Altuve.  Then, he will just have to get more votes than David Ortiz, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion.

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- The Atlanta Braves called up their future.  Shortstop Dansby Swanson, acquired in the Shelby Miller deal from the Arizona Diamondbacks, started his career on Wednesday with two hits in his debut.  He has the ability and the look.  I just hope he has the humility to truly be a leader and impactful star.  Sometimes, he comes across like a 10-year veteran and he doesn’t even have 10 days of service.

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- The league's owners are contemplating limiting pitching changes, eliminating infield shifting, altering strike zones and installing a 20-second pitch clock.  Commissioner Rob Manfred wants change.  He is hung up on the pace of play.  I support trying to improve the pace of play, but not at the expense of strategy.  Legislation to speed the pace can’t impact a manager’s ability to win the game.  So use a pitch clock if necessary, but do not limit the changes a manager can make to try and win the game.   Feel free to adjust the strike zone, but do not take away the strategy of the infield shift.  If a team thinks it helps them win, then let them try and win.  I hope the owners let the baseball people make these decisions and don’t try and do this by themselves.