MLB News Outside The Confines: Tatsuya Imai is just not fitting in

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Good morning.

• We’re going straight to the Butcher’s Bill today. The Astros have placed shortstop Jeremy Peña and pitcher Tatsuya Imai on the injured list. The Astros had their eight-game losing streak snapped by a win over the Rockies on Tuesday night.
• Chandler Rome reports that Imai has blamed his arm fatigue on an inability to adjust to American culture, both on- and off-the-field. (Free The Athletic reg. req.) Chandler Rome reports.
• Ben Clemens examines the Astros many injury problems to start the season and warns that if they don’t find a way to cover them over, they could find themselves too far back in April to catch up later.
• Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows is expected to miss “several months” with after surgery to repair a broken left arm suffered in an outfield collision last week.
• Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich is expected to miss at least a month with an adductor strain.
• Orioles managers Craig Albernaz didn’t let the seven cheek fractures that he suffered after getting hit with a foul line drive keep him from the dugout.
• After the injury to the Cubs’ Ethan Roberts, David Adler and Manny Randhawa recount the weirdest injuries in MLB history.
• To cover for their injuries, both the Cubs and the Padres are reportedly speaking to free agent pitcher Lucas Giolito. (Free The Athletic reg. req.) It took four grown sportswriters to write this piece.
• Matt Snyder argues that it’s high time we start accepting explanations for poor play as honesty and not as “excuses.”
• Snyder is actually talking about Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. and not Imai. Stephanie Apstein reports that manager Aaron Boone says he’s not going to do things differently just to make the fans happier. That means he’s not going to join in their criticism of underperforming players.
• Mike Axisa writes that the Mets and the Yankees are both struggling. Which New York team should be more concerned?
• Jake Mintz asks how should the Dodgers deal with struggling pitcher Roki Sasaki?
• Jay Jaffe breaks down the breakout start to the season that Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages is having.
• The Phillies traded former top prospect Griff McGarry to the Dodgers for cash and international pool money.
• AJ Cassavell explains why it makes sense for the Padres to play Fernando Tatis Jr. at second base sometimes.
• Ben Clemens shows just how unhittable Padres closer Mason Miller is right now.
• Michael Rosen shows how Mariners righty Emerson Hancock became less efficient and more effective.
• Dayn Perry thinks there’s a good chance that Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker’s early-season breakout is sustainable and that he could shake the label of a can’t-miss prospect who missed.
• Jesse Yomtov questions if the Red Sox should be worried after ace Garrett Crochet got lit up by the lowly Twins.
• Will Leitch lists players with the best chance to win their first MVP Award this year.
• Jason Beck explains why the Tigers haven’t yet promoted red-hot prospect Max Clark.
• Bradford Doolittle tests Rangers manager Skip Schumaker’s theory of what makes a great pinch-hitter in this day and age.
• The Rays are trying to get Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa to act quickly on their request for government funds for a new ballpark. Elizabeth Strom analyzes the numbers.
• Phillies infielder Alec Bohm is asking his parents to return over half of a million dollars as the two sides are engaged in a legal dispute. (Free The Athletic reg. req.) Bohm also fired his manager Scott Boras.
• Former major league closer Brad Lidge is now an archeologist. He’s working on completing his PhD and is using some of those millions that he earned as a player to fund archeological digs in Italy.
• Mets pitcher Craig Kimbrel freaked out his catcher Francisco Alvarez and Shohei Ohtani when he almost finished his pitch after Alvarez had called time and was coming out for a mound visit.
• Andy McCullough looks at how teams have come to rely on various group chat software to keep in touch. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The Angels and the Diamondbacks were apparently taken in by an allegedly fraudulent frozen yogurt company that took out multiple ads at the two stadiums and ended up never paying for them. (The Athletic sub. req.) Or even making any frozen yogurt.
• And finally

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