TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers several questions each week. This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more. 1. The Toronto Blue Jays demoted Kevin Pillar in a surprising move today. As Scott MacArthur noted in this piece , it was at least in part due to the rookie showing up his manager. Your thoughts on this move and the way it was done, as opposed to a quiet word with the kid? When I signed to play professionally in 1981 out of high school I went to Kingsport, TN to play rookie ball. I signed my contract after a protracted negotiation and reported in July after the season had already started. One of the first rules my manager told me when I walked in his office was to never show up him (the manager), the coaches or any of my teammates. Every season after that, my manager proclaimed the same rule in the very first meeting with the team. It is a commandment of baseball: ""Thou shall not show up the manager." Kevin Pillar violated that commandment when he threw a temper tantrum for being pinch hit. I understand that Pillar wanted the opportunity to deliver for his team and to solidify a role on the roster. What he doesnt seem to understand is that every at bat is an audition for the next at bat. Players dont get to pick and choose when they get used and how they get used. If he wanted that at bat then he should have earned it in his previous at bats. Now I like players who want to play. I would be disappointed if a player wasnt disappointed to get pinch hit for and lose an opportunity to be a hero. But Pillar needs to learn it isnt about him. It is about the team; a first place team at that. I love that the Jays demoted Pillar over this. There are times when handling things quietly behind closed doors is appropriate. I am not big on airing dirty laundry in public. But this was an opportunity for Gibbons to make a statement to all 25 players on his major league team as well every kid in the minor leagues. The Blue Jays are about team and not individuals. Over the course of the season, every player coach and manager does something selfish at some point. The severity of the selfishness as well as the way it is handled by everyone impacts the chemistry of the team. Gibbons and Anthopoulos moved swiftly and firmly on Pillar and the Jays organization is better for it. My hope is that the Pillar will learn from it and not feel like a victim or hold on to resentment. He messed up and had to pay the consequences. Pillar set it on a tee and Gibbons knocked it out of the park. Manager of the year? 2. Based on the current All-Star voting, is there a player that stands out as not getting the respect he deserves from the fans? The fan balloting for the All-Star game is a popularity contest and not always a true indicator of the quality of the players seasons. There are always players who get a raw deal. It happens every year. Certainly the player votes coupled with the fan votes gets us close to the right participants even though we may not have the proper starters. This year we can see where the injustices are a headed after the fan votes. Hopefully the players will rectify the problems. Currently there is a great race at the NL third base position. The Brewers Aramis Ramirez is barely ahead of Mets third baseman David Wright. Pablo Sandoval of the Giants is within striking distance as well. However Todd Frazier (.283/17 HR/ 45 RBI, 50 runs) of the Reds isnt even in the top five and he is having the best season of the group. I understand that Frazier is a relative unknown to the fans and has come out of nowhere at an underperforming position in the league, but he deserves the nod. In the outfield in the NL, Andrew McCutchen (PIT), Yasiel Puig (LAD) and Carlos Gomez (MIL) lead the way. All three are having All-Star worthy seasons but I do think that Miamis Giancarlo Stanton (.310/21 HR /59 RBI/55 runs) would edge out Gomez on my ballot. The greatest injustice in the NL is at the catchers position. By far, Jonathan Lucroy (.328/8 HR/ 40 RBI) of the Brewers is having the best season. He is trailing Yadier Molina by close to 700 votes. Lucroy will likely make the team but he should be the starter. Molina (.282/6HR/27 RBI) is winning by reputation and not performance. In the American League it seems inevitable that Derek Jeter will win the fan vote for shortstop. The White Sox Alexei Ramirez has earned the starting role on the field this year but Jeter will get it for long and meritorious service. And he should. Baltimores Matt Wieters is leading all AL catchers in voting which tells you how weak the field must be. Wieters is out for the season with an injury and surgery. They should just draw names out of a hat to see who goes. Robinson Cano of Seattle leads the second base vote followed by Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia. All three have been All-Stars previously and are recognizable names. The guy who should represent the AL at second base is Jose Altuve of Houston. His .334 batting average leads the league as do his 30 stolen bases. The AL outfield has a big omission too. Jose Bautista and Mike Trout are one and two in the balloting and deserve it. Currently Melky Cabrera is in third place. He is having a nice year but with all due respect probably shouldnt be in the top five candidates for the team. Oaklands Yoenis Cespedes deserves consideration before Cabrera but mostly it is Michael Brantley of the Indians who is getting short-changed. Brantley is tied for third in hitting in the AL with a .325 batting average to go with 51 RBI. He is having a breakout season and deserves appropriate recognition. I credit Blue Jays fans for their support of Melky because I dont believe that he is gaining big time votes from fans around the league. 3. The Padres fired GM Josh Byrnes this week. Where did it go wrong for him in San Diego? I always hate to see general managers get fired. It doesnt only impact them but also their families and their entire staff. You know the routine; a new GM will want his own people and many more will lose their jobs. It is the nature of the job and the industry but it still stinks. In many ways GM jobs are thankless. You can make the right decision and things can still go wrong. Expectations of owners can often be the downfall of general managers. Ownership in San Diego said they expected more from this roster. They had approved Josh Byrnes increasing the payroll from $68 million to $90. When payroll goes up so do expectations from owners. They are tied together. However, even with the increase San Diego has the lowest payroll in the NL West. The Dodgers have the highest payroll in all of baseball ($235M) while the Giants are seventh ($154M). The Diamondbacks and Rockies are spending $5M-$6M more than the Padres as well. In his two plus year Byrnes made a number of trades. Most of which have been fairly successful although none in a significant way. It is the contract negotiations which burned him. Shortly after his arrival in San Diego he traded for Carlos Quentin from the White Sox. That in and of itself is no big problem. It was the signing of Quentin to a three-year, $27M contract which hurt. Quentin has been hurt and unproductive as a Padre. He signed three more players, Cory Luebke, Cameron Maybin and Nick Hundley to pre-arbitration multi-year deals and got burned by injuries and underperformance again. Then this spring he signed second baseman Jedd Gyorko to a $35M extension after only one season in which he hit .243 with 23 homers and 63 RBI. This year, Gyorko rewarded Byrness confidence with a .162 batting average in 200+ at bats before getting injured. The Padres are baseballs worst offensive team by far. In fact, their offence is offensive. They are last in the baseball in runs scored and have been outscored by 38 runs by the Braves who have the second fewest runs scored. Their slash line of .213/.273/.337 is the worst in each category. There is more than enough "stuff" for the owners to make a change in San Diego. That is tough to dispute. But did the owners actually have expectations that they would be dramatically better than they are? I never saw it. They are undermanned in every aspect of the game. I am not sure who will get the job next. But whomever it is, has their work cut out for them. Omar Minaya, former Mets and Expos GM is part of the three-man team running things now. He is a creative guy and may have the right style for a small-market team. Gary Larocque is another name you will hear. He is in charge of minor leagues and scouting for the Cardinals. They always seem to have major league-ready talent in St Louis. Larocque may be able to work his magic in San Diego as well. Padres President Mike Dee came from the Red Sox so there is speculation that Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen could be in the running as well. By the way, I like the weather in San Diego…Im just sayin 4) In most sports we all love to play the blame game. When something goes wrong, someone is surely to blame. Typically that person pays with his job. We saw that exact scenario play out with the San Diego Padres with GM Josh Byrnes dismissal. Typically changes are made when expectations are not met. In Texas over the last few years, there have rightfully been big expectations. They have had tremendous success. This year was no different. They had acquired Prince Fielder in the off-season and seemed poise to battle for the top position in the AL West. Injuries and underperformance have crushed them. They have 14 players currently on the DL including seven pitchers. In many organizations the training staff could find themselves in trouble with this many injuries. Strength and conditioning coaches have been axed. I have seen organizations that have changed team doctors. Even general managers have paid the price for a roster depleted by injuries. Owners dont want to hear excuses about injuries they just want results. There is not a single current Ranger employee that I would hold accountable for the injuries this year. Sometimes the best executives know when to get out of Dodge before things go badly. Last October, Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan, stepped down from his position. It was unclear as to why exactly he left, but he did. I am not saying that he knew what might happen in Texas with the massive number of injuries but his absence is making playing the blame game a bit more difficult. Remember it was Nolan Ryan who made such a big deal about how pitchers are babied today compared to the past. He expected more from his pitchers. Pitch counts wouldnt dictate performance in his organization. He wanted the organizations pitchers to be like he was when he pitched. Nolan Ryan was a freak of nature. He was a big strong powerful workhorse of a pitcher. He played 27 seasons accumulating over 5,300 innings, the fifth most of all-time. He even had a year where he pitched 332 innings. My experience has been that a great player who becomes an instructor often expects players to do what the star did in his career. It just isnt possible. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that pitchers get hurt by throwing too much. Ryan wanted his pitchers to throw more not less. Is it any surprise that seven pitchers are currently on the DL, while several have undergone surgery? It isnt to me. I know it is not a popular position to take on a baseball icon. It is a losing battle typically. Remember when Robin Ventura charged Nolan Ryan after he hit him with a pitch? Ryan got him in a headlock and pummeled Ventura. At the risk of being pummeled I would like to suggest that Mr. Ryans view that pitchers need to throw more not less is flawed beyond belief, and despite the fact that he is no longer there, his presence is still really being felt. Dikembe Mutombo Nuggets Jersey . Brooks replaces right-hander Yordano Ventura, who left his last outing with a sore elbow. Ventura is expected to miss one start. Brooks has made one relief appearance for the Royals this season, allowing six runs in two innings in a May 3 loss to Detroit. Thomas Welsh Jersey . Noah finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 34 minutes. He was headed for his fourth triple-double of the season, but sat down with about three minutes left because of the lopsided score. Kirk Hinrich scored 19 points for Chicago, going 5 for 6 on 3-pointers, Carlos Boozer added 18 points, D. http://www.nuggetsproshop.com/Malik-Beasley-Nuggets-Jersey/. Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Malik Beasley Jersey . The Cavs announced the move Saturday, one day after LeBron James said hes returning to Cleveland. A 12-year veteran, Haywood has played in 794 NBA games, averaging 6. Jamal Murray Jersey . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. NEW YORK -- As the NHL eyes expanded video review, its unlikely to solve problems with goaltender interference. The leagues competition committee met Monday, two days after a controversial goal in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final that involved contact on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, and discussed making more situations subject to review. But because of the variables present, theres no comfort level about making goaltender interference reviewable. "I think the underlying fundamental here is that if youre going to go to video review in a given area, there is the expectation of certainty," said Mathieu Schneider, the NHLPAs special assistant to the executive director. "And its just not there. Its very difficult. The type of things that were talking about, a possible coachs challenge, are things that we might be able to be certain on. But theres still a ton of grey area." The Kings goal Saturday night that helped them build a 2-0 series lead was not the reason goaltender interference came up at the annual meeting, but its certainly a hotter topic because of it. The leagues general managers will discuss it Wednesday as well, but executive vice president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell expects there to be more education on the subject in lieu of video review. "Education thats meant for our players and our referees regarding how to call goaltender interference in various situations, so to be more defined in that area -- if it doesnt take another step, meaning some sort of video review on it," Campbell said. Nothing was resolved in terms of defining what video review could include next season, something that the GMs could try to hash out later this week. There are many possibilities. "We talked about pucks over the glass, we talked about offside goals," Campbell said. "Then, it comes to the question if its an offside play: how much time? Is it five seconds? Is it 10 seconds? Change of possession? On the rush? Puck leaving the zone? What if a minor occurs during that time and a goal was scored but the play was offside? Does the minor come down? Does a double-minor come down? Does a major come down?" A coachs challenge system could be part of that process, requiring a timeout to use one. But coaches would not be able to request a review on goaltender interference. The competition committee made some more solid recommendations on rule changes that GMs discussed at their March meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., most of which are designed to create more goals, including a more lenient interpretation of kicked-in goals and moving the faceoff-circle hashmarks back from 3 1/2 to 5 feet to give offensive teams more room to operate. "Theres a feeling that, again, this can create more offence, that forwards on a won draw in the offensive zone will have more time to make plays, more room to make plays off winning draws," Schneider said. "And then on the flip side, its going to reduce the amount of scrums that we have off faceoffs separating those two players a little bit more." If approved by the GMs, board of governors and NHLPA executive committee like all of these changes must be in order to go into effect, on icing calls, the offending team wont be able to replace the original player taking the faceoff as a way of delaying.dddddddddddd One violation would bring a warning and second would bring a minor penalty. Small overtime adjustments also got the green light from the group, which included GMs Ken Holland of the Detroit Red Wings, David Poile of the Nashville Predators, Don Maloney of the Phoenix Coyotes and Peter Chiarelli of the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers chairman Ed Snider and players Ron Hainsey, Kevin Shattenkirk, Daniel Winnik, Michel Cammalleri and Cory Schneider. Teams will change ends and the ice will get a dry scrape before the five-minute overtime in the regular season. The goal is to have more games decided in overtime and fewer in shootouts, with the long change like the second period representing the first step. "Historically in our league, more goals are scored in the second period than the first and third, and were hoping the long change would affect in a positive way goal scoring so we change ends in overtime now in the playoffs, so we thought why not," Campbell said. "We thought that was a silly reason to not change ends." One new recommendation is to make the trapezoid behind the nets four feet bigger to give goaltenders more room to handle the puck. Schneider has pointed to the safety of defencemen as the reason. "Weve been talking about the trapezoid for a couple of years now, and the idea of either eliminating the trapezoid or expanding it to give more relief to defencemen going back to retrieve pucks," Scheider said. "Goalies would have better opportunity to get their defencemen out of danger zones." And while there wasnt much of a consensus about video review, embellishment seems to be a different story. The next step is figuring out how to solve the issue. "We feel embellishment in the game is a real problem today," Campbell said. "We understand players try to draw penalties. We feel its out of control, and weve discussed another approach at embellishment, similar to the rule thats already in the rule book. But there would not be a game suspension attached to that, there would be a warning and fines." That could include fining coaches and organizations along with players, Campbell added. While that could help curb one problem that has been part of these playoffs, goalie interference remains an almost unsolvable issue. Even the Game 2 situation brought what Schneider called a "split room" on whether it should have counted or not. "Theres a lot of instances where you have two reasonable people looking at the same video and have two different interpretations, and goalie interference is certainly one of those," Schneider said. "I think the education process is whats going to be most important for the officials, for the players, and I think Colin alluded to, we want to maybe err on the side of the goalie more often. Well, thats the direction we have to give to the officials. "The education process is going to be key. And to have certain telltale signs." ' ' '