He swung at him! With a baseball still in his hand! Plus: Konnor Griffin's big payday

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Oh, and breaking news this morning: Konnor Griffin signed a team-record nine-year, $140 million deal with the Pirates — after less than a week in the big leagues. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Andy McCullough — welcome to The Windup! We told you a baseball fight was imminent. OK, so it didn’t happen in the Red Sox-Brewers. Instead, it was a mostly one-on-one dust-up between Atlanta starter Reynaldo López and Angels DH Jorge Soler (López’s 2024 teammate in Atlanta). But don’t let that description fool you into thinking this was a chest-bumping “hold-me-back”-fest. There were haymakers! López still had a baseball in his right hand when he started swinging! Here’s the whole video (and probable spoiler for tomorrow’s most-clicked link), but one guy put an end to it pretty quickly with a good form tackle. I’ll show you where to look: That shiny belt-high head belongs to 62-year-old Braves manager Walt Weiss (who has a black belt in taekwondo, by the way). “I love Soler, we were teammates here,” Weiss said after the game. “But that’s a big man. So I just felt I gotta get him off his feet, because he’s gonna hurt somebody. So that was my instinct, was to get in there and get Georgie off his feet, because (chuckles) yeah, he was on the warpath.” Both teams were issued warnings, but there were no further fireworks. While Soler has utterly owned López (14-for-25 with five home runs, including one in the first inning last night) López insisted after the game that it was unintentional. “I just think it was a misunderstanding,” López said through an interpreter. “There was never any intent on my part to hit him.” If there was anything more to it than that, I’m sure it’ll come out eventually. In the meantime, maybe Topps Now can try to outdo one of the best baseball card action shots of all time. Let’s throw it to Andy for some insight on these young players striking long-term deals. Every Wednesday, I answer your questions. Here’s this week’s mailbag, and here’s an excerpt: It seems like more young players are signing long-term extensions the last few months than in recent memory. I’m sure some of that is circumstantial, but when the Pirates are getting in on it, I start to wonder … how bad is the next CBA going to be? — Daniel V. There have been three notable extensions for rookies thus far: The Pirates and Griffin, whose contract exceeds the $135 million guarantee that Roman Anthony received from Boston last summer. Then there are the smaller but still significant deals struck with Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt (eight years, $50.75 million) and Mariners infielder Colt Emerson (eight years, $95 million). As anyone who grew up watching “NFL PrimeTime” can tell you, three is a trend. But is it really? Teams like Milwaukee and Seattle have shown a willingness in earlier years to strike these types of deals. The Brewers extended Jackson Chourio on an $82 million deal before he reached the majors. The Mariners lost a $24 million gamble on first baseman Evan White, who signed his deal before he had reached Triple A and never panned out as a player. And the Griffin deal is similar in scale and timing to contracts doled out to players like Anthony, Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill (nine years, $135 million) and Corbin Carroll (eight years, $111 million). It can be a little difficult to distinguish between the signal and the noise on this one. I would feel like I was acting obtuse if I suggested the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement played no role. The owners are always searching for cost certainty — it’s one of many reasons they desire a salary cap, for instance — and these deals provide that. In a hypothetical system that features a cap and a floor, these types of deals would become more appealing for players, as their top-end wages would be suppressed by the cap, which would make free agency less appealing. But the MLBPA has shown no interest in softening its stance against the cap. As Ken Rosenthal noted last week, the owners may seek to offer earlier access to free agency in exchange for a cap. And as we noted in an earlier edition of this mailbag, the union’s current position on that trade is: “No.” So I don’t want to suggest the CBA doesn’t matter at all. But I think if you saw a spate of top prospects taking below-market deals, then you could chalk it up to a panic about the upcoming labor battle. But I don’t see Kevin McGonigle accepting a seven-year, $22 million deal anytime soon. Or JJ Wetherholt taking a $30 million guarantee with six club options. You get the picture. Reds versus Marlins on a Tuesday night in early April? Not what I would have expected to hone in on, but for a number of reasons, these two teams are both interesting right now. The game was exciting — the Reds had a ninth-inning comeback and won in extra innings — but beyond the result, here’s what I’m seeing from two teams that could be dark-horse playoff teams this year. But if you’re looking for dark-horse playoff teams in the NL, I think two of them are playing each other in Miami this week. There was no shortage of storylines as the Dodgers traveled to Toronto this week for a rematch of last year’s World Series: Anyway, Scherzer only lasted two innings because of forearm tendinitis, and the Dodgers have won the first two games by a combined score of 18-3. To add insult to injury, the pitcher who closed out that 14-2 win was this guy. Meanwhile, seemingly half of the Blue Jays roster is injured. The only bit of intrigue thus far came when Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela accidentally hit Shohei Ohtani’s elbow with his hand when the two-way star was in the batter’s box and the catcher tried to backpick a runner at first (everyone seems to be OK). Maybe this afternoon we’ll get a little more worth watching, as Ohtani looks to extend his scoreless streak of 22 1/3 innings — and his on-base streak of 42 games (one more would tie Ichiro for the longest by a Japanese-born player). Ohtani takes on Dylan Cease, the Blue Jays’ biggest acquisition of the winter. Fans love ABS. Privately, some umpires think they’re now being held to an impossible public standard. An update on a couple of those injuries we told you about yesterday. Cubs starter Cade Horton will miss the rest of this season, and Astros starter Hunter Brown won’t throw for a few weeks with a Grade 2 shoulder strain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bunt result in a bat to the face before, but the Twins still beat Tarik Skubal and the Tigers, with Taj Bradley leading Minnesota to a 4-2 win. The Angels were paying Eric Kay’s legal fees. Then they stopped, leaving an unpaid $130,000 bill. Let’s test if I’ve still got it: I predict the brimless hat will not become a fashion trend. Have you ever seen a team score 10 runs on one hit? In his first plate appearance for the Mets after being called up to replace an injured Juan Soto, Ronny Mauricio hit a 10th inning walk-off single. On the pods: Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville joined Eno and DVR to discuss the greatest teenage position players in baseball history. Also: Starkville returns Saturday, April 18th wherever you watch or listen to Rates & Barrels. Most clicked in our last newsletter: The Royals’ 5-6-4-3 double play, the first in the league since 1995. Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters. Spot the pattern. 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