Bregman has Twitter exchange with critical fan

Manfred says balls not juiced; buyers lining up for Marlins

Albuquerque native and Houston Astros infielder Alex Bregman deleted his Twitter account on Monday night after communication with a taunting fan who thought the second-year major leaguer should be used as trade bait — and told Bregman so via twitter.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the same fan “had also tweeted a week earlier that he ran into Bregman while partying and the Astros player wasn’t very nice (the fan used much stronger language than that).”

Bregman told the fan via direct message — which on Twitter are not generally meant for public consumption, that the fan had “zero clue about baseball,” and after another fairly crude phrase, added, “just keep my name out of your mouth … and watch the game.”

The fan took a screenshot of the messages and posted them for the public to see. Within 24 hours, Bregman deleted his Twitter account.

Bregman is hitting .256 with a .338 on base percentage and .419 slugging percentage. He has eight homers and 27 RBIs in 84 games for the Astros, who are an American League-best 60-29. HOMERS: Whatever is causing baseballs to leave stadiums at a record clip this season, Commissioner Rob Manfred insisted again on Tuesday that the culprit is not “juiced” baseballs, but said Major League Baseball is beginning to examine the composition of bats as a possible factor, and ultimately concluded we may never know the “whole answer” for this year’s spike in home runs.

MIAMI SALE: Manfred said the Marlins haven’t decided the team’s next owner and that all three bidders are essentially offering the same amount of money.

Manfred’s comments came after a 48-hour period in which Forbes reported that Miami businessman Jorge Mas and the Marlins have struck a deal for Mas to buy the team (which the Marlins and Mas denied), the New York Post reported that Derek Jeter is “closing in” on buying the team and a member of the Wayne Rothbaum/Tagg Romney group privately expressed confidence about their chances of buying the team.

Mas has been a late entry into the competition for the team. He sat in the owner’s box at the All-Star Game, perhaps a signal he has become the front-runner.

Former NBA star Michael Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets, is a member of Jeter’s group to buy the Marlins, according to The New York Post and ESPN. The Post said Jordan has “very little cash” invested in Jeter’s bid.

Armando Christian Perez, better known as Miami-based rapper Pitbull, announced he is joining the Rothbaum/Romney group, which also includes — among others — former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

WRIGLEY FIELD: Manfred confirmed the Cubs are being considered for an upcoming All-Star Game, but stressed that several clubs are in the bidding process.

The 2018 game will be held in Washington, with the 2019 game in Cleveland.

HR DERBY RATINGS: Aaron Judge’s victory in the All-Star Home Run Derby drew the event’s most viewers in nearly a decade.

The slugfest Monday night was seen by 8.69 million viewers on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and the company’s livestreams.

CLEMENTE: Roberto Clemente never had a salary higher than $150,000, and the Hall of Famer’s career earnings over 18 seasons with the Pirates were well south of $1 million. Turns out his memorabilia collection was a gold mine. About 300 items from Clemente’s personal collection were auctioned Tuesday at the All-Star Fan-Fest in Miami and totaled sales over $7.5 million.

The most expensive item, a silver bat Clemente was awarded as the National League batting champion in 1967, sold for $493,500.