Recapping a Very Busy Weekend: Rooftop Contract, WGN Drops Sports, Kenney Extended, More

Jun 02, 2014

bn-baseball It happens every year around this time: the weekends, in terms of coverage around here, start to look a lot like the weekdays. When I grab my computer (after checking my phone) and walk away from the family (as I did frequently this weekend), I mutter, “sorry, news” and The Wife says, “Tis the season.”

Indeed it is – and if you were a better family-person than I this weekend, and missed out on the news, here’s a run-down of the biggest items so that you can catch up:

Friday, May 30

I’ll assume you were still around for most of the morning stuff, but one thing I don’t think you should miss, in case you weren’t: here’s a look at Jake Arrieta’s (possibly) evolving approach this year, which has made him (so far) something of a groundball stud.

The full Cubs/rooftops contract was revealed, and I took a lengthy former-lawyer stab at analyzing some of the issues therein.

WGN America is proceeding with its plan to become a full-on cable channel, which means, yes, it will be dropping local Chicago sports, including the Cubs.

Saturday, May 31

The Cardinals finally promoted top prospect Oscar Taveras (likely avoiding Super Two – not that a top-notch organization like St. Louis would worry about such a petty thing, right?), and he hit a homer in his first game. Because of course.

Chicago Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney revealed that he has received a five-year extension. The Cubs-related Internet world reacted with well-thought-out, well-supported, non-reactionary opinions.

We discussed Kris Bryant’s near-term future, and when he might finally be promoted to AAA.

One mock draft discussed the Cubs’ “dream scenario” – Carlos Rodon falling to four – and believes it’s actually possible.

Sunday, June 1

Top international signee from last year Eloy Jimenez was reportedly assigned to the Dominican Summer League.

The Cubs offered to take the bullpen relocation plan off the table for now if it’s going to be an approval problem for the overall renovation/expansion at Wrigley Field, and I dug into how things should (“should”) proceed from here.

Luke looked back at the 2012 draft – the first of the new CBA era, and first for the new front office with the Cubs – for instruction on how this year’s iteration might play out.

The Marlins and Pirates got together on a draft pick trade, which is both interesting and instructive for a number of reasons.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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