A Hiccup in Adding Another Wild Card for 2012 and Other Bullets

You know what’s a stupid sporting event? The Pro Bowl. No hits. No rushing the quarterback. No coverage. No attempt at all to play a real game. It’s almost as farcical as the NBA All-Star Game. I’m not saying I like that MLB’s All-Star Game “counts” (home field advantage in the World Series), but I do like that that it remotely resembles an actual game.

  • Bud Selig has said the added Wild Cards (and one-game Wild Card playoff round) will be implemented in time for the 2012 season, but apparently he hasn’t quite cleared it with the players. “The 2012 season was not designed to accommodate an extra round of playoffs,” Michael Weiner, executive director of the Major League Players Association, told USA Today. “We’re having discussions to see if it can work. We’ll decide in the next month or so if we’re able to do it.” The issue is that, because the 2012 schedule is already set, and the World Series can start only so late, there is a smushed period between the end of the season and the World Series in which you have to fit the the playoffs, plus the added Wild Card games, plus any added tiebreakers. Selig still thinks it will happen.
  • There are five groups still in the bidding to get the Los Angeles Dodgers, and all have submitted bids over $1.5 billion according to Bob Nightengale. I understand that there are reasons that the Dodgers might net more than the Cubs – the market is a little better for extra revenue, the economy is a little better now, Wrigley had serious expenses looming, etc., etc. – but the Ricketts family got the Cubs for $845 million. I mean … you can’t tell me you’d rather have the Dodgers at *twice* the price.
  • There’s nothing new to report with respect to the compensation owed to the Padres for hiring Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod, but I thought it worth reminding you that, yeah, that’s still out there. Given the professional respect between Tom Ricketts and Padres’ owner Jeff Moorad, and given Moorad’s private preference to elevate Josh Byrnes to GM, I think the compensation going to Boston will be stronger.
  • Cubs’ bench coach Jamie Quirk was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, together with, among others, former Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds. I’m pretty sure Edmonds decided to go in wearing a Cubs hat.
  • BN’er Oswego Chris takes a look at why the Cubs’ farm system rankings matter, and concludes that the vast majority of teams who’ve won it all had a farm system that ranked in the top 10 at least a couple times in the half decade prior. The Cubs’ system is creeping up toward the top 10, but isn’t quite there.
  • Former Cub Aramis Ramirez offered some thoughts to Milwaukee’s Tom Haudricourt on his place with his new team. “It went well,” Ramirez of a trip to a Lakers/Bucks game with some of his new teammates. “I met some of the players. I’m new here, so I have to do more with the guys. It was nice. I’ll do my best to fit in. This is an exciting team …. I try to lead by example. Show up ready to play every day and play the game as hard as you can. The young players will learn from that. They will play hard and try to win. That’s the key – try to get Ws and just lead by example.” I’m kind of agnostic on Ramirez as a Brewer – I’ll neither be rooting for him, nor against him. I don’t want him to do well against the Cubs, of course, but I still have nice memories of Aramis, his (possible but not confirmed) refusal to accept a trade to help the Cubs in 2011 notwithstanding.
  • (Any ‘It’s Always Sunny’ fans? If so, you probably understand the picture.)
  • written by

    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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