The Littlest Girl has therapy very early in the morning, which is not necessarily an issue, because we get up early anyway. But when it is negative six degrees outside, the effort required to safely transport a child in those conditions ramps up considerably. It’s like Ralphie’s little brother in ‘A Christmas Story,’ but with the added layer of a car seat in which you’re not supposed to strap your child while wearing a crazy heavy jacket. FUN!
There’s an argument for including Kyle Hendricks among the top ten pitchers in baseball right now, and although he doesn’t make this list at ESPN, he does get top billing in the “best of the rest” category. Very fair. You can understand Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta no longer showing up on lists like this (if you see them as on the downswing), but may I submit Jose Quintana as a guy who also should be just outside the top ten? Consider that, since 2015, Hendricks’ 3.02 ERA is 8th best in baseball (Arrieta, by the way, is second, at 2.71, though he’s obviously had some huge variances in those years). Quintana’s 3.52 is just 29th, but he’s got the 6th most innings and the 6th most WAR. There’s something to be said for a guy who consistently makes his starts, and is consistently very good (even if he’s not – on a start-by-start basis – dominating hitters in a flashy way). Quintana turns 29 later this month, and Hendricks just turned 28 in December. The Cubs have team control over each for the next three years.
Depending on the final move the Cubs make in the rotation, it’s fun to think that you could make an argument that as many as four of the Cubs’ starting pitchers are among the top 15 or so in all of baseball.
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Dave Cameron wrote about the Rockies’ Wade Davis signing within the context of their other free moves in the last two offseasons. The Rockies have put a ton of their payroll eggs into medium term contracts for role players, putting a lot of pressure on their cost-controlled guys to turn them into a contender. It could work, and it could be a bold new strategy for teams that aren’t in the very top spending tier (who can afford to spend a lot on role players AND on stars). But it could also leave them in a rough situation the next two years as Charlie Blackmon (after 2018) and Nolan Arenado (after 2019) are free agents soon.
Luke offered on Twitter an interesting angle to the Machado-Russell trade rumors, and adding a slight bump to the “why it might make sense” category. In short (it’s a long Twitter thread, so check it out), the point is that “going for it” in 2018 might have a little more value because the landscape might shift dramatically in some corners of the league following the big post-2018 free agent class. Luke doesn’t quite adopt the argument, mind you, he’s just pointing out the angle that hasn’t been discussed.
Can someone explain Funko Pop to me? I see people referencing them, I see them in key display areas at the store, and now I see a deal on Amazon. I mean, I can see what they are, but why are they “a thing”? Am I missing some hidden functionality?
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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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