It’s here! And I don’t even care if you judge me for being way too excited! Disney+ ! I’ve been waiting for this so that I can do a 20-straight-movie marathon of all the MCU flicks (well, spread out over many, many days, of course). Sure, I’ll watch ‘The Mandalorian’ and all that stuff, too, but I have been extremely waiting to rewatch all the MCU movies, in order. Surprise: I’m a nerd. If you want to get Disney+, you can sign up for a free trial right here (we get a commission when you sign up). You can also do the Disney/ESPN/Hulu bundle there if you already do ESPN+ and Hulu anyway (just scroll down). Thanks and enjoy!
The extremely obvious Rookies of the Year were announced last night, and we were one vote away from double unanimous. Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez was unanimous after his .313/.412/.655 (178 wRC+) (holy crap) half season, and Pete Alonso was one vote shy of unanimous for his .260/.358/.583 (143 wRC+, 53 homers) season. Pretty understandable that sluggers ruled the day in 2019. Rowan Wick was robbed.
I kid, but speaking of Wick: I’ve been thinking about the bullpen lately, and how the Cubs will go about adding to it. Sure, I’d love for them to land a guy like Drew Pomeranz, but I suspect he’s going to wind up surprisingly well-paid (he really did look that good in his half-season as a reliever with the Brewers). Maybe the Cubs go that route, maybe they don’t.
This is the quote that sticks with me on the bullpen from Theo Epstein’s end-of-season presser: “We need to keep unearthing pitchers, who we acquire for the right reasons, we work well with and have the physical and mental wherewithal to go out and miss a lot of bats. That was something we didn’t do a lot of, although we did increasingly in the second half with this pitching group. And find more guys who can go out and pitch in high-leverage spots.”
I point that out in the context of Wick because, when I think about the second half, and the guys who were able to be used in high-leverage spots and are still on the roster, it’s guys like Wick, Kyle Ryan, and Brad Wieck. Two guys the Cubs picked up in modest trades, another guy the Cubs signed on a minor league deal, and all three of them getting some help with tweaks after acquisition. You want to know what to look for this offseason in the bullpen? I expect the Cubs to target more guys like that: fringe roster guys in whom the Cubs believe there is another level waiting to be unlocked if they can just get them into their organization.
(Oh, but also? Go get Pomeranz so that you don’t lose quite as many April and May games while you figure out who else is going to be useful and who isn’t.)
(Photo by David Banks/ Getty Images)
The former Cubs assistant GM is now the GM in San Francisco:
Given their stages in process, it’s conceivable that the Cubs and Giants could get together on a trade or two this offseason – as we’ve seen with the Rangers, the more familiarity you have in working with the folks in another org can make trade evaluation and finalization a little easier. That said, it’s also possible that Harris’s inside knowledge of the Cubs’ system/needs/desires/thought process could just as easily hinder any deals. You’ll note that, as the Diamondbacks have been extremely active in trades the last couple years, none of those deals has come with the Cubs after two of the Cubs’ top scouting execs (Jared Porter and Jason Parks) went over.
Christian Yelich’s knee recovery is going well, and he should be good to go normally long before Spring Training:
Christian Yelich, who missed the last three weeks of the #Brewers season with his knee injury, will begin running this week and expects to be fully healthy for winter workouts
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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