Arbitrator Decided No Pretext in Cubs-Bryant Timeline, Strop’s Hat, and Other Cubs Bullets

Feb 06, 2020

Showed The Little Boy how you do the bigger, louder version of the mouth-fart thing. You know, the one where you put both of your hands up to your mouth, inverted, with your palms on your lips and your wrists touching. And I really let some rip. Couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen that before. He was dying. It was great. Fatherhood is passing along the important things.

Although we don’t have the full text of the arbitrator’s final decision on the Kris Bryant service time grievance, obviously we know that he did not prevail. And now, per an AP report, we know that he did not prevail because he and the Players Association did not successfully demonstrate that the Cubs’ stated reasons on the timing of Bryant’s 2015 promotion was merely a pretext for a more nefarious real plan, which would have been to hold him down to gain an additional year of team control.

In other words, Bryant and the MLBPA weren’t able to prove that the Cubs were completely full of shit when they (presumably) laid out their timeline of events: Bryant was to start in the minors like every other significant prospect in an Epstein regime, and if things looked good for him, he would debut on the road; then the Cubs suffered two injuries at third base in the first two weeks of the season (Tommy La Stella, Mike Olt), the second of which involved Olt’s broken wrist, which was not diagnosed until the game before Bryant was called up. Bryant was then called up the very next game, as Olt jointed La Stella on the disabled list. From the Cubs’ perspective, then, it was a coincidence that Bryant was called up that day, the very same day they gained an extra year of control.

Buy it? Don’t buy it? I was there covering these things pretty closely, and I’m just going to say it was crystal clear that Bryant was not going to be called up for a little while yet until the Olt injury happened. The fact that the arbitrator was not able to conclude there was a pretext there is not a surprise to me. Where there will always be debate is how much the extra year of control played into keeping Bryant down to open the season at all regardless of precisely when he was called up. That, too, was not shown to be a pretext (apparently), but I think we big boys and girls know that the Cubs were probably never going to promote him on day one no matter what.

Uniform numbers for the new 40-man guys, including No. 21 running out periodically to right field:

For the number nerds out there, here are the uniform numbers for players rostered by Cubs this offseason:

20 Rea
21 Souza
24 Jeffress
29 Megill
43 Winkler
45 Cotton
52 Tepera
65 Sadler
72 Miller
75 Amaya
76 Short
77 Rodriguez

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) February 5, 2020

First day in the new organization and they already made him straighten his hat. This is a CRIME:

https://twitter.com/Reds/status/1225155401299169280

Some farewell love from the Cubs:

All-time #Cubs holds leader.
2016 World Series champion.
Unmatched style and a contagious smile.

Thank you to @pstrop46 for holding down the 'pen for seven seasons. pic.twitter.com/vqLI6ernfY

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 5, 2020

The new Pirates group snags a bright mind from the Cubs’ front office:

Congrats to former Cub Analytical research and development expert Sean Ahmed on his new position with the Pirates. Truly a great hire for Ben Cherington. One of the first R&D people hired by the Cubs when Epstein/ Hoyer took over.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) February 5, 2020

This year the Giants will have the first female coach on a big league staff in MLB history:

Alyssa Nakken wanted a new challenge — she will make MLB history with the Giants https://t.co/KDmdMJU59k

— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) February 6, 2020

Great shot:

1962 Chicago Cubs in the dugout. Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, George Altman, and Ron Santo Amazing pic right here, #Cubs fans. Wow pic.twitter.com/pmtqSIV6ep
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) February 5, 2020

Screw it, I would be on board with this:

Cubs finally go ahead and put Eddie Vedder on the god-damn roster https://t.co/hUkb897Oqx pic.twitter.com/POM0WdABUO

— The Heckler (@The_Heckler) February 6, 2020

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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Arbitrator Decided No Pretext in Cubs-Bryant Timeline, Strop’s Hat, and Other Cubs Bullets

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