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John Kruk for Color Man? And Other Bullets

Brett Taylor Brett Taylor
Oct 20, 2012
Chicago Cubs

The Giants staved off elimination for at least one more game, downing the Cardinals 5-0. They’ll play again on Sunday back in San Francisco. Thank you, Barry Zito.

  • A non-former Cub suggestion for Cubs color man? John Kruk, says Dave Wischnowsky. Kruk, whose on-air skills have always been good, has grown in his baseball accumen in recent years (he used to be a standard “the team with more heart wins” kind of guy, but it’s gotten a little better), and he’s fun says Dave. Not sure what I think about Kruk, but I do think we’re getting too locked into the idea that the next guy has to have some connection to the Cubs. Bob Brenly didn’t (other than a very brief radio stint back in the early 90’s).
  • The Ricketts family gets some love for its charitable work in Chicago from one of the heads of those charities. The letter comes in response to the nasty Rick Telander column last week, shredding the Cubs for their charitable causes.
  • Doug Padilla looks at right field for the Cubs in 2012 and 2013, and notes what a dead zone it was for production (relative to the rest of the league) in 2012. It’s a bummer to see how far down the totem pole the Cubs were in right field, because David DeJesus spent so much time there, and it felt like he was having a solid year. The truth is, his numbers play very well in center field, but not so well in right. At present, he’s going to be playing one of those positions to open 2013, and it’ll depend on which – if any – outfielders the Cubs acquire this offseason.
  • Vine Line does another player profile, this of James Russell, and it’s damn good (it goes into depth on his pitch mix against lefties versus righties, and his lack of a platoon split this year). I want to know who is writing these things so I can pass along appropriate plaudits. Good work, Mystery Writer.
  • A Ryne Sandberg profile that has almost no connection whatsoever to the Cubs. Maybe that’s how it should be for now. Sandberg, you may recall, was recently promoted to the third base coach job in Philadelphia, and is expected to take over as manager there after 2013 when Charlie Manuel’s contract expires.
  • Kane County Cougars tickets go on sale this morning, and folks were already lining up to get them last night. Think Chicago-area fans are excited to have the Cubs’ A-ball affiliate nearby?
  • I love that Ian Stewart is open, accessible, and candid on Twitter. He might well be the *most* open, accessible, and candid Cubs player I’ve ever seen on Twitter. But there are reasons why folks are usually more guarded – the primary of which is so that you don’t have conversations like this that are now a part of the Internet forever. I’m not sure I care for much of any of that, Ian – and, no, people using hurtful words to each other doesn’t simply have to be “how life is and will be.” Change always has to start somewhere.

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    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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