Insisting on Hustle, Resting Veterans, Pranking Schwarber, and Other Bullets

Jan 16, 2017

It’s going to be a good day to poke around Twitter, as the Cubs head to the White House. There figure to be a lot of good pictures like this:

Presidential!!! pic.twitter.com/do2P6Oe1Ev

— David Ross (@D_Ross3) January 16, 2017

Suit game strong. #CubsInDC pic.twitter.com/R7rJmlKCbt

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 16, 2017

They clean up well. Still waiting to see who busts out the Jonny Gomes ‘Merica gear.

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At the Convention yesterday, a fan asked the obligatory “why don’t they hustle” question (albeit, to his credit, with a huge caveat that everything is great, the Cubs just won it all, he’s not complaining, etc.). Jason McLeod’s response:

McLeod says minor leaguers are pulled from games when they don't hustle. And reveals that it happened last year to Jorge Soler, too.

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) January 15, 2017

So, then. It’s the kind of thing we anticipated was true, based on a number of times when minor leaguers were pulled from games, we panicked about injuries, and then nothing happened (and onlookers later would tell us, “Well, I was there, and he didn’t run out a groundball, so maybe it was that.”). Worth keeping in mind this year when a player is pulled. Also, on the Soler part … well, if you were ever looking for confirmation that it happened sometimes, there you go.

At the big league level, there are certain game situations – high-leverage moments – when yanking a guy is probably not going to be prudent, but at least now the curmudgeons among Cubs fandom know definitively that this is something the Cubs track. (For me, as long as there’s some baseline level of effort, I’m not gonna lose my mind because a guy doesn’t kill himself on every grounder. But if there’s an obvious, repeated lack of effort, well, then there’s a problem.)

You can expect to see even more rest for veterans this Spring Training than usual, given the very long season in 2016 (Tribune). I’d add that it seemed like there was already extra rest last year, and clearly that was a benefit down the stretch.

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Ken Burns says he feels “obligated” to add another hour to his famous “Baseball” documentary, which would be dedicated to the Cubs’ 2016 World Series run (Variety).

I looked back at Dexter Fowler’s historic World Series earlier this morning.

The kids session at Cubs Convention is always among the best:

Kids say the darndest things. #CubsCon pic.twitter.com/raZ2sGaSeR

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 15, 2017

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An anecdote shared yesterday at the Convention, which I typed up quickly on the BN Facebook page:

I can’t speak to this one personally, but it looks like a pretty sweet flashlight on a really big lightning deal sale.

Totally forgot about the “chicks dig the long ball” commercials from the ’90s. Here’s one with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

Over at TYL, this morning’s Bullets note something the Bears were better at than current playoff teams.

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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