Cubs Rookies Are Pretty and Other Bullets

Matt Garza makes his final start of the year for the Cubs. I think few would argue that he has not been very good, or that the Cubs didn’t make out all right in the trade for him this past offseason. But I also think few should argue that making the trade in the first place was probably a questionable decision.

  • We all wanted a picture of the Cubs’ rookies in their costumes/dresses yesterday? Thank you, Kerry Wood, for the picture to the right. I can’t quite make out who it is, but the guy in the front middle is dressed up as a penis, right? I mean, what else could he be?
  • Gordon Wittenmyer says, cryptically, that the Cubs and Ryne Sandberg will “reconcile” this offseason, which could possibly include him coming to Chicago to manage the Cubs. I’m not exactly sure what he’s trying to say, but, like, yeah – Sandberg could possibly be the next manager of the Cubs. We know.
  • MLB appears ready to add an additional Wild Card team in each league, according to Joel Sherman. The plan, in that scenario, would be to have the two Wild Card teams in each league face each other in a one-game playoff, before moving on to take on one of the three division winners. I’m a vocal supporter of adding a fifth (and sixth) playoff team to each league, but a one-game playoff? I understand – and approve of the idea – that the move will help reward division winners. But this goes too far – it makes the Wild Card playoffs a total coin flip (your best starter against mine), and then puts that Wild Card playoff winner in a huge, huge hole going into the “real” playoffs because they may be down 2-0 in that series before they can even think about using their best starter again. I previously thought a three-game series was bad enough, but, right now, that’s looking like a dream scenario.
  • Phil Rogers doesn’t think the Cubs will have much luck this Winter if they try to trade Carlos Marmol. He’s probably right.
  • ‘Catching Hell,’ the 30 for 30 documentary on Steve Bartman and the aftermath Game Six in the 2003 playoffs, premiers on ESPN this evening. The movie has been in development for years, and I’ve been working on a post for almost as long. Because of the nature of the subject matter and Cubs fans’ general desire to leave it all behind, I’m not going to just throw up some hasty review this week. When I write on the subject, I want it to be the article I’ve been working on for a very long time. So, don’t look for much on the subject until later in the offseason.
  • More details on the Wrigleyville West development. An interesting requirement? The Cubs have to have a restaurant opened at the facility by the first day of the first Spring Training at the new facility or they pay a $250,000 penalty. The “destination” aspect of the development is clearly as much of a priority as the “improved baseball facilities” part – and, you know, that’s actually just fine with me.
  • Jim Callis thinks the MLB Draft signing deadline – currently August 15 – will be moved up a month or more in the next CBA.
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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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