I’m Sure We’d All Like to Fine the Red Sox and Other Bullets

The fact is, ‘The Prestige’ was an excellent movie that unfairly suffered because it was the second “magic” movie that came out that year (‘The Illusionist’). It is such a clever, enjoyable movie. That is all.

  • Buster Olney suggests an interesting strategy for settling the Theo Epstein compensation drama – set a hard deadline, and for each day past it that the parties go without resolving the dispute, each side is fined $100K (which money would ultimately go to a charity). If Selig doesn’t want to get his hands dirty – he’s currently at risk for pissing off both sides – this is a clever solution.
  • A non-update on Cuban lefty Gerardo Concepcion, who was expected to pick a team at some point this week, according to his agent: Phil Rogers says both the Cubs and White Sox remain interested, and Concepcion will pick a team soon. As I said: non-update.
  • The Wrigley Blog takes a crack at rendering the changes to right field at Wrigley in a new way, so that you can see the plan in context with the rest of the ballpark. Makes for interesting viewing, even if it is but a theoretical look.
  • Chicago Cubs Online ranks its top 20 Cubs prospects, and the obligatory wow-that-is-different ranking is Javier Baez, the Cubs’ top pick in 2011, who routinely comes in the top three or four on these lists. The CCO has him all the way down at number nine. You’re thinking it’s because he’s super young and hasn’t played much pro ball in the States, right? Well, that’s what I assumed, until I saw that Baez was behind even Jeimer Candelario, an 18-year-old studly infielder, but who also has yet to play in the States.
  • The Marlins have a team policy against long hair (because it’s the 1950s), so newly-signed shortstop Jose Reyes is going to have to chop his signature locks. And he’s going to do so on MLB Network on Friday. Set your DVRs!
  • A look back at the early part of Ernie Banks’ professional career – which wasn’t with the Cubs.
  • Yesterday I noted Tim Sheridan’s Boys of Spring blog, which chronicles, among other things, Cubs’ Spring Training miscellany. Today, I drop the Boys of Spring mention again, this time because Tim is doing a Cubs blog awards thing. Now, I would never be so desperate as to nominate my own blog for an award or two, but I would absolutely be desperate enough to post the link in a Bullet, and let the chips fall where they may
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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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