Weekend and Post-New Year Catch-Up: Zobrist, Denorfia, Moncada, Shields, Baez, More

bn baseball featureI would have expected a light post-New Year weekend, including the Friday after the awkwardly-timed Thursday holiday. It really wasn’t, though. Things you may have missed …

Friday, January 2

  • You know what? I’m going to re-share the year-end wrap post from New Year’s Eve, in case you missed that one, too. OK, now here’s the actual Friday stuff …
  • The Yankees and Braves got together on an interesting deal involving former big-time pitching prospect Manny Banuelos, which afforded us the opportunity to discuss the fragility of top prospect asset value.
  • Friday’s Bullets gave some additional love to the sustainability of Jake Arrieta’s success.
  • Myles hooked us up with a Cubs Where Are They Now on Felix Pie. You wondered, didn’t you?
  • The latest on Cuban super prospect Yoan Moncada is technically a non-update (but that’s good!), though it does include new video.
  • With Chris Denorfia coming on board at some point soon, I took a look at the makeup of the Cubs’ outfield right now, as well as the bench.
  • Saturday, January 3

  • Although it’s been a rough several months for folks’ views of Javier Baez’s future, it was worth taking a moment to consider how good he could still be, even if the strikeout remains high. It just, you know, has to not be insanely high.
  • The Giants may no longer be in on James Shields, which has me wondering just how his market is going to shake out.
  • Sunday, January 4

  • Hall of Fame voting results are coming this week. Brace yourself.
  • And the most intriguing rumor of the weekend: the Cubs are reportedly one of four teams “seriously” pursuing Ben Zobrist.
  • written by

    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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