What the New Video Board Will and Won’t Be and Other Bullets

wrigley field left field jumbotronI’m headed to Chicago today to get settled in for tomorrow’s Opener. There will still be plenty to read around here, though, so don’t you worry.

Hope to see many of you tomorrow around Wrigleyville.

  • The big news came last night, with the Cubs announcing their rotation and discussing other aspect of roster finalization. Included therein is the confirmation that outfielder Chris Denorfia will start the season on the DL (Sun-Times), but he’s close to being ready to return. When he’s ready, he’ll be able to return more quickly than the typical 15-day window – the Cubs can backdate his injury 10 days into Spring Training. In other words, Denorfia will have to miss a minimum of five days to start the year, but no more. That could just be the Cardinals series. From there, the Cubs will have yet another roster decision to make.
  • Getting ready for Opening Night necessarily means getting ready for the new video board. I highly recommend reading this from the Tribune and this from Cubs.com about what the board will and will not be. Replays, history, stats, player stories. No 30-second ads – just sponsors incorporated with other features. No kiss cam. No get-on-your-feet-Cubs-fans. We’ll see how it actually plays, but, so far, the Cubs have said all of the right things as far as the board goes, and how it will impact Wrigley. They’re not even going to have balls and strikes on the video board, because that’s what The Old Scoreboard is for.
  • Speaking of the new video board:
  • Sure looks nice to me.
  • Still looking to go to tomorrow night’s sold out opener? Well, check this quote from ABC-7: “Colin Faulkner, Vice President of Sales and Partnerships, said the Cubs plan to release more opening night tickets on Saturday.” So, I guess keep checking the Cubs.com site today.
  • I mentioned with yesterday’s decisions that I would have rather seen Travis Wood going third for the Cubs so that he could face the Cardinals at Wrigley (Matt Carpenter, Matt Adams, and Jason Heyward all batting from the left-hand side, plus Wrigley in April is more forgiving for Wood’s flyball tendencies than Coors Field), but Joe Maddon apparently said that Wood is starting in Colorado because of the matchups (Tribune). The Rockies are definitely lefty-heavy, with Carlos Gonzalez, Corey Dickerson, Justin Morneau, and Charlie Blackmon all going from the left. I suppose I’m OK with it.
  • 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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