The kiddos had trick-or-treat last night, which was an absolute blast – watching them run from house to house, getting so excited. A good time was had by all, and I got to steal a not insubstantial amount of (1) their candy, and (2) the candy we’d bought to give out, but, like, I want it. When else am I going to get a Nutrageous?
Lauded Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is now former Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux, as he and the Rangers could not come to terms on a new contract (ESPN). It will be interesting to see where Maddux lands, as there are some big league pitching coach openings around baseball, and you’d figure he’d be on most short lists. The Cubs are very set in that role with Chris Bosio, but we do know that this front office thinks highly of Maddux, or at least they did back when they interviewed him for a managerial job back in 2011. Maddux ultimately decided to stay in Texas. If he decides to go a different direction, you can’t help but wonder whether he’d consider other organizational roles in an organization like the Cubs’.
Speaking of roles in the organization, here’s something:
Jon Daniels said he spoke to Greg Maddux, who will not return to #Rangers as a special assistant with brother Mike out as pitching coach.
If you recall, Maddux – the Greg version – had been a special assistant in the Cubs’ front office until the new crew took over in late 2011, and then departed for the Rangers shortly after his brother did not get the managerial job with the Cubs. It’s now worth wondering whether Maddux could come back to the Cubs in a similar capacity (it’s not a full-time thing, mind you – as best I understand it, Maddux has offered his unique mind to help on the pitching side in an advisory-type role).
This is great:
Cancer survivor Anthony Rizzo headlines MLB's new cancer awareness spot https://t.co/mBdOhpTMTA
Although this FanGraphs piece is actually about much more, I found the digging into “tipping pitches” to be particularly interesting, as it gives you a view to just how complicated identifying, diagnosing, and correcting pitch-tipping can be. It immediately makes me want to go back and look at some of Pedro Strop’s appearances against the Cardinals to see if he was holding the ball a different amount of time on fastballs and sliders, or if he was varying both pitches randomly (as just one example).
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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