Gobble, Gobble and Other Bullets

cat turkeyMay your day be full of family, friends, stuffing, football, and whatever else you enjoy on the Thanksgiving holiday. In the context of this place, I’m thankful for a great Cubs season – both in the performance of the Cubs and in the fun I had here – and I’m thankful for the swell folks I get to interact with because of BN.

  • A really interesting read from Eno Sarris on how much teams should pay for Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda, who may soon be posted. Although Sarris comes up with what seems to be about the best approach plausible to valuing a guy who’s never pitched in the bigs (by which I mean, something separate from scouting, and just market value), but it’s still got a lot of play in there. The range of realistic final total prices on Maeda is pretty wide. I’m not sure we’ll see the Cubs getting involved, but I suppose we’ll see.
  • Bruce Levine reports that the Cubs are in negotiations with Pepsi on a comprehensive new ballpark deal, which could include outfield signage, though no decision has been made on that front yet. Wrigley is already a Pepsi ballpark, so a larger deal for it to become the official soft drink sponsor of the Cubs – or however you’d call it – and a legacy partner (i.e., the highest tier of partner) makes a lot of sense. A nice, classic-looking Pepsi sign in the outfield could be a nice fit, too, though the Wrigley template, Fenway Park, sports a Coca-Cola sign. FIGHT!
  • (Oh, also: Coke Zero 4lyfe.)
  • Cubs pitching prospect Tanner Griggs was suspended 50 games after testing positive for amphetamines. The 21-year-old righty relief prospect got his first taste of non-rookie ball last year and the results were not impressive. Griggs was the Cubs’ 12th rounder in 2014.
  • A little history at Baseball America on the teams that have been the most raided in the Rule 5 Draft over the years.
  • I think I’m forever doomed to search for the right Cubs hat, but never actually to find it. Hats, for the most part, just don’t look good on me (unless I wear them backwards – they really do look much better on me that way – but I get a lot of grief when I do it). So I have to find the absolute perfect look, and I’ve been searching for the better part of a decade.
  • Don’t want to watch football all day today? Well, if you get CSN, there’s a lineup of notable Chicago baseball games being replayed.
  • Happy Thanksgiving:
  • 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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