Happy BN Announcement, Wade Davis, Carl Edwards Jr., and Other Bullets

Big news today at Bleacher Nation and Baseball is Fun: Luis Medina, whom you already know well from his excellent work around here in a part-time role, is joining us full-time in January:

Luis will continue writing here at BN, he’ll start writing at BIF, and you might also see him writing something else soon. #Tease

So, hooray! Luis was already here, so it’s not quite a “welcome,” but I’m so over-the-moon excited that it feels like a “welcome” situation anyway. WELCOME, LUIS!

Now for the much less exciting Other Bullets …

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  • Jesse Rogers has a Q&A with new Cubs closer Wade Davis, in which he expresses and appreciation for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also talks about his experience with Joe Maddon and Ben Zobrist, and about the arm issues that sidelined him last year. Of the most interest to, I presume, Davis has started throwing, and says he feels good. He said he hadn’t experienced a muscular issue like that before, but it healed up well. (I know that the best indicator of future injuries is past injuries, but I also frequently wonder whether there are future benefits to mild injuries, in terms of better/more focused care and prevention efforts. As in, maybe the Cubs will benefit in 2017 from Davis having had his forearm issues in 2016 (instead of first popping up in 2017 because of reasons X, Y, and Z, which he now knows how to avoid)? Yeah, yeah, I agree. It’s a stretch. But it’s probably non-zero.)
  • A really interesting read from Patrick Mooney about the Cubs’ championship run through the lens of Cubs pro scout Jake Ciarrachi.
  • A stray note in there about Tyson Ross: “Tyson Ross is said to be making a deliberate decision, going through a comprehensive review of his options.” No surprise there, as we’ve heard about the possibility that Ross will decide on his next team slowly (and he’s not lacking for options).
  • Using exit velocity and launch angle indicators, Carl Edwards Jr. pops up fairly high on a list of the relievers you’d expect to be good next year. (There’s a bit more to it than that, but it’s just an interesting data point on Edwards’ expected success, and how hard he is to square up. Edwards is a very exciting arm, folks.)
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  • Over at BIF, Michael recalls the time Manny Ramirez made a running catch, and then high-fived a fan in the middle of the play, while turning a double play.
  • Note the name and the established year:
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  • With a hat tip to BN’er Ben, here’s a look at former Cubs prospect Trey McNutt, who has battled injuries and worked very hard to get back – and he’s now got elite velocity:
  • McNutt managed six innings at AA for the Padres at the end of last season, his first after departing the Cubs’ organization.
  • If you missed anything this long holiday weekend, catch yourself up here.
  • If you want some year-end dealz, check out Amazon’s selection.
  • 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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