Quite a week at the Australian Open. Not only did Serena Williams beat her own sister in the women’s final, but also, in so doing, became the winningest female in Open Era Grand Slam history (23 Grand Slam titles). And then overnight, Roger Federer beat long-time rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller, and extended his men’s record to 18 Grand Slam titles. Nadal, at 14, is tied for second. Coming into the match, Nadal had long had Federer’s number: Nadal led 23-11 in their career meetings, and was 9-2 in Grand Slam matches, including 6-2 in finals.
It’s unlikely we see too many more Cubs transactions between now and the start of the season. With the roster full (both from a 40-man perspective, and a covering-your-bases perspective), and with significant trades far less likely once Spring Training begins, you’d really only be looking at minor league depth signings at this point. To that end, as I have said in conjunction with the Brett Anderson signing, I do still very much hope the Cubs can find at least one veteran starting pitcher who has to settle for a minor league deal (with a big league split (i.e., yes, it’s a minor league deal, but if he makes the big league roster, he gets paid more than the Major League minimum)). You want to have that quality depth there in Spring Training just in case a couple guys break. Having Anderson in the fold helps, as the Cubs now have six “starting” pitchers, plus the Zastryzny/Frankoff/Buchanan/Brooks quartet of AAA depth starters. If the Cubs could manage to get a Colby Lewis, Doug Fister, Jorge de la Rosa type in the door on a minor league deal? I’d feel just a little more comfort about the emergency depth. (That is just to name a few of the remaining free agent starters, by the way, who might conceivably have to settle for minor league deals. There are no specific rumors there.) None of those guys is likely to be a great fifth starter for you at this point, but you’re really just looking for the flexibility to not have to roster a guy who might be slightly better than replacement level if worst came to worst.
You can see the full list of outstanding free agent starters here at MLBTR. There are actually a ton of interesting (again, if you’re looking strictly for extreme depth) names, including old friends Jason Hammel and Travis Wood (but I don’t think they’ll be settling for minor league deals).
No mention of the Cubs there. I suppose it’s not necessarily an exhaustive list, but if three teams are “strong” on him, that might be that.
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A writeup on Ian Happ over at CSN worth checking out. I’d love to see the bat take another step forward in his second full season, especially now that he’s had a year to focus on second base, and has a year of experience adjusting to the long grind.
Jack Moore writes at The Hardball Times about the potential long-term damage done to baseball by its ever-increasing efforts to reduce signing bonuses, both for amateur talent and international talent. A section that resonated very strongly with me:
But perhaps what I worry about most with the changes brought about in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement is a dilution of the game’s culture. The infusion of talent from across the world into major league baseball over the past three decades, whether from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, Japan and Korea, or from the newly opened territory of Cuba, has brought the kind of baseball played and celebrated in their countries and cultures. It has been crucial in keeping baseball fresh.
I fear that a CBA that puts a hard ceiling on the incomes of foreign players will deter top-level talents from leaving their domestic leagues to come play in the United States or from picking up baseball altogether. I fear it will stifle the growth of baseball in countries new to the game, like Brazil, which showed promise in the World Baseball Classic but may not have the financial incentives to draw athletes away from sports like soccer or basketball.
Rian Watt at Vice Sports talks about how organizations self-evaluate, and how they proceed – realistically – through the various stages of the year. There’s a very-on-point side discussion about how the Cubs were in a unique position to pay more for Aroldis Chapman in July than most teams would. It’s something we discussed at the time, but seems to have escaped folks with every new Gleyber Torres ranking: the Cubs already knew in July that they were going to make the playoffs. That meant that there was no real risk that they’d send a haul for a rental reliever, only to see the highest and best value of that reliever squandered. That incentivizes a team to pay more than they would (for an elite rental reliever, specifically, I argued back then) if they were merely hoping to fight for a playoff spot.
They’re having fun, but Kyle Schwarber has a WRONG baseball opinion:
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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NEWSLETTER
Quite a week at the Australian Open. Not only did Serena Williams beat her own sister in the women’s final, but also, in so doing, became the winningest female in Open Era Grand Slam history (23 Grand Slam titles). And then overnight, Roger Federer beat long-time rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller, and extended his men’s record to 18 Grand Slam titles. Nadal, at 14, is tied for second. Coming into the match, Nadal had long had Federer’s number: Nadal led 23-11 in their career meetings, and was 9-2 in Grand Slam matches, including 6-2 in finals.
