Arrieta’s Mechanics, #CardinalsLose Top Prospect, Trade Matt Adams, and Other Bullets

May 21, 2017

One of our cats has taken to sleeping just under my desk, which is fine, except I often swing my legs wildly in the process of banging out these posts. I have kicked him – gently and inadvertently – three times during the writing of these Bullets, alone. You’d think by now he would move or I would stop doing it, but I guess each of us just gets so into our zone that we forget the other exists …

Top Cuban prospect Luis Robert has made his choice among two finalists, and it’ll be the Chicago White Sox over the St. Louis Cardinals. The 19-year-old outfielder is expected to get a bonus in the $25 million range (which will cost the White Sox upwards of $50 million when the overage tax is included), which puts him in the range of baseball’s top prospect, Yoan Moncada (also now a White Sox prospect, incidentally). The White Sox have quickly amassed quite a collection of prospects, and their rebuild seems to be cruising along quite well. Good for them. As for the Cardinals, they were already in the max penalty for this IFA period (they will face IFA signing restrictions in the next two periods), so they could have had Robert for nothing more than money. That they did not get him, then, is a pretty big deal.

Michael talked about Jake Arrieta’s possible over-rotating mechanical issue yesterday, and Sahadev Sharma dug in with the man, himself. Arrieta seems very much to be aware of the issue, telling Sharma, “I just had been too rotational laterally versus getting out front. You have the carousel and the Ferris wheel. You want to be more like a Ferris wheel, from top to bottom versus rotational. So, it’s a couple things I’m working on. It’s not just stepping across my body, it’s a couple things that lead to that.” Among the effects is that Arrieta has trouble locating to the glove side (i.e., the left side of the plate if you’re looking in from center field). We’ll see if there is improvement on that front today, as Arrieta indicated he was feeling good mechanically during a Wednesday throwing session.

Matt Adams is a Cardinal no more. He’s been traded to the Braves, who were looking for a temporary Freddie Freeman fill-in. Relative to his total inability on defense (he’s OK at first, and cannot passably play anywhere else), Adams has been disappointing with the bat three years running, so there’s really not a ton of loss to the Cardinals here. As expected, then, the prospect they received in the deal is not considered significant at this time.

If you don’t know anything about Ian Happ other than what you’ve seen on the field, I recommend you read what Melanie Newman has written about his background to get a little more robust picture of the young man who has settled in with the Cubs.

Yesterday’s rainout was not so much a rainout as a preemptive cancellation against the threat of serious weather, which never actually materialized (because Chicago). A Brewers beat writer noted this unfortunate fact, and a Giants beat writer had a take:

Four hours after scheduled start between #Brewers and Cubs, still no rain.

— Tom (@Haudricourt) May 20, 2017

#cubs did that to #SFGiants one time. Postponed game on threat of rain that didn't come for three hours. Forced a DH. it's their "thing." https://t.co/uHgkUPVH3y
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 20, 2017

Actually, it wasn't. Been covering ball for 30 years. #cubs have reputation around league for using rain to finagle stuff. It's not my deal. https://t.co/6N26wyUBr4
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 21, 2017

I am not aware of this reputation, and am instead only aware of Chicago’s notoriously challenging weather patterns. In any case, I doubt the Cubs were eager to swap yesterday’s weekend game (with perhaps the most sought-after giveaway (“The Final Out” bobblehead)) for a weekday day game if it could at all be avoided.

There’s a 20% deal at Fanatics today with the code COURT20, so head over and check out the Cubs gear (well, or other stuff – it doesn’t *have* to be Cubs gear … ).

Yesterday was a pretty big anniversary:

On this day 11 years ago, Michael Barrett disagreed with A.J. Pierzynski. pic.twitter.com/JR2T9X7hQl

— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) May 20, 2017

Earlier: Luke looked at the unique structure of minor league playoff races, and Eloy Jimenez cranked his second homer of the year.

Over at TYL, we’ve got your Bears bullets, including Mitch Trubisky wearing the Bears duds.

A whole bunch of patio sets are a Deal of the Day at Amazon (gettin’ ready for those Memorial Day cookouts, I reckon).

Oh, also, a bunch of outdoor games and gear are a Deal of the Day, including a really nice official size/weight Wilson football for just $13.49. I just got one to toss around with the kiddos.

written by

Brett Taylor

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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