Nailed it. I hope folks have a spooky and fun Halloween. Rain is threatening us, and the kiddos are freaked that trick-or-treat is going to be cancelled. I remember doing a couple years in terrible conditions when I was a kid, so do they even really “cancel”? I mean, if it’s just some hard rain, suck it up and get your candy, right? I trick-or-treated in an unseasonable, but literal, snowstorm one year. And I cleaned up.
Apparently former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig believes the game today is too long (we’re now way over three hours, on average), with 2 hours and 45 minutes a reasonable target in his view. From my seat, I agree that the game is creeping up there into too long territory, though I’m not sure that setting a target number is the answer (because if the goal was to get the most people to engage and watch, then the actual target should be something crazy short like an hour and a half, and that’s just not happening). Instead, I’d rather see the focus stay on ways to increase the “action” on the field – more balls in play, less time between pitches – which will organically bring down the game time as a byproduct.
I saw some comments on yesterday’s Cole Hamels piece that tell me I wasn’t quite clear enough on why a one-year, $20 million option for Hamels is a tough question, but a multi-year, more money deal is a much less tough question. It all goes back to the Cubs’ projected payroll heading into the offseason, and the risk of going over the *top* luxury tax threshold, which thumps you pretty good in the draft and IFA. If the Cubs want to blow that threshold away and sign everybody, cool, fine, whatever. But if they’re going to be close to it, they’re going to stay under it. And that means a $20 million AAV for Hamels next year could make signing a guy like Bryce Harper or Manny Machado very challenging. Doable, but doing it in coordination with another reliever or two? Very, very challenging. So if you could instead get Hamels for, say, two years and $26 million or three years and $33 million? That’d be much better for the Cubs’ strategic planning, even if it means spending more actual dollars in the future, and even if you see the risk of Hamels falling apart in the next two years. (Because, in addition to the planning, there’s also the chance that he doesn’t fall apart.)
Kyle Schwarber’s limited professional experience and the remaining potential for a breakout, in context:
While development certainly isn't linear, I keep coming back to this when people say Kyle Schwarber has peaked:
Javy Baez, pre-2018: 1,861 MiLB PAs 1,381 MLB PAs
Kyle Schwarber, pre-2019: 673 MiLB PAs 1,345 MLB PAs
No one is saying Baez and Schwarber are the same player (even offensively), but it does offer a nice reminder about what a breakout can look like, and how long it can take. We’ve seen it hundreds of times in baseball: talent plays eventually. And although the Cubs want to be all about production now, rather than just talent, there aren’t many guys in baseball with the offensive ceiling of Kyle Schwarber. Even as we have hard conversations about a possible trade, I don’t think we can lose sight of his unique – yet unrealized – offensive ability, and how it would be PERFECTLY PLAUSIBLE that he could explode in 2019.
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
As we discussed here yesterday, trading Schwarber has to be considered, but it’s very hard to come up with the right and realistic move that actually makes the Cubs that much better … at least without coordinating such a trade with the right other moves.
Never bunt:
That time the Kool-Aid Man guest starred on The Baseball Bunch and injured a kid because he couldn't get a bunt down … pic.twitter.com/NkengE4iEO
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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I'll just presume he was sending this one out for mom. And I'll also presume that the knee is indeed feeling good. Home run number nine on the season for Christopher Morel: https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1789713524052087082
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NEWSLETTER
