Dodgers and White Sox and Other Harper Destinations, Valbuena Was Murdered, and Other Bullets

Dec 08, 2018

I failed to comment on it yesterday, but man, the first Avengers 4 trailer was basically perfect, right? You can’t give up much in this situation, but you still have to tease and get people excited … very much mission accomplished. I would like to watch that movie today, please.

Handicapping the Bryce Harper market as we begin the weekend before the Winter Meetings:

Top 3 teams in the Bryce Harper Sweepstakes according to @kurkjian_ESPN

1. Phillies
2. Dodgers
3. White Sox

— Kevin Negandhi (@KNegandhiESPN) December 7, 2018

I would certainly say that, entering the offseason, those top two teams sounded right to me. Indeed, despite the Dodgers’ internal documentation about staying under the luxury tax for years to come, I have a hard time buying it. Throw in the fact that the Dodgers are now looking to trade outfielder Yasiel Puig (who is under control for only one more year anyway), and Harper to the Dodgers just seems so right. It always has, if you set aside the Cubs (which, apparently, is probably the smart bet). There’s a need fit, a long-term fit, a geographic fit, a financial fit (I suspect), and a star-power fit.

And now that the Cubs don’t seem like a good bet to land Harper, well, sure, you can throw the White Sox in there as the third team. I’d probably have the Yankees there because I can’t possibly count them out (or maybe even the Cubs), but the White Sox have the money, and have the need to get a franchise cornerstone guy like Harper to anchor a young, just-about-ready-to-go lineup. Who’s excited to watch Bryce and Eloy go back-to-back for the next five years?!?!? (sigh … )

That said, it does seem like the White Sox will have to be the top bidder, solidly, to land Harper. I’m sure there’s a little bit of an allure to be the franchise face, but he could get that in Philadelphia, too. Heck, he’d probably become the face in L.A., too, and the spotlight shines just a little brighter there. The more I think about it, my likeliness rankings for Harper would probably go something like:

1. Dodgers

2. Phillies

(big drop-off)

3. Cubs

4. Yankees

5. White Sox

6. Nationals

7. Cardinals

8. Astros

Paul Goldschmidt was introduced as a Cardinal yesterday:

that feeling when you've been traded to the Cardinals pic.twitter.com/E58FxpnLbR

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) December 7, 2018

And the internet is undefeated:

View this post on Instagram

i'm ded

A post shared by Bleacher Nation (@bleachernation) on Dec 7, 2018 at 10:17am PST

The 48 hours when this signing and the simultaneous Starlin Castro trade to the Yankees were percolating was so much fun:

#OTD in 2015, the #Cubs signed future World Series MVP @benzobrist18.

Who will be their next big signing, as the #WinterMeetings approach? pic.twitter.com/u9eLAozIgI

— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) December 8, 2018

The Giants new front office did a little poaching from the Brewers:

#sfgiants have hired a new pro scouting director, sources tell @TheAthleticMLB : Zack Minasian, formerly a special advisor to the GM in Milwaukee. Started in baseball as an 11-year-old assistant to his father, Zack Sr., the longtime clubhouse attendant for the Texas Rangers.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 8, 2018

It certainly feels like this pitch cannot hold up forever (he’s now 33 and only just had his first truly elite season), but it’s something to behold:

3 Filthy Adam Ottavino Sliders. pic.twitter.com/Uzypj1jWNs

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 7, 2018

It was already a horrible situation, but this is just even worse:

Foul play is suspected in the car crash that resulted in the deaths of former Cub Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo.

Venezuelan officials say highway bandits caused the crash, then robbed the players. https://t.co/5YKEfqzl57 pic.twitter.com/idQRm2Ek5U

— Chicago Sports (@ChicagoSports) December 8, 2018

It’s just so horrible to think about that kind of callousness. Luis Valbuena was murdered. That wasn’t some car accident. Ugh.

Remembering the good:

Thanks for the memories, Luis Valbuena. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/1KqMyq4b1Q

— MLB (@MLB) December 7, 2018

Not bad:

Surprise! The Philadelphia #Phillies have just unveiled a new primary team logo for the 2019 season

See it here: https://t.co/YnBm1kb0Fz pic.twitter.com/rcp3B2Tsw3

— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) December 7, 2018

This is not baseball and it’s only barely sports, but it’s pretty wild, so I’ll share it anyway:

Reddit is mostly bad but the other day I learned on that website that the Menendez Brothers are in the background of this basketball card and that logistically this would be between when they killed their parents and when they were arrested and I cannot stop thinking about it. pic.twitter.com/fMb5ugLX2m
— John Rosenberger (@JohnJohnPhenom) December 8, 2018

The 12 days of deals today at Amazon is “Babies, Pets, and Camera,” which, OK … but hey, it’s good deals, so whatever categorizing floats your boat.

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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