Graveman Contract, the Next Moves, Voting for Mo, and Other Bullets

A Happy Festivus to you all. I wouldn’t say I have a “lot” of problems with you people.

  • If you missed the update yesterday to the Kendall Graveman signing, his contract with the Cubs is quite unique:
  • By the end of next season, Graveman will have only four years of service time, so, without a special stipulation, the Cubs could have declined their option and then tendered him an arbitration contract if it would have been less than $3 million. Now, that’s off the table – either the Cubs pick up the option (and then they’d get that extra year of control), or they let him go. Also, the salary being just a touch over league minimum for 2019 is reasonable given that he’s even less likely to return and contribute than Drew Smyly was last year, but if it looks like he’ll be ready to do so, then the Cubs will have to decide if he’s worth some extra money (based on the phrasing, I think he would just get the pro-rated difference in the salaries through the end of the year, not for the full year). You worry a little bit about creating perverse incentives, but at the same time, you can see why both sides would want that in there.
  • I think Mike Petriello makes good and agreeable points here, which is what leads me to believe, without question, that the deal was done in anticipation of particular other move(s) the Dodgers will be making:
  • As for the Reds part of it, we discussed yesterday – I could see them now projecting out as a .500ish team, which is really the range you need to be in to have a 10+% chance at lucking into a playoff run. Given their years in the wilderness, I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing for the Reds, who otherwise have guys they could flip at the Trade Deadline if it looks like it isn’t working out. Given the state of extreme un-parity in the American League, I applaud the Reds for trying something (even if it could cost the Cubs a win or two (or more if things get really crazy).
  • Baseball is amazing, among many other reasons, because it so frequently makes you go, HOWWWWWWW:
  • https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1076827344390836224

  • If you’re unfamiliar with Driveline, it’s a facility that helps baseball players train and improve using advanced technology. Their director of hitting just got hired by the Phillies to be their minor league hitting coordinator, despite having no background in professional baseball at all:
  • There’s no question that this approach can improve performance for some players – maybe even most players – but it’ll nevertheless be interesting to see how it plays when it’s being applied across an entire minor league system. You have to have significant, meaningful buy-in from a player for him to translate a data-driven approach to changing his game in fundamental ways.
  • This is the lamest sh*t I have ever seen – the guy is railing against one of the greatest pitchers in history because he’s a closer, saying he shouldn’t get a vote, but then he says he’s not submitting a ballot at all (thus I will not even tell you his name or link his article directly, because he just wants your attention):
  • At least Rivera will still have a chance to be unanimous.
  • Check out the year-end deals at Amazon, and also the year-end clearance at Fanatics.
  • 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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