David Ross’ Coaching Staff Officially Confirmed, SB Cubs Champs, and Other Cubs Bullets

Dec 10, 2019

I’m trying to stick to my exercise schedule this week despite the flurry of news and rumors, so if the league could hold off on anything significant for the next hour, that’d be sweet. If not, you can expect some barely legible texts, Michael, about whatever it is that you’re writing up at that moment.

David Ross’s inaugural coaching staff is now officially official, with Will Venable indeed sliding over to third base – and the Cubs adding a data/development member of the big league coaching staff (which is wild and awesome):

The #Cubs today announced David Ross’ 2020 major league coaching staff. pic.twitter.com/jIs5MUztf9

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) December 9, 2019

It’s a relative staff overhaul, much like we’ve seen in development and scouting, as well as on the training staff. These kinds of changes are less visible, but the on-field impact can still be significant. Well, here’s hoping it is, anyway.

That’s a whole lotta former catchers/catching coaches. I understand the reasons for seeing what’s out there on Willson Contreras, but I’m not really going to hate seeing what happens when he gets time to work closely with Driver, Ross, and Napoli, in addition to Borzello.

Also: no infield coach. I would assume some of those duties would fall to Green, a former infielder? It’s just atypical not to have someone on staff who specifically has that designation.

There was a Cubs champion in 2019:

https://twitter.com/SBCubs/status/1204175758219976704

Last night, @Jostens unveiled the #SBCubs 2019 Midwest League Championship ring. Additional details about the ring design coming soon.
What do you think #Cubs fans? pic.twitter.com/RtH7FNPLMg
— South Bend Cubs (@SBCubs) December 10, 2019

Big news on the substance front:

As part of a new agreement on opioids being negotiated between Major League Baseball and the players’ union, MLB will remove marijuana from the list of banned substances for minor leaguers, sources tell The Athletic. Major leaguers have not been subject to testing for marijuana.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 10, 2019

Whatever your opinion on marijuana, it is legal in so many places now, is no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol, and it was always absurd that minor leaguers could get popped for it but not big leaguers. This is a good change.

The changes to DRS are being rolled out, and we’ll have to dig in soon:

Recently we told you about improvements & changes to Defensive Runs Saved.

These numbers are now available live at https://t.co/saCs5Facut

Check out the "Statistics" tab

For example, you can see/filter MLB leaders here

Will be on other websites soon!https://t.co/PH29Mkt7tT pic.twitter.com/AK5NyxRAQk

— Sports Info Solutions (@SportsInfo_SIS) December 9, 2019

As expected and discussed previously, Javy Baez’s DRS skyrocketed from this change, confirming him as one of the most valuable defenders in all of baseball at any position.

Ian Happ did a fun Q&A, but what the hell is this answer, Ian?!?!? A plain donut with no glaze is NOT A DONUT AT ALL:

https://twitter.com/CubsDna/status/1204183985334583296

I’ll forgive him on the donut thing, though, because this is the chill, extremely correct and beneficial way for people who have a mic to talk about mental health:

Ian Happ did a wonderful Q and A over on the @cubs IG today. Amongst other good answers, this is one in particular that leads to that “in conclusion, we stan harder than ever before” pic. pic.twitter.com/LC35gShfPU
— Corey Freedman (@CFCubsRelated) December 10, 2019

Your 12 Days of Deals at Amazon are right here if you’re still holiday shopping and looking for convenient bargains. #ad

The Nike jerseys are officially out, and it’s unfortunate that it looks kinda bad on pinstripes (because it looks fine on many non-Cub uniforms):

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1204150476234616833

At long last, MLB The Show (and cover athlete Javy Baez) is moving beyond just Playstation:

Just announced: Baseball video game series MLB The Show will be available on consoles other than just PlayStation for the first time ever as early as 2021 pic.twitter.com/Yu4M2WU5bF
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) December 10, 2019

Santa sure can rake …

Was Santa Doing the Soto Shuffle?https://t.co/0YkTl06Jgc

— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) December 10, 2019

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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