With more and more people having seen the flick, I’ll say a little more: However detestable the prequels may have been, they did a much better job creating a cohesive world/feel/storyline as a trilogy unit than the postquels. Much of that is because the ending for the prequels was known, and they could all work together to build toward that end. But still: I can’t be the only one who sees the postquels and thinks that they were clearly three totally separate movies, put together by three separate groups of decision-makers, who were all kind of fumbling around to connect storylines, without any clear overarching plan in place beforehand. And that’s limiting in a way that the (otherwise quite bad) prequels weren’t limited.
As expected, and in stark contrast to yesterday’s news that average player salaries had dropped for the second straight year (which hadn’t happened in a half-century), the league’s revenues continue to climb:
Almost as unnerving as the concerns with player salaries discussed yesterday, I get more and more nervous about how the league’s revenues are increasingly becoming untethered to the direct financial contribution of fans – that is to say, the less revenue is attributable to things where fans are paying dollars straight out of their pocket for the game, the less confident I am in the long-term health of the sport. So when Maury Brown’s piece there talks about further revenue explosion expected because of increases in national rights deals for games (not a direct fan contribution, but a future bet on eyeballs and TV ad generation) and the Nike uniform deal … and no mention of the pervasive stagnation and decline in attendance? Yeah, that gets me nervous. People have to love and want to pay for your product for it to thrive over a long enough horizon. It’s fundamental like that.
And a thanks right back to Joe and Jaye for five of the most successful years Cubs fans have known:
A thoroughly Maddon farewell. I wish him the best with the Angels – I’ll totally be rooting for them this year – and I’m sure we’re all going to find that, for as right as it felt to move on, we’ll miss a lot of what Maddon did on a daily basis. Hopefully David Ross has instant success, but even if he does, it’ll take years for him to be as comfortable in his own managerial shoes the way Maddon was.
Oof. The brain-drain in the Cubs’ front office over the past few years continues:
So that’s two of the organization’s top scouts (Farrell and Sam Hughes) who were poached (rather than a mutual separation), two assistant GMs (Scott Harris and Shiraz Rehman), a director of pro scouting (Jared Porter), and a special assistant (Jason Parks), all poached in the last three years. On the one hand, it’s a compliment to what the Cubs have built that they have had so many people worth snagging from high positions into even higher positions. On the other hand, that is so much front office and scouting talent to lose over such a short period of time. On the bright side, the Cubs sure do have loads of potentially attractive open spots if they want to do some poaching of their own.
For now, it doesn’t sound like the Cubs are going to rush to fill open positions, and may instead aim to cover things with the primary crew they have through the upcoming draft season and then reevaluate later in the year (see VP of Scouting Dan Kantrovitz’s comments to Sahadev Sharma that suggest as much). It’s not like the Cubs don’t have a ton of staff in place already, though I’ll admit: losing your top scouts, in particular, just before draft scouting season begins, and before a critical draft (highest pick in five years) … it makes me a little nervous in the abstract.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, they also get a new bat:
Shaw cratered this past year with the Brewers and was non-tendered, but he was solid defensively at multiple positions, is just 29, and was a very good bat in 2017-18. Good bet by the Blue Jays.
So many last-minute deals at Amazon, and I might have to do some shopping today because oops I kinda forgot to check the calendar and realize I only have a few days before Christmas I am a jerk sorry parents mom don’t read this. #ad
NEWSLETTER
