The Family is off to visit some relatives, which means a long drive with ‘Rookie of the Year’ playing in the background. The kids have watched this movie maybe 20 times in the last six months, which is really helping me further indoctrinate Cubs love into them. So that’s useful. Also, I now know every single moment and line of this movie like it was a fourth child. (Obligatory promo reminder: ‘Rookie of the Year’ is one of the many, many movies available on Disney+, and when you sign up, we get a little referral love. So thanks!)
Pretty decent chance Kris Bryant is not traded today, right? No chance a team would do that on a guy’s birthday …
https://twitter.com/NBCSCubs/status/1213339525339987971
In all seriousness, whatever happens with the grievance, the trade rumors, and an eventual free agency, I wish Bryant a very happy birthday and many very successful years ahead of him. The shoulder and the knee the last two years have really obscured, in my view, the offensive behemoth he could be. There aren’t too many guys in baseball with a swing like his, natural long levers like his, and a work ethic like his. I hope he blows up next year, wherever he’s playing. (Well, I mean, unless it’s, like, directly against the Cubs in a key game. Not then.)
I understand that they had to come up with a lot of names, and to work in guys for teams that kinda sorta don’t have a center fielder, but this is nevertheless some kind of list:
The interesting thing is that, with Ian Happ as the Cubs’ center fielder on that list (fair enough, given the current roster), I could actually make the argument – based on my personal belief that last year was a huge developmental year for him at the plate, and that he’s average defensively in center – that he’s better than as many as 11 or so guys on that list, with upside to be even better.
If you’re concerned that the Cubs organization lacks impact youngsters/prospects, Jim Callis’s fun guess at the first and second all-decade teams for the 2020s (i.e., guys he’s guessing will be stars in this decade) won’t make you feel good – among the 32 names, there’s not a single Cub.
On the bright side from that piece, Cubs outfield prospect Brennen Davis was mentioned by Callis as among the three highest-ranked prospects on his personal top 125 who weren’t on last year’s MLB Pipeline top 100. You ask anyone around here, and we’ll tell you that Davis is a top 100 prospect in baseball already, but I’ve had my doubts that national services will have him way up there because he was not considered a tip-top prospect right out of the draft and then had only 50 games in his first full pro season. Since we obsess, we know about the extreme adjustments he made – to his swing and his body – in a single offseason, and how they directly translated to huge results right out of the gate, but we’ll see if the national services (aside from Callis) give Davis that love until he shows it in the first half of 2020.
I remain of the mind that the Cubs pretty clearly have four top 100 prospects (Davis, Miguel Amaya, Brailyn Marquez, Nico Hoerner, in some order), which is something they’ve not had for several years.
Imagine walking around Disney and running into Willson freaking Contreras. The happiest place on earth, indeed:
https://twitter.com/WContreras40/status/1213167403456245760
It’s 49 days now, but same deal applies:
Michael has jokes:
NEWSLETTER
