Changes Come to the Plaza at Wrigley, Javy’s Trot, Counsell Extension, VWL Rumble, and Other Cubs Bullets

It took nearly 14 years, but The Wife has finally infected me … with saying “cocoa” in a subtly weird way. Like a normal person, I used to say the word in a smooth, connected fashion. But years of her cocoa utterances – Puffs, Pebbles, Hot – have finally stuck to me that I now say it like she always did, and I always made fun of: two very disconnected “co”s, so it sounds like you’re saying a co-co-chairperson or something like that. Co. Co. Instead of cocoa. It is deeply disturbing, and now I cannot stop. Maybe you’re infected now, too, and don’t even realize it.

  • Modest changes are coming to the plaza at Wrigley Field – aka Gallagher Way – with the Cubs getting some of what they were hoping for, though not everything:
  • So, you’ll see more big-ish events at Gallagher Way this year, which is good – it’s such a great space that it’s good for the neighborhood for it to be used much more than 81 home games and smaller activities. That’ll also mean a little boost in revenue for the Cubs (including the extra liquor sales). But it sounds like the Cubs are still disappointed that they can’t get non-ticket-holders onto the plaza for game days, which obviously would have represented a big revenue opportunity from additional concessions.
  • On the one hand, I always wanted Cubs fans to have that ability – can’t afford a ticket that day, that’s OK, come to the plaza and watch on the big screen right underneath the shadow of Wrigley. It’s really cool, and I wish more folks got to experience it without having to buy a ballpark ticket. On the other hand, I have come to see how well appreciated the plaza is by families DURING games, because it’s a space they can take their young kids for a break and it isn’t overcrowded. If you opened the doors entirely on game days? Well, the plaza would then become something entirely different.
  • Javy Baez rates among the fastest 80 or so players in baseball in sprint speed at Statcast, but he consistently has one of the very slowest home run trots in baseball and I absolutely love that dichotomy:
  • https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/1214962315981991940

  • A ridiculous brawl broke out in a Venezuelan Winter League game after there was a lot of scuffling earlier in the game:
  • The weird thing is that, after a swing and a half, the guy with the BAT was running away from the guy with the … glove? I can only guess he was trying to protect himself from doing something worse than he’d already done.
  • Lulz:
  • As expected, Craig Counsell is sticking around for a while – he’s good at what he does:
  • Ah, throwing back to when Javy Baez was a prospect at AA Tennessee, posting a hilarious .294/.346/.638 slash line with a 180 wRC+:
  • Special games and dates, as well as official times:
  • Agree on the hope here, because no one wants to see Danny Hultzen dealing with an offseason injury issue after all he’s overcome:
  •  

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    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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