Robo Umps Coming in Spring Training, Wrigley North, Javy the Star, and Other Cubs Bullets

My computer is always lousy with tabs, which eventually cause a whole lot of drain on system and browser resources. But I just can’t quit my tab habit. So I’m trying out this Chrome extension – The Great Suspender – which “suspends” your tabs if you haven’t used them in the last X hours. It seems to be working as it’s supposed to, because I’ve got about 10 suspended tabs up there, theoretically NOT using resources at the moment, but I also don’t have to go anywhere else to find them – they’re still right up there when I want to finally access them. Like, for example, to put these Bullets together …

  • Per the Commissioner, we’re going to see our first flashes of the electronic strike zone in a few weeks:
  • I presume the system will be utilized for data-gathering purposes, since the stakes in Spring Training are limited. The system is expected to be deployed in some parts of the minor leagues this year, and the best guess on big league timeline is 2022, when the new CBA kicks in. But obviously it could come sooner than that if there aren’t serious kinks to work out and if the players are on board. The umpires have already said they won’t fight it. I’m definitely curious to see how it looks in Spring Training.
  • As expected, Miller Park is changing its name, but incredibly, they are not going by the name everyone knows:
  • American Family Field will have its first season in 2021, and Miller Park will get its retirement tour this season. Not that any self-respecting Cubs fan will call it anything other than Wrigley North.
  • At the Houston Sports Awards, which honored him and Alex Bregman, Astros owner (and current GM!) Jim Crane tried to speak for the players who didn’t say anything useful or contrite this past weekend about the sign-stealing scandal:
  • It’s kind of amazing that the plan is to get them together for a PR lesson, craft a statement they can all adopt, and then hope it goes away. Nah. Without actual human candor, it’s all just gonna linger throughout the season (as it probably should).
  • By this argument, aren’t you being a GOOD teammate to your CURRENT teammates by stopping some other teams from having an unfair, cheating advantage:
  • Meanwhile, I’m dead:
  • https://twitter.com/amanda522/status/1219820660479926273

  • New Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna is probably much worse defensively than some of the advance metrics suggest:
  • Good stuff here, even if it remains such a black eye for professional baseball:
  • A reminder that Theo Epstein said this weekend that the Cubs care about minor league wages, and the Blue Jays’ across-the-board raise last year got their attention: “Stay tuned … we are working on it. Keep your ear to the ground for a change in policy.”
  • Javy, the superstar:
  • Extend that Magician.
  • Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale today, looking like 30% off. #ad
  • If you want a deeper look at minor league Rule 5 selection Jerrick Suiter, and why the Cubs are converting him to the mound:
  • We finally dropped a new podcast episode (we had been waiting on the Cubs to do something … lol):
  • 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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