I won’t call this “wrapping up” the storyline on the sports protests this week, as it’s supposed to be an ongoing conversation. Instead, I’ll call this some additional context for what happened on Wednesday (Jason Heyward sitting out, Cubs not sitting out), and where things stand now on that particular topic.
The short version is that it now feels like the Cubs probably have regrets about not sitting out with Heyward on Wednesday, and if they’d had more time to meet as a team to discuss before that game, they would have sat out. Also, if they’d had a game yesterday, they would have sat it out. None of that is offered as an excuse, just some data points.
Jason Heyward on if he thinks team would have played Wednesday if they had more time to discuss it. "I think their wishes would have been to not go out there and play if we had more time to talk about it, chew on it." pic.twitter.com/7c3zAH1hxB
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 28, 2020
More from Heyward and the Cubs organization:
Heyward: "I had guys coming to me very close to game time that day (wed) and I let them know I felt the right thing to do was for us to play that game…I had to do what I had to do….The support and love was felt on my end from them."
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) August 28, 2020
Jason Heyward said Theo Epstein spoke with the outfielder, and noted that several front office members with Cubs will be donating salary from recent days to the The Players Alliance, joining the players who are doing the same.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 28, 2020
Heyward said Cubs are "meeting us more than halfway with this."
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) August 28, 2020
Jason Heyward reflected on Jackie Robinson in the players' current push for change: "We want to do our part to have that kind of progress. We want to be able to look back 10, 20 years from now saying in the year 2020, what we did made a big difference to move things forward."
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) August 28, 2020
Jed Hoyer tells 670 The Score that it was chaotic in the run-up to the game last night – they wanted to support Heyward's decision to sit out. He felt like they didn't have enough time to process a team-wide decision – guys were all over the park, players were torn, etc.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 27, 2020
Hoyer won't say it explicitly, but he keeps saying that it was a shame that there wasn't more time to actually have a full team meeting, and it makes me think he wishes – and maybe now the team wishes – that they'd sat with Heyward.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 27, 2020
Tracks with what Jed Hoyer said yesterday. It isn't offered as an excuse, just a data point: it seems the Cubs wish they'd sat out on Wednesday night (and/or had a game yesterday that they could have sat out). https://t.co/C98MvVhf4j
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 28, 2020
Rather than tweet a few quotes, it's more appropriate for you to read Jason Heyward's full comments in context.
Here's Heyward's Q&A Friday, discussing Wednesday's decision to sit out, the support he felt from the Cubs (teammates and front office) & more: https://t.co/cQaYrXICYw
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 28, 2020