NEWSLETTER
Happy Turkey Day, amigos. I hope you are able to do something special for yourself and others today, and again, I just want to thank you all so much for your support this year. I’m trying to give the rest of the crew the day entirely off today (they are stinkers and still try to do stuff, so we’ll see), and that’ll mean no Bears or Bulls Bullets. If something big happens on the football or basketball or baseball side, I’ll do my best to jump on it. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a light day around here. Mostly, you should go eat some food or play some video games or watch some movies or watch some football.
Until then, since you’re here …
• We’re getting very, very close to getting word on the plans for the 2021 minor league season, at least insofar as which teams will still be part of minor league baseball next year. Baseball America has the latest here, with MLB planning to inform 120 minor league teams that they’ve made the cut, so to speak, by the first week of December. Included in there is a note that the Midwest League area is now likely to be High-A (South Bend Cubs), and the Carolina League area is now likely to be Low-A (Myrtle Beach Pelicans). If that happens, you could see the Cubs maintaining those affiliations, and losing the Eugene Emeralds. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Smokies would remain at AA and the Iowa Cubs would remain at AAA. We could know for sure within a week or two.
• Elsewhere, Baseball America reports that the minor league schedules are expected to change in conjunction with the new minor league structure – AAA would feature 144-game seasons, AA would feature 138 games, and Low-A/High-A would feature 132 games. It’s still TBD how that would look in 2021, as the fallout from the pandemic persists, but that’s the plan for 2022+. A whole lot more at BA in those two links.
• The Mets figured they’d be able to poach a top-tier president and a top-tier GM for their open front office positions, what with a new owner ready to spend in a major market. But to date, there have hardly been any meaningful interviews, much less a decision. The team has already decided to forgo adding a president this offseason:
Sandy Alderson says the Mets will not be hiring a president of baseball operations and will focus on the general manager job. "I will probably be more involved on the baseball operations side than originally anticipated," Alderson said. @martinonyc reported as much earlier today.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 23, 2020
• Let the speculation begin that the Mets just want to wait a year for Theo Epstein …
• It was always a little odd that the Mets thought they could bring in a top-tier president from another org, even though that person would be serving under Alderson. You can title it however you want, but if you’re reporting to the guy who reports to the owner, you aren’t the top dog. That is probably impacting the requests for permission to interview, too:
Steve Cohen on SNY: “I’m a little surprised we haven’t been able to find people for the front office. I thought it would be a little bit easier than it has been. Baseball is kind if funny where you have to ask for permission and we are not getting a lot of permission."
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) November 26, 2020
• We gathered up the best promos for today, if you’re doing the sportsbook thing while chowing on turkey. Lots of great deals there. Thanks for checking it out!
• This is perfect, and not solely because stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving food:
Every team as a Thanksgiving dish, by @greatstuffTM. https://t.co/RNszloA9xU pic.twitter.com/WF4iqZkctI
— Cronk is good. (@cdgoldstein) November 25, 2020
• Bill Buckner:
A true gamer, Bill Buckner played 22 yrs in #MLB
for #Dodgers, #Cubs, #Redsox #Royals #Angels, batting .289, inc NL-best .324 in 1980 w @Cubs. His @sabr bio https://t.co/igz5BoA814 pic.twitter.com/TS6EscMlYx— SABR BioProject (@SABRbioproject) November 26, 2020
• Coming tomorrow …
Our biggest sale ever starts 24 hours from right now. #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/hmiXi8hmDU
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS® (@obvious_shirts) November 26, 2020
• And in the meantime, Amazon has kicked off its Black Friday Deals here. Too many to even recount.
