NEWSLETTER
The first vaccine has received stateside approval, and it’s a start. Now we just have to hope that distribution is both as timely and smooth as possible, and gets to the people who need it most. Oh, and people take the dang thing – it has been reviewed at multiple layers by multiple top scientists and deemed very safe and very effective.
•  At last check, Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer suggested we might get a GM search update next week, but that update might just be on the timeline. Recall, Hoyer has said things might be a little slower because of the pandemic, and because of his desire to find someone who is just the right fit (i.e., he can do the job for now on his own while taking the time to find someone to mesh with a la him and Theo Epstein). All fine and good.
•  HOWEVA, it’s possible that the Cubs are competing with the New York Mets on some names, and the Mets might be moving more quickly than the Cubs:
Mets GM candidates include Red Sox ass’t GM Zack Scott, D-Backs ass’t GM Jared Porter, A’s exec Billy Owens and ex Marlins Prez/GM Michael Hill. There’s seems to be a vow of silence but unless someone comes out of woodwork, GM likely in that quartet. Decision may come next week.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2020
•  The New York Post adds that there is at least one more unnamed finalist. You’ll note that three of those names – Porter, Owens, and Hill – have been attached to the Cubs opening in one way or another, and Porter has been described as the “heavy favorite.” If that means he’s Hoyer’s preferred candidate, then perhaps things need to accelerate. The one caveat there is that the Mets are doing a weird thing where they had Sandy Alderson in as the kinda-sorta president, but he was trying to hire a new baseball president to serve under him, and then have that person hire a GM … but they couldn’t get any top-tier president candidates to take the job, so now they’re trying to hire a GM … but then, what, hire a president next year? So if you sign on as the GM now, you might wind up third in the reporting hierarchy? Or maybe they sell you on the idea that you could be the baseball president as soon as next year, and Alderson will eventually be stepping down, so you can be THE top dog in a year or two?
•  Miguel Amaya had a big game in Puerto Rico:
https://twitter.com/CriollosCaguas/status/1337543926920704001
•  He’s also getting a new/old teammate to join him in PR:
This is what he said today in a Press Release:
"I think it's not only an opportunity to introduce myself to the family I have in Puerto Rico, but also to experience the beautiful culture I grew up hearing about."
— Edwin Hernández Jr (@MOP_KNOWS) December 12, 2020
•  I always love when Cubs players and prospects get a chance to play in the winter leagues, but I *especially* love it this year, because it’s actual, competitive baseball. They didn’t get much of that this past year.
•  This isn’t unknown or new, but I just thought it was interesting that Hoyer chose these two pitchers, specifically, and these two pitches, specifically, when reaching for examples of how the Cubs have been able to work with reclaimed pitchers on certain things (670 The Score): “We have done a good job over the last couple of years and suggested ideas and changes to certain pitcher mechanics, and we do as well now as other teams do. In this case, I think Rowan Wick and Jason Adam are good examples to focus on. We did this with Wick trying to develop his curveball and Adam his slider. This will not always work, but we feel that we have the infrastructure in place to try it. We have had some success in areas that gives us confidence in that.”
•  We know well about Wick adding the spike-grip curveball (knuckle curve) and seeing breakout success, but I don’t know that I would have, independently, identified the reintroduction of Adams’ slider as the difference-maker for him in 2020. That is to say, we knew it was a nasty pitch, but I didn’t realize it was something Hoyer would call out. I dig that, given how much he used the slider last year (about 20% of the time), and the fact that he was getting whiffs on it 25% of the time. For a reliever who already had three usable pitches (four-seamer, curveball, changeup), to have added a pitch he can keep in the back pocket as a wipeout – a pitch he doesn’t have to rely on 50+% of the time – that is unquestionably a huge reason why he was striking so many guys out.
•  Also, adding the slider added a new velocity tier for Adam, which is a real pain-in-the-ass for hitters:
•  You can see there at the end of the year, his slider and curve were starting to get a little slurvy, though, so that’s something to keep an eye on. Other than that, you don’t see too many relievers who can pair an elite spin 95+ mph four-seamer with three other pitches in three distinct velocity tiers. As we’ve discussed, Adam was a legit starting prospect for a long time derailed by multiple elbow surgeries, which is the only reason he’s a reliever now. If he can stay healthy – not a slam dunk – there’s little reason to doubt he’s a stud.
•  Bonus fun? When Adam threw his curveball or slider last year and elicited a swing, the batter missed 69.2% of the time. LOL.
•  NOMAHHHHHH:
Nomar Garciaparra had a good day at the office on 5/10/1999: three homers (including two grand slams) and 10 RBI. Easy to forget exactly how dominant he was with the #RedSox. (via MLB/YT) pic.twitter.com/178FIHpcxG
— Matt Musico (@mmusico8) December 12, 2020
•  Nomar was pretty much fine for the Cubs after that 2004 midseason trade, and then obviously the follow-up year in 2005 was a disappointment mostly because of the injury. The Cubs didn’t get fleeced in the deal, and clearly it worked out well for the Red Sox, so I don’t really have much in the way of good or bad feelings about the trade in retrospect. It was just fine. But what’s interesting in looking back is how precipitously Garciaparra’s peak days disappeared after the trade, which was controversial at the time, given his legendary status in Boston. Not only was Theo Epstein (and his crew at the time, including Jed Hoyer) not going to extend NOMAH at age 30, he was trading the guy. And he was very right in the short-term and the long-term.
•  Also, how fun was that trade? Like, the day of it, I mean? Ah. Trade Deadline memories.
•  Pop-up sale at the MLB Shop today only, so you can get huge discounts plus free shipping. Get that Christmas shopping done, folks.
•  Cubs having some fun on IG (sound on):
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