NEWSLETTER
Last call for the big sports betting promos today if you’re wanting to get a little extra scratch while you watch the Super Bowl. I can’t guarantee it, but we’ve now been doing this a while, and I suspect these are the best promos you’ll see for a good bit. Just go here and scroll through the latest promo posts. They are good, and we appreciate your support.
• With Albert Almora, Jr. off to join the Mets, Bryan recalled the most important tag-up in baseball history:
Thanks Al. pic.twitter.com/zdA4w8Ixbk
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) February 7, 2021
• I think among the niche of hardcore Cubs fans, we appreciate that tag-up for what it was – both savvy as hell and critically important – but I don’t think the broader world has any idea about it. Or, for that matter, how close Kris Bryant came to being the World Series MVP by sending that ball out. Speaking of which, Bryan with the incredible pull:
I got something for you. According to Baseball Savant, KB has only ever hit ONE ball in Gameday Zone 11 (up and in) at least 370 ft to CF or RF. This was a good time to do it. pic.twitter.com/aeTg3ofCnb
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) February 7, 2021
• Instinctively, that looks right, as that’s a nearly impossible pitch to send deep the other way – you’ve gotta have tremendous strength, good loft, and get your hands waaaaaay in. I love that, even after all these years, we’re still finding out wild new facts about that game.
• Note that this means the average salary was going to drop in 2020 even before the pandemic was known to have an impact:
The average Major League Baseball salary dropped for an unprecedented third straight year, even before the shortened season. The 2020 average would have been $3.89 million in a full season, down 4.2% from 2019.
by @ronaldblum
https://t.co/iCk7E8560h— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) February 5, 2021
• As you look ahead to the post-2021 CBA negotiations, you’re going to need look no further than that data point, plus whatever happens to league-wide revenues. We know that revenues were outpacing salary growth for years before the pandemic, and although that creates a significant blip, I think players are going to be able to point to things getting out of balance. It’s just another reason why those negotiations look so foreboding. The players could stand to get things like a salary floor, a higher minimum salary, more money in arbitration, shorter service time requirements for free agency, better incentives for teams to compete, and on and on. My guess is the best way to get that stuff is going to be agreeing to a revenue-sharing system like the NFL and NBA, which will include a salary cap, and they’ll fight it. But as we’ve discussed, the owners already got their de facto salary cap with the luxury tax, and, in exchange, all the players got was … salaries declining for three straight years.
• (Obligatory caveat: with rosters expanding to 28 last year because of the pandemic season, it’s likely that most teams’ “extra” players were minimum salary guys, so there were more minimum salary guys overall in the bigs last year, which almost certainly contributed to the decline. But the overall point still stands.)
• Bonus note in that AP piece? The players’ grievance against the Marlins, Pirates, A’s, and Rays for failing to properly spend team revenue-sharing money is still pending. It was filed three years ago. That tells me the sides are maybe kinda hoping the next CBA can resolve the issue as part of the negotiations (and I’d guess the same is true of the grievance the players are going to file about the length of the 2020 season).
• Random love for Tony Campana’s hilarious speed:
Tony Campana appreciation post. @Tcampana_24 pic.twitter.com/qoPqHiIpQI
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS® (@obvious_shirts) February 6, 2021
• This was originally intended as a 2016 World Series joke:
Kyle Hendricks. https://t.co/7UvhYMjaSK
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) February 6, 2021
• But then a whole lotta non-Cubs fans got into my mentions about how my response was ridiculous, and now I mean it seriously. Give me Hendricks in Game 7 over anyone else in the game, and I’m gonna watch him shove and frustrate the hell out of other teams’ fans.
• Quade is coming – just an absolute storm of unnecessary nicknames will cascade down upon us all:
Uh Oh. @BleacherNation #Cubs pic.twitter.com/bX5LiSnXbu
— Sam Meteer (@SMeteer) February 6, 2021
• Rumors in the Bulls and Bears world, ranging from normal to eep:
Thaddeus Young is “Drawing the Most Interest” on a Bulls-Heavy Trade Markethttps://t.co/KCSGPQrEgX
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) February 6, 2021
Yes, We've Seen the Report About the Bears Trading Cohen, Foles, and a First for Carson Wentz https://t.co/zpQj8JFI1p
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) February 7, 2021
