I may not have relented yet on the early Christmas music, but I did on the lights. Yes, the lights are now up at our house and we turned them on last night for the first time of the season. Get out the yule log, I guess.
• I offer this only because it’s really how it happened, not because I’m trying to prove what a giant dork I am (you already know). I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about the Cubs’ position player needs. No joke. And specifically, I was thinking about how little left-handed power the Cubs have presently or coming soon. It’s actually pretty alarming when you start thinking about it: all of the power bats on the big league roster except Ian Happ are right-handed. The top upper-level power bats in the minors are Brennen Davis, Nelson Velazquez, and Christopher Morel, also right-handed. The lefty bats the Cubs will otherwise have available are not locks to contribute AND not power bats (Rafael Ortega, Alfonso Rivas, Jared Young, Greg Deichmann, etc.). I mean, the ONE big-time power bat you could even find in the top set of prospects is Owen Caissie, and he only just reached Low-A.
• As we talk about lineup diversity, we’ve often focused on the need for more high-contact bats in the lineup. But boy howdy do the Cubs need some left-handed power in the mix, too. And fast. Although he wasn’t talking about lefty thumpers specifically, consider the reminder from Jed Hoyer this week, via The Athletic:
“I know that’s been a common complaint of our teams — that they haven’t made enough contact — which has been fair,” Hoyer said. “But the overwhelming stats in the postseason (show) teams that out-homer their opponents win games. Having Nico (Hoerner) and (Nick) Madrigal in the lineup is a nice start. (Frank) Schwindel is really good at making contact. There’s always a tendency to overcompensate when you have an issue that you struggle with and go the other way. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that power wins games.”
• Very well put. Don’t overcompensate too far in the other direction, and make sure your lineup diversity features contact, but also power, but also lefty-righty balance, but also the ability to hit different types of pitches well, etc. Time to fold that into my thinking on where the Cubs need to make their additions, and also to keep on pushing for Kyle Seager. And maybe his brother, too.
• In the non-shockingest managerial news ever, the Giants have tacked on a couple more years to Gabe Kapler’s deal after he and his staff emerged as a perfect fit for the front office and players there. Things obviously did not work out with the Phillies, where I would put most of the blame on the unsettled front office there (did you read the article on just how bad things had gotten?), but it’s also probably a little bit of a managerial fit isn’t perfect in every situation.
• Former long-time Cubs exec Jason McLeod is exploring his options out there with a few teams in unspecified roles (NBCSC), but it doesn’t sound like he’s in a huge rush to land somewhere after spending virtually all of his time previously with either Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer or both. This is a wholly new opportunity for him.
• Toys and pet gifts and cameras and books and laundry stuff and more are your Early Black Friday Deals at Amazon. #ad
• The Northside Bound crew considered which Cubs prospects rocketed up the lists most this year, and what’s most incredible is how many plausible names there are. I mean, Nelson Velazquez doesn’t even make the list of five, and it’s not absolutely crazy that he didn’t! Instead, it’s Kevin Made, Owen Caissie, Max Bain, D.J. Herz, and Ryan Jensen. All fair. I think I would swap out Velazquez for Jensen, both because I was already pretty high on Jensen and also because his uneven year (stretches of unusability and stretches of complete unhittability) leaves me with the same starter/reliever questions we’ve long had, so he might actually fall a click or two in my rankings (because of the infusion of talent and other climbers). The other four, though, made enormous leaps in the rankings from this time last year until now.
• Sometimes you get too close to something and forget how cool it was. I mean, the guy hopped every time he knew he got one. We took it for granted, but that was some cool shit:
Hopping into the weekend pic.twitter.com/5BvsIEVNhP
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) November 12, 2021
• Speaking of which, Willson Contreras wasn’t hiding his thoughts on a Cubs legend being estranged, still, from the organization:
Willson Contreras wants Sammy back at Wrigley pic.twitter.com/uvRiJt8uw2
— Cubs Insider (@realcubsinsider) November 12, 2021
• Remember when it snowed at Wrigley Field and some fun players had some fun:
Snow much fun. â„ï¸âš¾ï¸#OpeningDay #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/lotqsTATlX
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 9, 2018