FFFffffffffffffff. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, which means six more weeks of lockout …
• Speaking of which, new Chicago Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman does not mess around when speaking his mind, and the state of the lockout is no exception:
Truly feel sorry for the fans of baseball.
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) February 1, 2022
It didn’t come from me but…lol 😂🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/KTxv6ZJcNU
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) February 1, 2022
Manfred and his boys delaying the season for no reason. Not shocking. Lol 🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/dZJv3I9hVE
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) February 1, 2022
• I expect that, from here, we’re going to see more and more players vocal on social media about the state of things. The guys who aren’t signed yet are going to want the opportunity to get their lives settled. The guys who are signed are going to want to be able to start ramping up for the season with their teammates. And, overall, the players simply want a fairer shake in an industry where revenues are climbing but salaries have stagnated. We saw a little bit of the speaking out and solidarity demonstrations during the pandemic negotiations, but there has otherwise never been a work stoppage in baseball in the social media era. I don’t know that anyone knows exactly what this is going to look like if it starts to get really heated and public.
• (One note about the tweet Stroman was quoting, though, for clarity: Jeff Passan didn’t say a delay to the start of the regular season “feels inevitable.” He said a delay to Spring Training feels inevitable, which, yes, obviously at this point. As we’ve discussed, the regular season opener will be imperiled if there’s no deal by March 1 (but even then, I hate how crunched that would make Offseason Part 2 and Spring Training, so it’s not even remotely close to a “good” outcome – it’s just less awful than the regular season being impacted).)
• Because of the rebuild and last year, you might’ve expected the Cubs to be even worse in the NL Central, but frankly, being almost exactly .500 since 2010 sounds about right:
The MLB standings since 2010. A lot to unpack here pic.twitter.com/c6iOy5B6u1
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) January 24, 2022
• We’ve known for years that Kyle Hendricks throws two types of changeups, but thanks to Lance Brozdowski, we can actually see the precise difference in how he throws them:
More pitch shape fun hidden by classification? Kyle Hendrick's 2⃣ changeups. #Cubs
4S orientation to righties: 13" vrt / 10" hrz
2S orientation to lefties: 9" vrt / 15" hrzBiggest CH alteration in MLB, by a mile.
Examples below. Yesterday's vid: https://t.co/jyuZmb8yPk pic.twitter.com/bfUFlZIkJU
— Lance Brozdowski (@LanceBroz) February 2, 2022
• The general idea is that you’d like your changeup to run away from the hitter, which is easy enough to do when it’s the opposite-handed hitter, but much harder to do for same-handed. So Hendricks often cuts his changeup a bit to righties so that it doesn’t run back to them quite as much.
• Minor League Baseball has announced an initiative, paired with Black History Month, to honor Black pioneers in the sport, and connect with communities:
We are proud to introduce “The Nine,” a community outreach platform designed to honor the impact of Black baseball pioneers, provide new opportunities for youth participation and more.
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) February 1, 2022
• I hope you are enjoying/surviving/tolerating the snow:
With serious snow on the way, I'm reminded of the Cubs' Snow Day at Wrigley Field in 2018, when they had to postpone the home opener. Simpler times. pic.twitter.com/KdkkR11cq7
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) February 2, 2022
• Home plate visualization of a couple Yu Darvish pitches:
Yu Darvish, Cutter & Two Seamer, Individual Pitches + Overlay with tails. pic.twitter.com/uRnaJGubV4
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 1, 2022
• Boy it would be nice to see the Cubs get him back in exchange for taking back his salary and the Padres send the Cubs another prospect to facilitate the deal. Lulz.
• Pretty great historical pictures of the bleachers being built at Wrigley Field:
Wrigley Bleachers being built circa 1937 #cubs #WrigleyField pic.twitter.com/TogqRMXc0s
— Wrigley Report (@wrigleyreport) January 19, 2022
• Always watch knuckleballs:
My new YouTube Video:
69 Years of Knuckleballs and Grips! 🦋
Watch & Subscribe!
👇👇https://t.co/cq1DQ4duZS pic.twitter.com/Rs046ghJov— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) January 23, 2022
• Amazon’s got a deal where you can get an Echo Dot for just five bucks if you get the music, too, which means even if you don’t care about the music, it’s still waaaay cheaper than regular price. #ad
• Major stuff going down on the NFL side:
Former Miami Head Coach Brian Flores is Suing the NFL and the Giants After Receiving Accidental Bill Belichick Texts https://t.co/zwqDeG5qGF
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) February 1, 2022
REPORT: Jim Harbaugh is Going to Accept the Vikings Head Coaching Gig Tomorrow – https://t.co/4tG2T70mp9 pic.twitter.com/WCebNkURWm
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) February 2, 2022
• More love for Ayo:
Ayo Dosunmu Selected for Rising Stars Event at All-Star Weekend!https://t.co/Qdkc6SXtHi
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) February 2, 2022