Don’t forget, it’s Early Black Friday all week at Amazon, so it’s a good time to head over and poke around. See if something you were already thinking of getting happens to be on a discount anyway. #ad
- On the whole, it seems like yesterday’s non-tender deadline featured some trades/player movement (it’s always minor, but Urshela to the Angels, Farmer to the Twins, Newman to the Reds, Suter to the Rockies – it’s at least interesting to me). But the actual non-tenders this year were pretty thin. Cody Bellinger was the big name, but his non-tender was widely expected, and he’s mostly a bounce-back candidate who wouldn’t have been discussed THIS MUCH around the baseball sphere if he’d just been a typical free agent heading into the offseason. (To be sure, *we* would still be discussing him a lot because of the fit with the Cubs, but he’s been getting attention that is disproportionate to his standing in free agency.)
- Otherwise, the biggest names are all guys who would be best described as possible complementary types, flier opportunities, or way-post-hype guys: RHP Alex Reyes, 1B Dominic Smith, 3B Jeimer Candelario, C Jorge Alfaro, OF/3B Brian Anderson, RHP Jeff Hoffman, LHP Manny Banuelos, 3B Jason Vosler, 1B Luke Voit, RHP Erick Fedde, 1B/3B Edwin Rios, RHP Luke Weaver, OF Adam Engel, INF Danny Mendick, RHP Touki Toussaint, LHP Ryan Yarbrough, OF Raimel Tapia, OF Franchy Cordero. I could talk myself into wanting to see the Cubs add a few of those guys on very modest deals (the first handful of guys, especially). They aren’t needle-movers, but low-cost additions matter, too, if you do well with them.
- So, what happens now? Historically, once the non-tender deadline passes, we see free agency and trades start to explode. But the thing is, historically, the non-tender deadline has been two weeks later than it was this year (December 2). With Thanksgiving coming next week, I suspect we’ll likely see a handful of moves around the league through Wednesday, and then a bit of a lull, and then the explosion starts to arrive that next week (which is the week before the Winter Meetings). As I said, though, this year is so different chronologically than what we’re used to (well, pre-pandemic, anyway!) that I could be wrong, and things could really start to pick up after the non-tender deadline, regardless of the calendar. So stay tuned.
- I’m still bummed about Brailyn Marquez. Not that the Cubs non-tendered him yesterday – after three seasons almost entirely away, it was not a shock – but instead that it played out the way it did, with the pandemic and the illnesses and the injuries. You just never know what might have otherwise been.
- Thank goodness the Cubs have overhauled their pitcher development program, and loaded up on tons more pitching prospects. Otherwise something like the loss of Marquez would’ve felt a lot more crushing. Maybe he finds his footing somewhere else in a relief role, or maybe there’s an outside shot the Cubs bring him back on a minor league deal. In either case, the chances he emerges as a big leaguer seem slim. Marquez, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, turns 24 in January.
- If you missed amidst the other stuff, long-time Brewers lefty Brent Suter was claimed on waivers by the Rockies, so he’s gone. Dude held Cubs hitters to a .237/.288/.308 slash line over his years with the Brewers, and posted a 2.73 ERA against them. I will not miss him or his ugly delivery in the NL Central.
- Classy as heck of Correa to want to tell his teammates as close to face-to-face as possible that he’s signing with the Cubs:
- In full catcher gear … muh heart:
- It really didn’t go as badly as people like to try to remember it:
- Things are going not-so-well for the Bulls right now: