I am bummed the Cubs did not make these playoffs, man. There is fun stuff happening. I wish the Cubs were somehow involved.
- That made me think of something that’ll just say out of context for now, but will obviously be explored throughout the offseason. Having done this a long time, I can say that, when teams take a huge step forward year-to-year, they often look a whole lot like the Chicago Cubs’ situation right now: solid big league core, deep and yet also top-heavy farm system, financial flexibility to make impact additions.
- Does that mean the 2024 Cubs WILL take a big step forward from 2023? Of course not. They might not do enough this offseason. Baseball might get squirrelly next year. Stuff happens. But I’m just saying, this is the SHAPE we often see when teams jump from 80-ish wins to 90-ish. (All the more reason NOT to screw around this offseason, and make sure you add those impact pieces!)
- Cody Bellinger offers up the after-season thank you to, among others, Cubs fans (who assuredly all respond with, please let this just be the beginning):
- You have GOT to be kidding me with this. Itโs the mediaโs fault that Arcia said what he said, they reported it, and Harper knocked the Braves silly:
- I like Bryce Harper a lot:
- Hey, I know what team they tied:
- Hey, that’s a former Cubs prospect he’s referencing:
- Francisco Lindor had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, but is expected to be good to go for Spring Training.
- Cubs pitcher Jordan Wicks is hooked on hockey now, thanks to Connor Bedard (who scored his first goal last night):
- More tumult in the RSN world:
- That’s not the same as a provider dropping the RSN – which has also happened in recent years, obviously – but it’s pretty darn close. The whole value proposition for teams and RSNs was that their channel would be carried on the most basic tier of cable, thus they get carriage fees for every subscriber, thus the team can get massive rights fees from the RSN. Whether the provider drops the channel or boots it to an ultra-premium tier, the impact is the same: carriage fees to the RSN fall dramatically, and the desire to pay massive rights fees to the team goes down significantly.
- In the end, remember, these are all just variations on a theme: the RSN business model is crumbling to dust, and MLB and its teams will have to figure out ways to replace the coming loss in revenue from the old model. For many teams (like the Cubs) that will include a robust direct-to-consumer streaming option, which at least cushions the transition. For other teams, it will involve getting subsumed by the league and offered up as part of a bundle (with MLB’s end goal to be that ALL games for ALL teams would someday be available, without blackouts, on a single service).
- Former Cubs coach Will Venable is still a hot managerial candidate, but for now, he’s taking himself off the market to stick with the Rangers under Bruce Bochy:
- There’s a good chance that *IF* the Cubs made a change at manager after the 2024 season, Venable would be receiving a call to interview. Is that a factor in him staying off the circuit this year? Eh, I doubt it. Way too much speculation there, including him having to guess that David Ross would be fired next year – faaaaar from a lock. Instead, I wonder if he is simply very happy with the Rangers right now, and thinks he’ll have a chance to succeed Bochy in a couple years.
This chart is OUTSTANDING:
- It really gives you a sense of how each pitch type fits into a VERY GENERAL movement bucket. Toss in the velocity differences (not included in the chart, but generally speaking the higher-velocity pitches are the higher groups), and you have an even better understanding of how these pitches work together. You can also see how and why pitch classifications bleed together for different pitchers. (Also, dollars to donuts: one of those weird, outlying four-seam fastballs to the right of the main group is Justin Steele’s.)