Season One of ‘Loki’ was surprisingly compelling and fun. Season Two of ‘Loki’ was an absolute mess. The finale was fine, but continued that same string of trying so hard to make us care about one-dimensional characters, off-screen drama, and needlessly convoluted machinery. I am glad it’s over, which is sad. And I don’t expect ‘The Marvels’ to make me feel better about the state of the MCU, but The Little Boy really wants me to take him …
- Here’s hoping this translates to Tom Ricketts maximizing the financial flexibility this offseason:
- Ultimately, I think the Cubs’ financial flexibility this offseason is going to depend a great deal on the possible targets (i.e., I genuinely believe they will find the money for Ohtani, for example, if he were willing to sign with them), and I think it probably maxes out at about the second tier of the luxury tax (where your next draft pick doesn’t get dropped 10 spots). That would mean the Cubs will go no higher than $277 million at the absolute highest – again, that’s just my gut – and even that’s probably their “stretch” level. The good news is that they could therefore have upwards of $90 million to work with from here if they really max out.
- Also, the Craig Counsell deal (5/$40 million) doesn’t count against the luxury tax, so that’s already a way to put some money to work to improve the team, without impacting future player payroll spending.
- It turns out the Cubs did not know whether Marcus Stroman would be opting out until the actual phone call between his agent and Jed Hoyer to opt out. They had talked that weekend about things, but even still, Hoyer did not have a sense whatsoever until it happened. โI think he felt like in this market heโd secure a multiyear deal and I think that was a priority,โ Hoyer said, per the Tribune. โItโs not often when I truly didnโt know what direction that was going to go. Thatโs why we had a bunch of conversations because I think they were kind of feeling it out and thinking about it too.”
- Given the Cubs’ reluctance to engage in extension talks, and their general preference against multi-year deals for pitchers in their mid-30s, I would be surprised if the Cubs seriously discussed with Stroman a new deal, especially if he winds up getting three years.
- Porter Hodge, 22, is Rule 5 eligible this year, but it would be a really aggressive pull for a big league team to pluck him all the way from Double-A after his mixed results there. Good peripherals, though, and as BA explores, apparently some killer pitches:
- I didn’t realize just how much of an outlier that Hodge cutter is, or how unique his delivery is. The Cubs LOVE oddities and extremes like that, and basically all other orgs love stellar pitch quality metrics. So regardless of results, and regardless of his limited experience above A-ball, maybe a club would try to poach Hodge in the Rule 5? When he was breaking out in 2022, and even up to mid-2023, it seemed all but assured that Hodge would be protected this fall. Maybe that’s still the case, as you would hate to lose him to some rebuilding club, have them stash him for a year in the big league bullpen, and then they get to keep him. The protection deadline comes early next week, by the way.
- This is a great point about Craig Counsell’s postseason record (and about the impact tip-top players seem to consistently have on postseason outcomes):
- Wrigley Field is the best. The staff there makes it so much better:
- Shohei Ohtani, generous player:
- I also like the inadvertent google translate version that has Ohtani donated 1.2 billion baseball gloves:
- I like this guy so much: