Cubs Dominate Manager of the Year Voting Kinda, Owners Meetings, DFA Targets, Boog Awarded, and Other Cubs Bullets

Nov 15, 2023

If anyone else is planning ahead to get an advent calendar for their kids, the Lego ones are 25% off at Amazon right now (#ad). They are silly but I have really enjoyed them the last few years.

The Cubs had two cracks at the Manager of the Year Award, but didn’t win with either of them:

The NL Manager of the Year Award winner is Skip Schumaker of the Miami @Marlins! pic.twitter.com/pwdEJREA2I
— MLB (@MLB) November 14, 2023

Here is the full breakdown of NL Manager of the Year voting: pic.twitter.com/I1p0b9TEFJ
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 14, 2023

It would’ve been hilarious if Craig Counsell had won his first ever Manager of the Year award on his way out of the Milwaukee door. And it’s kinda humorous that David Ross got a second place vote.

Meanwhile, old friend Brandon Hyde was the winner in the American League, so basically the Cubs dominated the Manager of the Year voting:

The AL Manager of the Year Award winner is Brandon Hyde of the Baltimore @Orioles! pic.twitter.com/o3H334kfX3
— MLB (@MLB) November 14, 2023

No Andrew Bailey for the Cubs coaching staff, as he’s reportedly being hired by old friend Craig Breslow in Boston, where he’ll serve as Alex Cora’s pitching coach.

The owners will vote tomorrow on whether to approve the A’s move to Las Vegas. It is expected to be an easy yes vote. Then it’ll be four years of extraordinarily awkward seasons while the A’s play some in Oakland, maybe some in San Francisco, and maybe some in their minor league park in Las Vegas.

The owners meetings, as that implies, are going on right now. It’s possible we’ll get some other rule-related news this week, but I don’t know that anything too major is on the table just yet. For example, the automated balls and strikes plan (challenge system!) probably has some more committees to go through before it will actually be considered for the following season. I don’t have my hopes up for 2024.

Congrats to Boog and Marquee:

https://twitter.com/JeffAgrest/status/1724508573651095676

The Mariners DFA’d hulking slugger Mike Ford yesterday as part of their roster maneuverings, and although that power is impressive and he’s the TYPE of first base option I could see the Cubs going for if they land a big bat elsewhere, I’m not sure he’d be worth more than a minor league deal as a Triple-A depth first base option (lefty with power). The Cubs might prefer to just have Matt Mervis and Haydn McGeary be their depth first basemen next year. Random fun fact: Ford is the only player I can remember seeing who had a year (2022) where he saw time with FOUR different teams at BOTH their Triple-A level AND their MLB level. That’s eight different places in one season!

Maybe the more interesting DFA yesterday as far as the Cubs are concerned is Cal Quantrill, the 28-year-old righty who was really quite effective from 2020-2022 before shoulder issues and underperformance really sank his 2023 season. Given that his expected arbitration price tag was approaching $7 million, it’s not at all hard to see why the Guardians are letting him go (as a DFA, he could be waived, traded, or released over the next seven days). It’s all very health and price dependent, but given the connection there with Carter Hawkins, I could see the Cubs considering a flier here on a low/no-risk deal. Quantrill has had big league success as a starter and a reliever, has solid contact management skills and a decent groundball rate. His fastball sits at 94 mph. Lotta good bones to work with, and that’s the type of guy the Cubs like to take a chance on remaking. You’d have to first figure out how to get him to miss a few more bats, though – his 13.1% K rate in 2023 was the lowest among all pitchers with at least 99.2 innings pitched except for Adam Wainwright.

Should also be up on Spotify soon, but they seem to be having problems:

New episode of “Onto Waveland” with @BleacherNation and @sahadevsharma: First impressions of Craig Counsell, how it ended for David Ross, and where the Cubs go from here. ⬇️https://t.co/DPEIarBUUK— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) November 15, 2023

It still brings me so much delight:

2023 PitchingNinja Award for Best Actor. 🏆

Winner: Seiya Suzuki pic.twitter.com/WV1d7N7lXE
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) November 15, 2023

Absolutely incredible to see one of the all-time greats getting props over in Europe. Aaron Judge was also there:

Aaron Judge and Mike Tauchman were in Florence over the weekend to take in some @SerieA action at @acffiorentina ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/IGsZ07JxVD
— MLB Europe (@MLBEurope) November 15, 2023

I’m sure this happens all the time, and I’m also sure there are reasonable-ish logistical reasons for it, but it’s still kinda wild:

This ismy banner at Citi in 2022. Look odd? That’s because my face is photoshopped on to Seth Lugo’s body.

That’s his Wilson glove, Adidas cleats, and definitely his delivery LOL. pic.twitter.com/aZ3KRNsYXU— Trevor May (@IamTrevorMay) November 15, 2023

Finally, but the time is now extremely limited for Justin Fields to show enough that the Bears pass on the top two QBs (if they are in position to take one):

REPORT: Justin Fields Expected to Start For Bears in Week 11https://t.co/u4SWjNmYZ8 pic.twitter.com/aoTxVAgfXY
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 15, 2023

Do you know how good you have to be as a manager to get your own HYPE video:

Let the Craig Counsell era begin. pic.twitter.com/djd16RXdwx
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) November 15, 2023

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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Cubs Dominate Manager of the Year Voting Kinda, Owners Meetings, DFA Targets, Boog Awarded, and Other Cubs Bullets

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