The weather wound up screwing me yesterday, but I have made it to CubsCon. It’s just nice to be around Cubs fans, with the vibes steadily improving – thank God for the Shota Imanaga signing and the Michael Busch trade this week. Still should be some good questions at the front office panel, though …
There was no surprise Cody Bellinger announcement at the Opening Ceremonies, though he was mentioned FREQUENTLY by a chanting crowd. Heck, later on in the night, after it’d happened so many times, Jed Hoyer just straight up said he knew the crowd was about to do it again so he would lean into it:
I don’t think Jed was actually giving anything up there. He just knows the score. Cubs fans want Cody Bellinger back. And, for their part, I do believe the Cubs want him back, too, it’s just that the kind of deal he and Scott Boras were reportedly hoping to get earlier in the offseason was just not going to make sense for the Cubs. The longer it goes on, though, the more plausible it becomes that the sides will be able to figure out a workable structure. As the Cubs just showed with the Shota Imanaga deal, they can get creative.
As for the lefty bat thing, while Michael Busch improves the situation – assuming he can establish himself – Hoyer isn’t wrong that the Cubs could still use another bat that really hits well against righties. Consider that Busch just became only the second regular in the lineup who bats lefty (Ian Happ), pending whatever the Cubs do in center field (though neither Mike Tauchman nor Pete Crow-Armstrong would be viewed as run-producers). It’s an extremely right-handed group, and a disproportionate volume of the upper-tier, nearer-term position prospects are righty bats, too. Getting Cody Bellinger in the door on a reasonable deal – figure out the positional stuff later – makes a ton of sense for the lineup.
The news of the night was the announcement that Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez had been voted into the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame, which is about as deserving a duo as I could imagine.
This was how the Cubs announced Wood and Ramirez making the Cubs Hall, including to Wood and Ramirez, themselves, and it was pitch-perfect (and a little tear-inducing):
From Cubs.com, the reactions:
“I was just trying to clean the tears off quick,” Wood said. “Both of us, when the boys started talking, we’re like, ‘Ahh.’ You’re just so caught off-guard.”
“That’s hard to put into words,” Ramirez said. “It’s just an honor — just an honor. I was surprised. I didn’t know what was going on.”
I missed sharing this on Thursday:
Some of those spreads are legit, but some are downright hilarious. Are the Tigers ACTUALLY going to take Casey Mize to an arbitration hearing over $25K? Either way, glad the Cubs don’t have any of this ridiculousness to deal with, having avoided arbitration with all their eligible players.
The essential remix:
Much more to get into from the first couple days of CubsCon, but I have to get into this front office panel …
NEWSLETTER
