NEWSLETTER
The Grammys are still all over my timeline, podcasts, etc. I guess it’s nice that people are still really into music awards show type stuff, and now I feel like I miss out a bit by not particularly caring.
- “Why didn’t you jerks offer us more?”:
- That has to be what that tweet means, right? Like, the source is with Cleveland, and they are telling Morosi that lots of teams want Emmanuel Clase (Cubs almost certainly included, per reports), but that none of the offers have been close to what they’re looking for. And, hey, maybe teams are lowballing them, given Clase’s age, contract, and TYPICALLY great performance. But he doesn’t come without warts, and teams are simply not going to give up a massive haul of prospects for almost any reliever, even a young closer on a good contract.
- That’s the other way to think about the report: it’s a last call for best offers if a team wants to get Clase before pitchers and catchers report. I kinda doubt that is what would leverage a team to up their offer after months of talks, but we’ll see. My gut says we can put this idea to bed for now for the Cubs, and maybe for all teams.
- In case you didn’t notice it as part of the coaching staff announcements, Cubs co-minor league hitting coordinator Rachel Folden is getting an extra duty this year as the hitting coach at Double-A Tennessee:
- Folden previously had hitting coach duties in Arizona before her hitting coordinator role, so she’s not necessarily new to the position (indeed, she’ll probably be working with many of the same hitters she’s worked with before – love that continuity). But this is a pretty big jump up the ladder on the coaching side, and a reflection of how she’s viewed in the organization as an instrumental part of the hitter development infrastructure. And although she is not getting this promotion because she’s a woman, I don’t think it should go without mention that Folden is one of the highest-level female coaches in the sport. My guess is that, for much of her career, she’s had to be that much better at her job to get these opportunities in the first place, so I’m very glad the Cubs have been able to retain and promote her for five years now.
- On the heels of his top-100 prospect list reveal, The Athletic’s Keith Law also wrote up the ten prospects who just missed. I’ll spare you the suspense and say, nope, still no Owen Caissie. Other rankings uniformly have Caissie in the top-50 prospects in baseball, so Law is the clear outlier here. That doesn’t mean he’s wrong, of course, but we’re just going to have to guess on how you don’t have a guy like Caissie, with super elite contact quality and who crushed Double-A in his age-20 season, as one of the top-110 prospects in baseball. It’s presumably going to be the strikeouts and the corner outfield (at best) defensive profile, which are genuine concerns in terms of Caissie’s entire prospect package. But for me, the extreme power, the size, the arm, the discipline, and the age at which he was having his success, that’s all top-50 prospect stuff.
- The price tag on Phil Maton, like all the relievers at this point in the offseason, was quite reasonable:
- If you missed it, this year’s Spring Training caps dropped yesterday (they are for sale here), and here’s the full slate:
- The Cubs cap is among the best this year, and that seems to be a wide sentiment, not just a homer-infused one. The walking bear has never been my favorite logo, but you know what? When it’s unmoored from the C, it actually looks a lot cooler. This is the first time I can recall seeing it like that on official gear, and I dig it. Again, you can get it here if you’re wanting one.
- Others I like: the Phillies with the Liberty Bell, the Rays is good, the Diamondbacks is a good use of the baby blue, and I like the Nationals going with the big W look. Maybe the best non-Cubs one, though, is the Twins – it’s the Minneapolis/St. Paul flags. Love the look. Love the idea.
- On the downside, there are several that are like … what is the point? Reds? Yankees? Angels? Giants? Rockies? Marlins? What a waste. Don’t even bother.
- I won’t opine on the likelihood of success here since I’m not a Nevada constitutional expert, but it’s a reminder that the public funding component of the A’s move to Las Vegas is not quite yet at 100%:
- This will never not be so much fun:
- Same with this:
- Even in college, Kyle Hendricks was a middle-aged accountant (but a very good one):
- A day in the life of Ian Happ, who has an at-home sauna, and that is sweet:
