The big kids’ school is doing a fundraiser tonight where you take home a meal from a local Italian restaurant, and I cannot possibly explain to you how excited I am. It comes with a cannoli kit! A CANNOLI KIT!!!
- Ian Happ getting some very well-deserved love as one of the best left fielders in baseball:
The BEST left fielders in the Big Leagues, according to The Shredder! @MLBNow | #Top10RightNow pic.twitter.com/YVtP2DjrOE
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 30, 2025
Ian Happ enjoyed a career year at the dish in Chicago, slugging 25 HR and 86 RBI while playing Gold Glove defense.
He is the #3 left fielder on the #Top10RightNow at left field. pic.twitter.com/JAPSN1ctB3— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 30, 2025
- That’s some significant praise when you consider some of the names Happ appears ahead of, and it’s not hard to see some of those guys putting up better seasons in 2025. The two Brewers appearing below Happ just feels like tempting fate ….
- That said, just two primarily left fielders have posted more WAR than Happ’s 10.7 over the last three seasons: Yordan Alvarez (a stretch to say he’s a left fielder rather than a DH) and Steven Kwan. Some of that is because other outfielders have moved around a bit but been worth more (Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo, Corbin Carroll), but a lot of it is simply that Happ is consistently good! He’s been 20% better than league average at the plate and has played top-tier defense in left field. It’s not the strongest positional group in baseball, but still – the Cubs clearly have one of the best left fielders in the game.
- After their moves this week signing Austin Hays and Wade Miley, and trading for Taylor Rogers, the Reds are apparently pretty much done with their roster remake. They look like a wide-variance 80-win team on paper to me, with as much chance to win 88 games as 72.
- Lance Lynn is apparently being considered by some teams as a late-inning reliever, rather than a starter. Whether the Cubs would be involved or not, Lynn’s presence in that market (and the recent addition of Ryan Brasier to the market, too) could perhaps help the Cubs lock down someone like David Robertson.
- Former Guardians reliever/swing-man Pedro Avila is now also on the market – the Guardians surprisingly DFA’d and outrighted him, which he rejected, and hit free agency. Just 28 and coming off back-to-back good seasons (3.59 ERA, 50% groundball rate over 133.0 IP), he’s going to find himself a strong minor league deal, unless I’m missing something (which I might be, because why did the Guardians dump this guy for nothing in the first place?). He doesn’t have minor league options remaining, so that’s a hurdle and presumably why he cleared waivers, but surely there’s a team out there that would pay a little extra on a minor league deal for Avila. Seems about as good of a pitcher as you can get on a minor league deal, actually, even if mostly as a potential innings-eater in lower-leverage.
- One more for the surprisingly-now-available relief group: Dylan Covey, DFA’d by the Mets. He was signed to a fresh big league deal after last season, which he’d spent mostly rehabbing at Triple-A (shoulder) in the Phillies’ system, but now the Mets are looking to move him. The 33-year-old righty doesn’t have options remaining, and has just one successful big league season under his belt back in 2023. But he does get groundballs at an elite rate, and was dominant at Triple-A when healthy enough to pitch. Probably not be enough to get him claimed on waivers, though, and he may wind up, like Avila, looking for a strong minor league deal.
- Hey, one more while we’re on it:
With relievers going off the board, one guy getting a lot of late interest is Kendall Graveman who is healthy after missing last season with a shoulder injury. Had back-to-back years of 60-plus appearances before going down. Lots of teams looking for set-up men after severalโฆ— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) January 30, 2025
- This is very good to hear, and I hope Todd is right:
Just waiting on the paper work to go through for Jaims Martinez. He's all duded up to be a Cub. In other words, officially unofficial. pic.twitter.com/Q1rQY5gRvo— Todd ⚾️🐻🦌 (@CubsCentral08) January 30, 2025
- We heard about the Cubs’ other when-will-he-sign prospect, Tadeo Gamez, earlier this week. So we’re just waiting on Martinez for the Cubs to close out what seems like kind of a monster IFA class.
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