Cubby-Blue

Despite contractual angst, there's alot of Cubs Spring goodness.

If you just forget that Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez need new contracts, things are actually pretty cool in Mesa.
It's just baseball.
KB hit his first springdinger.
Joc Pederson looks like a total beast.
Bummer for Cameron Maybin, but Jake Marisnick's calf healed and he's looking really good for outfielder #4.
Bleacher Nation says, "After today's performances, Jake Marisnick (1.500) has overtaken Joc Pederson (1.442) for the Cubs spring OPS lead."  (that statement has the usual "small sample" warning of course).
Pedro Strop got out of Covid-cheating jail and into the save column yesterday. Just great seeing him out there smiling in a Cubs uni again.
Trevor Williams, the guy who grew up in a Cub Fan household, will more than likely be the #4 starter after looking so good this spring.
Jake Arrieta has... well we all know about the slider(s), but he's got this curve that's really working for him. And he's sharing knowledge with Adbert Alzolay which seems to be making Adbert better. 
Willson Contreras has 9 hits in 29 at bats, 3 of 'em homers. 
We all know who's gonna be starting position-wise except at 2nd, except wait... it's going to be Nico Hoerner, right?
We got to hear Pat Hughes. 
The Cubs hired a female announcer for the first time in their history, Beth Mowins, and she was awesome in her debut yesterday.
There's just a ton of good stuff going on, and fan-wise you have to be feeling pretty dang good going into... real baseball games.
That's just 11 days away at 1:20 vs the Pirates. 

What else?
The other night, I realized that I had the grill going and... IT WAS STILL BRIGHT DAYLIGHT OUTSIDE!

Summer is gonna be here in no time, which makes me SO HAPPY.
What makes me sad?
Finding an xacto blade in a drawer.

Okay.
Go Cubs.
Oh yeah, the Javy Baez painting.
That's Javy with his bat that can splatter baseballs. 

Cub fan still can't talk about it.

This is gonna be a looong time recovering.
I mean, given all the circumstances (most notably the lack of $$ ownership is willing to spend), making changes was the only way to go.
I knew that.
For a really long time now.
And still, it felt so fast and unexpected.
You ever see a movie called "Joe Black"?
Brad Pitt movie, and I remember it because it was one of the first to have such a shocking, realistic car wreck in it.
Scene has stuck with me forever.

That's what it felt like.

I still can't talk about who went for who and what did the Cubs get back.
Don't really want to yet.
But here are a couple quotes that I'll never forget.
August, 2014, Anthony Rizzo said, "If we're going to do anything in the near future, we need to take care of our division first. Because that's how you stay in the race. And you want to be contending this time next year."
Contending next year?
You heard Cubs say things like that before, but in the context of 2014... it had a new feeling to it.
For the first time, you paid attention because it felt real.
And here was a kid who just spoke up like he was the guy who should.
The Captain.
And Kris Bryant.
When he first came to the Cubs and people were like... he's too tall for 3rd base. 
Would he consider a different position?
And he said that he was a baseball player, not a 3rd baseman.
The hottest prospect the Cubs ever had, a star already, and he was still team first.
I don't need to tell you how rare that is.
Javy Baez... I know I just put a word of caution about this little dustup with the Reds, but now?
I already miss whatever it was he yelled at Amir Garrett.
Guy has an irreplaceable spirit.
Plus, now it's normal for people to talk about tagging as if it's a special skill.
Nobody ever thought about it before El Mago.

He hit his first homer for the Mets last night.
Anthony Rizzo's got 2 for the Yankees.
Kris Bryant had to take a day to fly across the country after finding out he was traded to San Francisco while standing in a dugout in Washington.
We never got to say good bye.
I'm sure that they'll get a tremendous reaction whenever their new teams come to town, and maybe that'll help.
Because right now I keep looking at the Cubs lineup and thinking what the hell, WHERE ARE OUR GUYS?

Now look.
I spoke way more than I thought.
Whatever.
Like I said, this'll take some time.

The Cubs are a different team now.

 

Here are paintings of Javy Baez...

... and Kris Bryant.

I got nothin'.
I need a month. 

Anthony Rizzo traded to the Yanks. Sad day.

 

I knew trades were gonna happen.
Right?
I spent days getting my head together just for this.
And still...

This'll make sense in a minute.

My son got me this coffee grinder.
It's a really cool one, and I've been using it ever since.
But on the second morning of using it, I... poured water into the pot to boil, got the grinder out, poured some beans into my measuring thing, and then when I poured the beans into the grinder, I didn't realize I'd left the top on.
It's clear plastic.
It was brand new, with no scratches or anything on it.
Plus, no-caffeine means groggy.
I just didn't see it.
So the beans appeared to be bouncing off an invisible force shield, and they scattered all over the counter.


In those few seconds before I figured out what was going on, I lost my grip on this earth.
Nothing made sense.
Beam me up, Scotty, I don't know where I am.

And that's exactly how it felt when I saw the text from my buddy: "Just said on The Score... done deal. Rizzo to the Yanks."

I guess I was prepared for Kris Bryant, for sure Kimbrel, not so much Javy Baez, but Anthony Rizzo was sort of... I just didn't believe he'd be departing.
It was so shocking.
I can't yet talk about who the Cubs got in the deal.
There's still 4 more hours til the Trade Deadline is up, and any damn thing can happen, so...
Just gonna spend the day in shock and grief mode.
Catch up on the deets later.
The linked YouTube vid is a bunch of paintings I've done of Rizzo over the years.

Chafin traded to A's.

Of course this one was gonna happen.
Andrew Chafin dealt to Oakland for AAA outfielder Greg Deichmann and low-A righty pitcher Daniel Palencia.
You can read more about them at Trade Rumors, but the general talk is this is a pretty good deal for the future Cubs.
But you and I are so gonna miss Chafin's excellent/reliable arm, crazy-funny outlook on life, and that 'stache.
A genuine baseball character, the kind you really don't see at all any more.
Anyway, 4 days to go now so just be ready.
And I'm gonna say this out loud just because it's in my brain.
At this point in this particular season, the value of Craig Kimbrel may be more to other teams than the value of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo or Javy Baez.
I expect the Cubs to get a legitimate haul for Kimbrel.
But should any of The Core go, well... in addition to being just sad about it, I also expect to be underwhelmed with the return.
Just sayin'.
Be ready for that so it doesn't slap you too hard. 

What else?
The Cubs got a pretty great 6-5 W last night vs the Reds.
Kyle Hendricks was not himself, more student that professor, gave up 5 runs on 9 hits in 4.1.
Couple dingers.
But then Morgan/Brothers/Thompson/Kimbrel shut it down.
Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras hit homers, but the big hit of the night was Javy Baez's.
With Patrick Wisdom, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner on and 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, Baez pinch hit the first pitch he saw over the Red center fielder's head.
Hit it off historically angry Amir Garrett.
Then Javy did some serious celebrating on the way to first.
Very entertaining and feels great short term, but Garrett... that guy's liable to throw at people.
Hopefully we don't see that tonight.
Cubs vs Reds. Wrigley at 7:05. 
Adbert Alzolay.
It would be really great if Alzolay started stringing together some nice, controlled, less homer-givey-uppy starts for the rest of the season so he can come into next year with momentum. 

Okay here's the trade map, sure to get busier this week.


Go Cubs.

MLB Trade Deadline is Friday at 3 PM (Chi Time). Let's not talk about it.

I was walking in the park this morning and found a BRYANT AND RIZZO WENT BACK TO BACK donut on the ground.
So AWESOME AND YET sad.
I wonder who WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THOSE GUYS dropped it.
Did RIZZO TO THE RED SOX? the bag break?
Were they also carrying coffee and it BRYANT TO THE METS? spilled or something?
Did they think about picking DID JAVY HURT HIMSELF OR NOT it up before OH IT'S A BRUISED HEEL the pavement poisoned it?
Hell, even FREAKING MAPLES CAN'T GET THE LAST OUT I thought KIMBREL HAD TO COME IN AND DO IT about it.
But then... nah I'm WILL HE BE A DODGER? not touching that thing.
Who knows SO MANY QUESTIONS who dropped it. 
Some good samaritan will come THIS WEEK IS GONNA SUCK along and put it in the trash.

Then as I stood there, I had this weird thought: do donuts go to heaven if nobody eats them?
___________________________________

Oh yeah, there's 4 games at Wrigley with the Reds in town.
3 night games, and then Thursday is a 1:20.
The trade deadline is 3:00 Chicago time on Friday.
The Cubs will play in Washington at 6:05.
They'll be a different team by then.
So... hang in there.
It's going to hurt, but A) there's nothing we can do about it and B) they HAVE to do something to get back to elite.
(Yes I'm very aware that the Ricketts could stop all this crap by pulling out the checkbook, but that's not happening.)

This week will feel like slowly pulling off unwanted body hair with duct tape.

Already does.

I'll be so happy when Yadi retires.

First... pardon my language.
This is in the vein of the old "I hate the Astros Page", only to be honest I don't hate the Cardinals like I do the cheating Astros.
The Astros are douchebags.
The Cardinals are just.. The Necessary Evil.
The foil.
The Yadi.
Yadier Molina has been their chief evil for so many years now, it's just... getting old.
He smacked an extra-inning ground rule walk-off double last night and ruined a perfectly good Cub comeback.
And he hit it off Craig Kimbrel, so it hurt just that much worse.
Cardinals 3, Cubs 2.
No time to write today, but last night's sudden loss was in stark contrast to the IMPOSSIBLE 6-run 9th we all enjoyed the previous evening.
So lets hope Adbert Alzolay can put it all together tonight at 6:15 PM vs 5-5, 2.77 ERA guy Kwang Hyun Kim.
Go Cubs, and I hope this made you laugh at least a little.