“If you look at baseball right now, there’s a lot of really nice tailwinds. Attendance is up, ratings are up. There’s a lot of things going in the right direction. We’ve got a lot of good young stars and exciting young players, and that’s all going well.
“There are some challenges. The regional sports network model has been under pressure for the last few years. Certain teams felt it the most this offseason, and it’ll take a while for it to work out, but it’s certainly a challenge for the entire league.” — Tom Ricketts.
Marquee had a series of player interviews — here’s the playlist. (FYI, I will remove these periodically.) Lots more video below.
Brett Taylor had some words about the Ben Cowles DFA in his bullets, where he speculated that the reassignment bid might be about Cowles/Owen Miller more than Steele. I dunno. Miller’s 29 and has had enough cups of coffee to equal just about two MLB seasons. and the data isn’t prepossessing. But maybe. I think they’re just doing it now to avoid waiver claims, which are unlikely with everyone at full-40 this early. Miller isn’t better than Cowles, or Triantos, or Ramirez, which I think is the depth order behind Shaw.
As always, developments. We practice patience.
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- Ignacio Ventura (KJZZ*): Chicago Cubs plan player housing, 4-story hotel near Sloan Park in Mesa. “The site, spanning over 3 acres, would be built on vacant land and be next to Sloan Park, the largest MLB spring training stadium.“
- Jason Ross (North Side Baseball*): Exploring the best- and worst-case scenarios for the 2026 Chicago Cubs. “Opening Day isn’t that far away.“
- Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs’ Tom Ricketts calls Marquee ‘maybe the smartest thing we’ve done’ amid shifting TV landscape. “The local TV broadcast landscape in Major League Baseball is a growing problem.“ Maddie Lee* has more from Tom.
- Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball*): Why the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers always seem to like the same pitchers. “It’s not a coincidence, and it adds an absurd kind of tension to their rivalry.”
- Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): After a rookie campaign in which he ‘dominated’, what can Cade Horton do in Year 2? “There (weren’t) many challenges when he was pitching. He did. He was outstanding. Now it’s: Do it again. Do it over a full season.”
- Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks looks make an impact after an ‘extremely frustrating’ season. “I want to be in Chicago and whatever role that looks like I will conform to that role and figure it out,” Wicks said.
- Peter Chawaga (Forbes* {$}): Cubs’ Dansby Swanson addresses $177 million disappointment. “I feel like I haven’t been what I’ve wanted to be over the last few years,” Swanson said.
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Consistency the key for PCA after up-and-down breakout season. “With his outgoing personality and dynamic style of play, Crow-Armstrong found stardom as a focal point of the Cubs’ postseason team last year.“
Food For Thought:
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