The Rundown: Cubs Still Have Holes to Fill, Bryant-to-Braves Rumors Continue, Sosa Speaks, Sign Stealing Technology Goes Back 70 Years

I have a bunch of catching up to do in other areas of my life, so it’s just bullets today. Don’t be sad, I can stretch the mundane task of providing other’s content into quite a few words. As Sue and my girls used to tell me, “Michael Canter, you’ve got so many words.”

What I’m saying is I still managed to hit 1,000 on the nose. Feel free to count them for confirmation.

Cubs New & Notes

Thursday Stove

MLB.com identifies three hypothetical trades for Arenado involving the Cardinals, Rangers, and Braves.

How close is baseball to a blockbuster trade now that Donaldson has signed?

The Mets have yet to address the status of new manager Carlos Beltrán in the wake of punishments levied against the Astros for stealing signs in 2017. Beltrán was an outfielder for that time and not a coach, and, though players weren’t penalized, he will likely present a bit of distraction during spring training and the regular season, if not a total PR disaster.

To curtail sign stealing going forward, MLB could employ new technology designed to fight existing technology.

A Los Angeles Councilman is demanding that Rob Manfred name the Dodgers as 2017 and ’18 World Series champions. They’ve even drafted a resolution that will be voted on by members of the Council before officially presenting their case to Manfred.

Meanwhile, Red Sox CEO Samuel H. Kennedy stated that Boston won the 2018 title without cheating.

Jason Varitek is the odds-on favorite to replace Álex Cora as the Red Sox manager. That would probably be the best PR move the Boston front office could make.

An old press conference quote by Cora regarding Beltrán sure looks a little suspicious in hindsight.

Cora’s managerial career is more than likely over, and a case could probably be made that Hinch and deposed Houston GM Jeffrey Luhnow are probably not likely to get second chances with other organizations.

The $11.5 million contract that the Dodgers gave to Cody Bellinger will pay him 19 times what he made in 2019. We all dream of raises like that, am I right? Most of us remain stuck in the 3-4% club, which is the average pay increase for working Americans this year.

The Mets could use the White Sox offseason moves as a model for next winter.

Former Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine recalled what had been — up to this week —  baseball’s biggest sign stealing scandal. The 1951 Giants allegedly rigged a spyglass-and-buzzer system in late July to steal catchers’ signals and tip off their hitters. That may have been an immense help in coming from 13.5 games back in mid-August to steal the National League championship from Brooklyn.

Extra Innings

Raise your hand if you’re as tired as I am of updates that aren’t really updates.

They Said It

  • “[Mark McGwire and I] brought the game back. What hurts me the most is that I see a lot of players that don’t have the numbers that I have and they have more points than me and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness.’  They treat me like I don’t deserve anything.”  – Sammy Sosa
  • “They cannot have an excuse to put me in the dark… to forget about me, to forget about my numbers.” – Sosa
  • “If they’re going to go back to 2017 with penalties for the Astros, then I want them to go all the way back to 1951 to help us.” – Carl Erskine

Thursday Walk Up Song

Someday We’ll Go All the Way by Eddie Vedder. My top song of the decade and an easy choice. It was written and filmed in 2008, but Vedder waited until 2016 to release it. How prophetic.

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