Sports
The day has come. Today is opening day of the Chicago Cubs 2023 season. In a few minutes Marcus Stroman will start the season with his first pitch to Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers. The sun is shinning at Wrigley Field with clear skies and 39 degree temperature. Hoping for a Cubbie win!
Will The 2023 Chicago Cubs Be Trade Deadline Buyers?
BleedCubbieBlue.com puts the Dansby Swanson contract in context:
“This is the largest deal that Jed Hoyer’s front office has inked during his time in charge, and it’s just really not that big of a contract relative to the rest of the league or the Cubs monetary might. It doesn’t crack the top ten in MLB in years or AAV. It is the second largest deal in the history of the Cubs franchise, and it is nowhere near the top 20 contracts as of 2021, let alone ever.”
What I see in Hoyer is a baseball executive afraid to make a mistake. Under the rubric of sustaining success one may never have the chance to win championships. What we appear to have here is a plan of waiting to see how the season goes, and if half way through they have a real chance, then make trades to sign players you need, which is what happened in 2016.
The question then is whether the Cubs have enough talent going in to the season to have a good first half and be buyers at the trade deadline. With the players they have signed and the young talent they have, the 2023 Chicago Cubs on paper are better than the 2022 Chicago Cubs, the problem though is that the Cardinals have also gotten better, and they added Wilson Contreras to a team with the reigning MVP.
Chicago Cubs Already Five Games Behind in NL Central
No matter how frustrated and angry I am with the Chicago Cubs front office for not signing any free agents of consequence, it doesn’t matter. The only real thing that matters is how Ricketts (the owner) feels about the result. If I am the owner of a team and I give the people running the team the greenlight to spend money to improve the team and they don’t do it, I am not happy with their results and I will come to the conclusion that changes are needed.
Hoyer has been a big part of the decision making since after the Cubs won the World Series. Since 2017 the Cubs have regressed in their effort to return to the World Series. Looking for changes from the same people making decisions is insane, you need to change the decision makers to get a different result.
The bottom line is that the Chicago Cub’s division competitors have become much better this off season than the Cubs, and so they are losing the offseason. It might be that the Cubs surprise with their own talent, but I think that Ricketts has to start losing patience with Hoyer. If the Cubs are at the bottom of the division and out of the running by June, I think Hoyer must go. If Hoyer continues to stay then I can only conclude that he is performing to the level Ricketts expects and therefore all the talent decisions are on him.
Over one hundred years and only one radio play by play person has called a World Series win for the Chicago Cubs.
Wilson Contreras signing with the Cardinals is the absolute worst case scenario for the Chicago Cubs front office. They better hope that Contreras does not become a Cubs killer or the fan base will never let them hear the end of it. The Cub’s unwillingness to do what it takes to keep players who fans grew to love is extremely frustrating.
Six years ago today the greatest game ever played was on a Wednesday in Cleveland.
I think 538 has made a pretty good analysis of the Green Bay Packers’ offense, although I disagree with their inferrence that Rodgers can improve the offense on his own. Truth is, any quarterback, even former MVPs need an offensive line that blocks and wide receives who can get open and catch the ball. Rodgers has neither. Why was Rodgers MVP last year? Davante Adams. Right now the Green Bay Packers have no reliable pass receiver, period.
In my opinion, if the Packers were to make a trade mid season, and I doubt they would because they are still old school, they should trade Rodgers. There is no season hanging on to a quarterback of his calliber if you aren’t going to surround him with play makers. Frankly, they have been doing to Aaron what they did to Brett, it’s just that this time they didn’t draft an Aaron Rodgers to replace him.
I find the complaining about the current results of this year’s MLB playoffs ridiculous. While it’s true that three teams that won more than 100 games this year have not made it to the league championships, those teams had the same chance to win their five game series than the teams they lost to.
No professional nor college sport simply have the regular season league champions play each other at the end of a season to decide which team is the best for that season. Yes, even baseball once had a four team championship series before the World Series. All sport playoffs simply decide who is the tournament champion, and the reason why tournaments are appealing is because they have upsets.
Regular sports seasons are played for a team’s opportunity to participate in the tournament, and for the fan’s enjoyment in watching their team compete for that right. Tournaments are for leagues and teams to make lots of money off the drama they create.
The MLB playoffs have started with the wildcard series games be played today. With the Cubs not in the playoffs, I am rooting for the Phillies and the Guardians, who won earlier today.
Six years ago I felt positive things were happening for the Chicago Cubs. I wrote then about all the young talent that was getting a chance to play and looked forward to the future. Honestly, I feel a bit that way this year. The Cubs young guys who have been given a chance to play have demonstrated they are capable. I think next year they should be competitive in the NL Central.