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Cubs News; Rule 5, Darvish News, Bryant Talk, What Did the Contreras Tweet Mean?

Jamie Baker

There hasn’t been a ton of actual news out in Cub land until Thursday’s Rule 5 draft. But the Cubs picked up three players in the draft, all three are right-handed pitchers. Remember, any player drafted in the Rule 5 draft must remain on the active 26-man roster for the following season (2021). If a team wishes to remove a player from the 26-man roster that was acquired in the Rule 5 draft, they must place them on outright waivers. If the player passes waivers, he must be offered back to their original team.

This year, the Cubs drafted:

The Cubs also lost these players through the draft:

For each player drafted, the Cubs will send $100,000 to that players old club, likewise, any player that was drafted by the Cubs they would receive $100k. If they return the player to the old team at any point, the Cubs would receive $50,000 in return. They can trade these players if they do so choose. If they do, the receiving team would need to comply by the above requirements.

The most notable Rule 5 pick the Cubs have had in recent years is Hector Rondon. He seemingly became the most important pitcher in the Cubs bullpen when they picked him up in 2012 Rule 5 draft from the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs are often an active player in the Rule 5, and this year was no different.

Darvish one of the best in baseball

Yu Darvish was named to the All-MLB Team in 2020. The All-MLB Team is just what you would imagine, a way to recognize the best players in baseball regardless of league. There is a first-team and a second-team, with each team having one player named as the best catcher, first baseman, second baseman, so on and so forth. There are five starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, three outfielders (regardless of position), and a designated hitter for each team.

The All-MLB Team was selected for a 50% vote for the fans and 50% coming from a panel of experts. This is a solid way to negate some of the more recent ballot-stuffing we have seen, like in 2015 there were seven Kansas City Royals and in 2016 there were seven Cubs (including the entire infield).

Here is the full 2020 All-MLB First-Team

Here is the Second-Team

The Yu Darvish signing is turning into one of the better free agent signings the Cubs had under Theo Epstein. While it is tough to beat the Jon Lester signing, as that was a signal to baseball that the Cubs are contenders, Darvish has the opportunity to be dominant longer than Lester was. I don’t know if this leads the Cubs back to another World Series, but they are better with him than without him.

Gammons on Bryant

I have been trying to find a way to talk about this for a while now, especially since if you break it down and understand the *whys* it is pretty heartbreaking.

I appreciate human contact with stars like Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Correa, Buster Posey, Marcus Semien, Stephen Strasburg, Andrew Miller, Jack Flaherty, Freddie Freeman and a hundred more because they look you in the eye, ingest every word of conversations. Add another person: Kris Bryant, because whoever gets the opportunity to find out why the fun has drained out of his baseball life will get a great player, great person.

Peter Gammons The Athletic (PAID)

It really has been a long time since we have seen that fun-loving, energetic, charismatic kid playing the game the right way. Every now and again we see glimpses of that guy, that player I fell in love watching. Times like when he hit the grand slam against the Chicago White Sox in the final week of the 2020 season.

When you see him crossing home you see the smile, you see the sparkle, you see the joy. After the game reporters asked Anthony Rizzo about this, he mentioned that Bryant asked Rizzo to play with high socks and Rizzo gave him the chains mentioning there’s magic in them.

But soon after the fun was gone. When talking to reporters after the Cubs won the National League Central title, he was asked about critics on Twitter and other social media outlets. His response was classic, and something I wish I heard a long time ago from perhaps the best player to come through the organization since Ernie Banks.

Since the 2017 season, fans began turning on Bryant. Statistically, Bryant had a very similar season in 2017 as he did in 2016, his MVP season. But, a lot of fans are back of the card types and saw that his home runs and RBI numbers dipped.

Now, we can have a long philosophical conversation on why the RBI doesn’t matter, but we won’t achieve much there. But, if you look at his 2017 and compare to 2016, he posted a 147 wRC+ in 17 (really freaking good) and a 148 wRC+ in 2016. Over his career he’s averaged 136 wRC+, suggesting he’s one of the better offensive players in baseball. He posted a .946 OPS in 2017, which was 7 points better than his MVP year. Yes, a lot of that is attributed to his increased OBP, but an offensive player is only effective when he reaches base. In 2017, he reached base more often than 2016 (.409 compared to .385), which makes him a valuable offensive asset.

But it was the homers and RBIs which cause public outrage. That is when things started to change for Bryant, and the Cubs for that matter.

Bryant admitted to deleting Twitter in his injury-plagued 2018 season, suggesting that it had turned to nothing but negativity.

“I delete Twitter during the season,” Bryant said. “One thing can stick with you. It’s crazy how much it’s changed. Just since I got drafted [in 2013], it’s changed. Back then, you could go through it, and there were negative things, and there were some good stuff. Now it’s straight negativity. Nothing good comes from it.”

Jesse Rogers, ESPN Chicago

He has admitted that the negative folks in the Cubs fanbase, mostly on social media have made an impression on the star. It would be one thing if people were just commenting on his play, results, how the team is doing. While those are often over-the-line, at least you can chalk it up as part of the game in 2020. But there were garbage people out there leaving horrific remarks on his wife’s posts as well. How do you not allow that to get to you? (And don’t say the millions of dollars, that doesn’t make you lose normal human feelings and emotions).

Since that 2017 season, you can see the joy almost fade from his play, and it’s become more business-like. It’s resulted in the man sitting in a Zoom call saying he doesn’t give a sh*t. The change from a fun-loving and charismatic star to a business-like player is a sad evolution. Sure, maybe he shouldn’t allow some feedback to get to him, but even I get angry at people who comment negatively on things I write – and he really can’t reply to the clowns commenting negatively towards him.

So, yes Mr. Gammons, I know who drained the fun. It was the loud and toxic 20% of Cubs fans. I hope wherever he is on his next stop he’s able to have fun again, and when that happens, that team will get a fantastic person and a top-five player in baseball.

That Contreras Tweet was rather vague…?

On December 7th, minding my own business I came across a rather peculiar tweet from Cubs catcher, Willson Contreras.

https://twitter.com/WContreras40/status/1336051851951808512?s=20

Focus on what you can control. I have said this so many times to my employees, to those I have mentored through the years, to my children, and I have even offered this advice to my bosses. Focus on what you can control.

When an athlete says this, it is often said to block out distractions. The biggest distraction, especially as the Winter Meetings start, is trade rumors.

Now, we have all heard Contreras’ name come up here and there in trade rumors over the past few seasons. Those are still persistent, and it is because Contreras is a valuable player and can provide the Cubs with a great return. Could Contreras’ tweet be referencing potential rumors or possibly ideas that the Cubs or his agent has brought to him?

Short answer, maybe?

We really don’t know what has been talked about with Contreras, but if I were a GM for a team, I would call the Cubs about Contreras. Why wouldn’t you!? The team has been rather open about reducing salary in 2021. This is the reason Kyle Schwarber is no longer with the Cubs, and it is why you will hear Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, and even Contreras’s name floated around baseball.

This has got to be a difficult time for any player. You don’t know where you will play next year. You don’t have living accommodations setup. You don’t know anyone on the team you might get moved to. There’re personal connections you leave behind, there are a million things that are stressful – even for a millionaire athlete.

So, focus on what you can control. Don’t allow all of that fill your headspace. You cannot control that. You cannot change how that plays out. If all you do is sit and allow that to consume you, you won’t focus on the important things. So, focus on what you can control. You can control how you work this offseason. You can control your mental headspace. You can control your diets. You can’t control if Jeff Passan hears that you might be connected to the New York Yankees in a potential trade.

Jamie Baker

Hi, I’m Jamie and I run this site. I’ve published work on multiple other sites and through that experience I decided to create CHICAGO style SPORTS. We truly aim to speak for the Chicago fan. Additionally, as a member of the IBWAA (Internet Baseball Writers Association of America) you can be assured that all content you read will be written with incredible integrity.

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