Fun Cubs, Yanks Success, Bryant Extension Offer

To appease those in the reader base that still want to hear about the Chicago Cubs, they seem kinda exciting. In Friday night’s Crosstown Opener, the baby Cubs (remember when that was a thing?) showed some fight against the best relief pitcher in baseball – Craig Kimbrell.

I don’t know if there were some extra butterflies Kimbrel was dealing with when he toed the familiar Wrigley rubber for the Chicago White Sox, but he seemed to be laboring almost from the jump. Then, with two-men on, Andrew Romine hit his first homer since 2017, a three-run shot to tie the game. But it wasn’t just that Romine jack that was impressive. Even in the outs that inning, the Cubs hitters were battling, and seemed to have a professional approach at the plate. Sure, ultimately they lost in extras, but even when they gave up four runs n the 10th, they battled back with two runs of their own.

I don’t think it is fair to put expectations on the Cubs for the rest of the season, but seeing their approach, late, definitely shows that they can be a fun follow.

The White Sox game wasn’t in a vacuum either, they showed this fight in Washington and Colorado. While every day the Cubs release their batting order we play a game of, “who’s that,” there is still a fun product to watch – even if they have a 2-and-5 record since the trade deadline.

Yanks are hot

Speaking of records since the trade deadline, the New York Yankees are now 7-and-1 since they acquired Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo. After exploding onto the scene as a Yankee, Rizzo has slowed a tad over the past two games. But he is still slashing .321/.444/.643 with 3 homers, 6 RBI, and 8 R in his eight games playing for the Bronx Bombers.

Gallo hasn’t had the same success out of the gate. In his first eight games, Gallo is slashing .161/.278/.387. He did get off the schneid with a home run Thursday night that was possibly hit as high as he hit it far.

He hit that as high as it was far https://t.co/bjHIqz7tHD

— jamie baker (@rljmb23) August 6, 2021

Gallo has provided some excellent defensive play since arriving, so while that bat is taking it’s time to heat up, he’s been taking runs away from the opposition.

THIS CATCH BY GALLO THOUGH 😳 https://t.co/oYHEcO1Ks4

— Pickswise (@Pickswise) August 3, 2021

This shouldn’t overshadow Rizzo’s performance. He is exactly what the Yankees offense needed. He is taking his normal, Rizzo professional ABs, he’s provided lifts when they needed it most. In fact, in their only loss since he’s been there, Rizzo drove in the only run for the Yanks. I believe the Yankees make an effort to keep Rizzo in New York, although it sounds like the Yanks will run a more fiscally responsible organization, they have the ability to outspend most anyone for any player on the market. So, why not Rizz?

KB Extension talk – or lack thereof

As I have suggested many times over the last three or four years, the Cubs didn’t approach Bryant for an extension. Now, Jed Hoyer tried to control the narrative in several interviews this past Monday, but I dispelled much of those comments in a recent post.

Former Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant, was in Milwaukee with his San Francisco Giants on Friday. The Athletic’s Jon Greenberg was in Milwaukee to talk to Kris, and the extension discussion came up. Bryant explained that, in the offseason after the World Series, that was the only time the Cubs approached him about an extension.

“I kinda thought that it was always out there, like, ‘Hey, were constantly trying to get an extension done’ and stuff like that,” Bryant said. “And in reality that didn’t happen. There were conversations after 2016 and then after that, it was like, nothing. I was always open to hearing, and I’ve always said that. But there was just wasn’t anything after that.”

Now, there could have been talks with Boras, but those talks never materialized into anything that he could bring to KB. From what I was able to gather, those talks may have happened but the Cubs refused to put anything on paper. With no real offer, there was no point in Scott Boras bringing anything to Kris to consider.

But here we all are. Every Cubs fan, the Cubs organization, and all the players moved are all forced to turn the page to a new chapter. Maybe it will prove to be just as exciting as the last era? Maybe better? I just know it will be interesting.