Visited Tiger's doctor in Germany.

Seiya Suzuki out of the World Baseball Classic with his oblique strain after his miraculous 20 lbs 5 months muscle weight gain. He was on the IL for a month+ with a sprained finger so this will be milked I'm sure til they readjust dosage.

Watching the Dodgers game the Padres announcers said Mookie Betts put on 15 lbs so he'll be on IL watch. Heyward looks like he's bulked up again from being the thin man the last 2 years with the Cubs (yep standing much closer to the plate too).

JD today saying the Cubs decent 2nd half last year means zero tells you a lot about his character that he'll only go so far cup half full. Larry & Bernstein want him to join in attacking Contreras with them but won't take the bait.

I don't know how important it is for baseball shape but it isn't that difficult to gain 20 pounds of muscle in half a year with all the resources available to them. All those movie stars do it regularly.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

A number of baseball players already have the frame and are in shape to pull off something like Seiya did. And you're right, the resources available plus it's not like he's got another job. Actors on the other hand -- that's steroids.

Today's MLB athletes are avid all year lifters. It's only possible for new or a back from a layoff lifter to put 20 lbs on in 5 months naturally.

+10000

hated that.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Hoerner did post a 4.5 WAR season last year. That's pretty damn good from a 25 year old middle infielder.

I think Nico will have a throwback 1980s type middle IF career.

He will hit between .285 - .315 each season, will walk “enough” and play real real nice defense. The big question is will he develop power and throw up a bunch of .465+ slugging seasons like a Sandberg type, or never develop power like a Tom Herr type.

Just listened to some B&H and Leery made reference to Speigel’s prediction that the floor for this Cubs team is 80 wins.

Is that correct? Spiegel thinks they’re at worst a .500 team?

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that can't be true. This team isn't that good.

Tommy Herr is a great name. Good comparison to Nico. Not a superstar, but a steady player.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

That's laughable. Considering Seiya is probably going to milk his injury to late June...

They're so much better...there's more... kinda... um... practiced...you know... authentic type of baseball stars than there had been.
-Mike Mulligan

There actually isn't one star caliber player on the '23 Cubs in reality. Maybe that's why Mulli had such a hard time spitting it out.

You are a terrible Simple Frank mult.

What is the largest contract ever given by the Cubs for a homegrown player? I'm thinking Starlin Castro at $60m, which is pretty embarrassing.

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Probably a good thing, they foolishly offered the guppy 90 million and who knows what to Bryant.

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Quotes by Cardinals players & executives over the years.

I think it shows that they believe within the organization. They draft guys that they can develop and are their type of player. That's a big thing, knowing that if you get drafted by the Cardinals, you know that you're going to have a chance to come up through the organization and play in the big leagues with them.


I think it does start in the minor leagues. Every single minor leaguer, they're kind of preached on that whenever you get up to St. Louis, you're expected to win.

That's something we as an organization take a lot of pride in.When you see how many of these kids came up through and are contributing, not just making it here, but thriving at this level and helping us to be able to walk in there and pop champagne.

wait, I thought Theo created an entire binder for each minor league player about the cubbie way

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

i give the off season a B

Swanson having an atrocious spring…worst in MLB.

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Chip Carey said he goes into horrendous slumps. They've already used the "bad money has value through leadership" card. So that won't fly. It would be better for him if he wasn't surrounded by so many "journeymen" and it all wasn't on his shoulders to be the top guy when he never has.

It's okay, he's not black.

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What he hits in spring training is meaningless. What their record is in spring training is meaningless.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Kansas City is 18-11. Bet those royal world series futures.

ready for 1:20 thursday

going to be long 3 days

Can Jed interest the Phillies in Patrick Wisdom as a bench corner guy now that Rhys Hoskins is out for the year and their rookie Hall is getting moved from bench bat to starting 1B?

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Grandpa Rossy discussing Seiya Suzuki.

Cubs manager David Ross told Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times and other reporters. “And it’s a big decision. We have so much talent and a lot of depth here. We would like to keep as much as we possibly can because of the long journey we’re about to start.”

What decision?

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McKinstry traded to the Tigers.

Looks like Mastrobuoni is the backup IF/OF piece.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Too much and you'll go blind

Grandpa and Hoyer propped up Zach McKinstry with praise as much as they could. Just can't hit, bad arm, poor base runner. Even with his high baseball IQ Grandpa went on about. He should be thanking his lucky stars that he's going to get a fresh start in a new organization that's thin on talent. Guys spend their whole careers in the minor leagues and never get three chances in the big leagues like he's had.