What a day. You were able to thoroughly enjoy the Cub Scout Opening Convention – it’s great to talk to so many people! – around Roki Sasaki making his decision (or, finally, making public a decision that may have been made a very long time ago), two of the late-inning relievers leaving the board, the official return of Sammy Sosa and the he and Derrek Lee being announced as part of the Cubs Hall of Fame class for 2025. I’m still catching up a bit mentally.
- Even though Sammy Sosa made headlines and definitely made an emotional return, this was the moment that brought tears to his eyes:
- Ryne Sandberg, who recently announced he was battling cancer again, came out to this song, to this ovation, and clearly touched… yeah, it touched me. Love to Sandberg and his family.
- More information on the new Cubs Hall of Fame if you missed it:
- I’m just excited to have Sammy back in the fold – and to see D-Lee get his props too – and to be able to relive the memories. Mistakes were made. By Sammy. By the Cub Scouts. By the league. By a lot of people. We shouldn’t forget this part, but we also shouldn’t obsess over it and make ourselves unhappy. We have the right to be happy, and last night I really was.
- (That’s why I’m not ignoring the fact that Sosa seemed to say last night that he never apologizes for PED use, but I’m not going to dwell on it either. He s He was just apologizing for being away from the fans for 21 years. That’s not what his statement said, by the way, but is anyone really surprised that Sammy wants to have it both ways? issued the statement that he had to put out there so that everyone involved – Sammy, Tom Ricketts, the Cubs organization, could check a box and say they did everything. It’s not the best version of this, but. I just want to move on, and I had the feeling last night that the vast majority of Cubs fans agree.)
- As for Sasaki, I feel stupid for still coming out of the original thinking that of course it would always be the Dodgers, and everything else was just about making sure there would be no grievances and that he could get the biggest bonus. possible from the Dodgers. I don’t even necessarily blame him, because I completely understand why he wants to be with this team right now. I’m just annoyed that this was turned into something that clearly never was. I was happy to hear Jed Hoyer talk about how hard his group worked on the process, even knowing how unlikely it was to succeed, because he believes there will be value in long term to achieve this, whatever the result this time.
- Meanwhile, the Dodgers now have the following starting pitchers: Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and probably Clayton Kershaw. They also have a flotilla of young arms rehabbing, many of whom will factor into the rotation depth group and bullpen. This would be obscene even if they DID NOT also have an absurd amount of talent on the position side. And it’s not even like they had to spend real money to get Sasaki! They basically get it for free. So even though the Dodgers have a budget, they now have even more room to continue adding to it. They’re going to project like 120 wins or something like that. Never mind.
- Oh, and just for fun: the Cubs will pay left-handed reliever Caleb Thielbar as much in 2025 as the Dodgers will pay Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki combined.
- Alexander Canario, currently slated to be on the big league bench, continues to win in the Dominican Winter League. He finished the regular season tied for third in the league in OPS, and his solo homer last night accounted for the only run in Cibaeñas’ opening playoff victory: