Cubs told Pederson that he would play every day, Outfield Splits, Alcantara, Bauer and other Cubs bullets

Cubs told Pederson that he would play every day, Outfield Splits, Alcantara, Bauer and other Cubs bullets

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That was a really good episode of ‘WandaVision.’ I resist spoiler comments until at least Monday, so I’ll just say this: I was surprised at much of the direction of that episode. Pleasantly. (Get your Disney + here if you want to have fun.)

• It is rare for you to get such a deep look behind the scenes of a player’s signature, but this is great. Writing at The Player’s Tribune, Joc Pederson explains his departure from LA with a lot of love and gratitude, and why he’s coming to the Cubs – it’s very remarkable:

• Pederson frames his decision to come to the Cubs as an opportunity to play every day, something he knew he would not be able to do with the Dodgers because of the stacked squad (I’m * sure * that he didn’t mean it as a behind the hand at Cubs – it’s just necessary). In other words, Pederson’s search for a team in this off-season took him to the Cubs in large part because they are willing to give him a chance to be the left field player every day – not a platoon guy. Here is Pederson in his conversations with the Cubs and David Ross:

Wake up the next morning. Connect with Jed over the phone – unreal conversation. We are even more on the same page than I could have predicted.

Next step, Jed connects me to Rossy.

“Wow! You just made my off season. “That’s how Rossy opens our connection.

We talked about … everything. We really vibrate. It was incredible, man.

He told me about his managerial style. He said: “I will be frank with you. I will be very honest about things. ”(Great. That’s how I like it.)

He told me about what I could expect from my role. He was like, “You are going to be our guy in the left field, except for an occasional day of rest, like everyone else. But if we’re in the All-Star range and you’re hitting a dollar and fifty, you know … let’s reevaluate. We will probably have to make a change. (100%. I totally respect that and I respect Rossy for saying that. Anything else would have seemed like a false promise.)

He told me he was all-in and would love to have me on the team. I told him it was all in and I would love to be there.

• Pederson writes that he received good offers from teams to be a platoon outfielder, but it was not what he wanted. So, I think we can take this seriously: the Cubs plan to give Pederson a chance to be an ordinary player, even against lefties (against whom he only hit .191 / .266 / .310, 59 wRC + in his career) It may not last all year, but the Cubs will keep that word for a while – that’s how they work – and then reevaluate in the middle of the season. So I hope Pederson is ready to dramatically improve his results against lefties. Hell, maybe in a new organization, can he do that?

• Cubs have – among others – a platoon partner ready to use Phillip Ervin on the list (.277 / .352 / .459, 113 wRC + against lefties), so it will be interesting to see how Ross really manages the situation. On paper, you could not justify putting a guy who is a positive batter against lefties by a guy who is very negative against lefties, but that is not always the only consideration (as Pederson’s article indicates). Maybe Ervin sees the time on the right field spelling out Jason Heyward, who also has significant platoon divisions? Oh, too, since we’re at it: Ian Happ is by far the best of the starting trio against lefties, but he only hit 0.240 / 0.316 / 0.394 (88 wRC +) against them. So, on the days when the Cubs are facing a southpaw and are going with Pederson-Happ-Heyward in the outfield, they’re not exactly preparing for the best chance of offensive success.

• Meanwhile, the details of the contract on Pederson’s business:

• It is good to be able to say that there is an option for the second year, but here is the reality: if the purchase is fully guaranteed (most of the mutual options this year by the teams included a fully guaranteed purchase, unlike previous years), then what you’re talking about is a $ 2.5 million one-year contract postponed until after the season. You can call it a mutual option, but if the purchase is guaranteed anyway, the only way for the guy to come back is if he and the team set their market value (a year earlier) at exactly $ 7.5 million. It may happen. Probably not. And you could re-sign up with a free agency anyway at the same price, if you wanted. That’s all to say: where buying on a mutual option is totally guaranteed – rather than depending on who chooses first – it’s really just a postponement, without calling it a postponement.

• Dodgers withdraw from the thank you video:

• The Cubs sent some ticket information for spring training to Sloan season ticket holders, and Bleed Cubbie Blue gave the details. At the moment, it appears that limited tickets will be available to season ticket holders this spring, sold in 2, 4 or 6 capsules. Note that even if Arizona allows participation in the Cubs Spring Training games as early as February 27 , Cactus League begins, it does not necessarily mean that Illinois or Chicago will open Wrigley Field to fans on April 1st. This remains very clear as the pandemic takes place and the vaccine is launched.

• The new Cubs striker, Sergio Alcantara, from someone who covered the Tigers minor league system:

• Trevor Williams is happy to be with the Cubs:

• At the moment, it says more about these three teams than it does about Trevor Bauer’s business, to be honest:

• Impressive retreat from LA, where the media may not end up being much more friendly to Bauer than New York would have been:

• With love and gratitude, you will notice that we are sharing many promotions for this weekend. This is partly because the deals they are offering are particularly good for obvious reasons and partly because it is a big, necessary weekend to generate revenue. Thank you for pleasing us! Here are two of the best we’ve seen:

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