There is not necessarily anything magical between today and yesterday. We are on the path we are on in relation to the pandemic and just another day has passed. That said, I’m there with everyone: I hope that a time comes when we can look back and see that 2021 was the exact opposite of 2020.
• Yu Darvish spoke to the media about his trade with the Fathers, and he was moved, so I was moved:
Great improvised moment on Darvish Zoom: @MLBBruceLevine thank you Darvish for being a class act in Chicago, and pleasant to deal with, and Darvish chokes and gets emotional from his time in Chicago, he can’t speak, he says he’ll deal with that later.
– Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) December 31, 2020
Darvish said many teammates were shocked by the switch. “I am always grateful to be a Cub.”
– Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) December 31, 2020
Yu Darvish- “There are times when I struggled with this (trade), but many fans in Chicago thanked me and my family on Twitter, which made us feel great”
– Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) December 31, 2020
• Darvish also pointed out why the trade was shocking from his perspective:
Darvish said the exchange “shocked” him, but “not in a bad way”.
“Obviously, with what’s going on with the coronavirus and the money the Cubs have, I wasn’t really thinking about being traded. Also, they are a winning team, so I thought we could compete.”– Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) December 31, 2020
• The Little Lions kept their hair as part of the exchange:
Darvish sporting a haircut on his first media availability as a member of the Fathers. pic.twitter.com/gSIUxU782J
– Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) December 31, 2020
• Meanwhile, the Fathers also officially closed a four-year, $ 28 million, four-year deal with Ha-Seong Kim, with various incentives and a mutual option for the fifth year. With the postage fee, the total cost for the Fathers is around $ 33 million for a four-year bet on one of the best KBO players, who is only 25 and whose floor is probably that of a good defensive player, good baserunning utility guy. If the bat doesn’t translate – which may not happen – then you have a bank guy on the edge, and he’s well paid. But what if he becomes a GOOD bank player, or even a regular? It’s a stealing drug.
• Patrick Mooney writes about Jed Hoyer’s decision not to add a GM now, what I really believe is mainly about the pandemic, and he wants to be able to do the process in a certain way, given the long-term importance (and the relatively stable nature of the front line, for now). But Mooney added this section, which was undoubtedly a non-zero consideration, and makes me sick: “This is not necessarily motivating Hoyer’s decision, but renouncing a GM’s salary can also create a degree of flexibility within the budget for baseball operations. That money could be spent on, say, a low-cost, free agent reliever. Theo Epstein knew he was paid as a player when he decided to step down as president of baseball operations, working with President Tom Ricketts on the succession plan that promoted GM’s Hoyer. ”Gross. But also, spend it on a recovering starting pitcher (James Paxton? Corey Kluber? Garrett Richards?) Or a positional guy.
• That’s nice:
Launch of the ball on New Year’s Eve. pic.twitter.com/gxzW3vN4sf
– Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) January 1, 2021
• Two great promotions for college football if you want to get into it: you can get 25-1 odds in the CFP semifinals at FanDuel, and you can also get +10,000 odds on any team to win everything at DraftKings.