Happy Paczki Day to all who celebrate! I don’t have easy access to them myself, so I will celebrate by instead getting donuts from that new place by me that I mentioned. Layered donuts – effectively cro-nuts – are the order of the day. I will assuredly have too many. But it’s a holiday.
In a piece on Ryan Pressly, Patrick Mooney confirms something that’d been floating out there, but does so definitively: the Cubs’ offer to Tanner Scott was indeed worth more in present-day dollars than the heavily-deferred deal he ultimately took from the Dodgers. So that’s a bummer to know he preferred the Dodgers that much, but I guess the flip side is that it’s good to know that the front office gave it as much of a go as they reasonably could. Which does lead to Pressly, who isn’t going to project on paper as well as Scott in 2025, but whom the Cubs are hoping can be a very good late-inning reliever for them this season. He was, in effect, the pivot move, and will get the first crack at saves this year for the Cubs. Pressly isn’t “replacing” youngster Porter Hodge, who was closing for the Cubs at the end of the year in 2024. It’s more like Pressly offers the Cubs – and Hodge – a buffer for a year, where all that pressure that comes from being the 9th inning guy can land mostly on a guy who has done it for a long time and in the postseason, and be partly spread over to Hodge when the situation dictates. You can’t predict bullpens, but all else equal, it’s very easy for me to see how this approach could not only boost the Cubs’ performance this year, but also aid in Hodge’s long-term development. Hodge, by the way, will get a boost from Pressly’s mentorship, too. From Pressly, via The Athletic: “We just got to work on getting better every day. That’s what spring training is for. Hopefully, I can guide [Hodge] down a good path and help him in any way I possibly can. I want to be somebody that all these guys can lean on. I’ve kind of been there and done it a handful of times. Any questions that they have, on or off the field, I just want to be that guy for them.” We have to remember that, for as good as Hodge was last year, he’s still a young pitcher who’ll probably hit some developmental ups and downs. Having a guy like Pressly around could help smooth those things out. The Cubs had Jameson Taillon make his scheduled start yesterday in a mostly empty Sloan Park instead of facing the Diamondbacks (whom he’s already faced this spring and whom he figures to face in the season’s opening series in Arizona). He threw a few innings, about 55 pitches, and continued his ramp up. The Jose Quintana signing will cost the Brewers just $4.25 million, which means he is getting $750,000 less from them than the Cubs are paying Colin Rea (whose spot Quintana is kinda taking). Quintana projects better in 2025, though Rea has experience in a swing role. So I guess pick your preference, but it does feel like the Brewers may have swapped out and landed the better pitcher for less money. None of which is to crap on Rea, by the way – just saying it from the Brewers’ roster perspective. Hopefully the Cubs know what they are getting in Rea, and believe they can tease a little more out of him. And, you know, there may well be a good reason why Quintana lasted this long in free agency and had to sign for so little. The timing was especially fortuitous for the Brewers, because just after they signed Quintana, lefty Aaron Ashby suffered an oblique strain. Unclear how long he’ll be out, but he’s getting an MRI. Ashby, 26, has intermittently shown exceptional big league ability for the Brewers, but he’s almost never been healthy. MLBPA chief Tony Clark says he expects a lockout after the 2026 MLB season when the CBA expires, though he points to Rob Manfred’s comments more or less saying as much as the reason. I think the reality is that everyone knows we are approaching a financial tipping point in the industry thanks to a confluence of myriad issues – some legitimate and national/structural, some less legitimate and being pushed by owners – and getting a CBA done without the pressure of a stoppage is unlikely. Which suuuuuucks. But that’s a problem for two years from now, and here’s hoping that everyone teeing it up now could help reduce the length of the stoppage.MORE FROM BLEACHER NATION: Check Out BN Fantasy | Subscribe to The BN Newsletter
Arturas Karnisovas had a chance to explain his plan again in a recent podcast interview. Let's just say … I only have more questions.
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Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Pressly and Hodge, Taillon’s Sim Game, Brewers, Eventual Lockout, and Other Cubs Bullets )
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