All Cubs Manager Joe Maddon has done is win, and he could be fired in the next two weeks. I wish I was dead wrong about this, but I don’t think so.
He has no contract. When they won a World Series in 2016, there was no way you thought Joe would not be extended at least 2-3 years. Here we are in early July, and the team looks a lot like it did every year after they won their championship.
Same players, same results: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over, and over, and expecting a different result. That’s where we are. When Theo got to Chicago he talked about his “brand” of baseball. This included high average hitters, taking walks, and low strikeouts. Outside of Rizzo and Bryant (Zobrist if/when he comes back) Theo has really done little to acquire those type of players. Javy Baez, as good as he is, is a “boom or bust” type player. Anthony Rizzo continues to ignore left field for some odd reason. Mark Grace made a living hitting the opposite way. I love Rizzo, he is my favorite (tied with Javy), but he has kind of stopped making improvements to his game. If they aren’t hitting home runs, they aren’t scoring runs.
Call to the pen: I thought things would help when Kimbrel was added to the roster, and was called up. He’s had a mixed bag so far, and has not been the savior. He looks very average. The rest of the bullpen has been up and down as well. I personally would have left Alzolay in the pen as a middle reliever. He could have built up his arm strength, and bailed out an aging rotation. What do I know?
Theo’s comments: Theo has been commenting recently about the team, and it seems like that also hints at making a change. Could he be trying to light a fire? Maybe. I wonder if he extended Joe right now, would that relax the team? You can always fire him after the season if it doesn’t work out.
Dazed and confused: The players seem to be going through the motions. Maybe they think they can turn it on whenever they want. In many wins this year, they did exactly that. I know one thing, I am tired of all the ups and downs.
The good, the bad, and the ugly: Jon Lester has been the good. Cubs would not have won the World Series without him. He had a rocky start in 2015, but came on and was a dominant pitcher in 2016. He’s been hot and cold this year, but does he have enough to get the club to the playoffs? Jason Heyward has been good and bad, but had a big part in the championship as well. His contract is a little ugly, but that hasn’t stopped the Cubs from spending bad money on Darvish, and some bullpen pitchers. Chatwood hasn’t lived up to his contract, or expectations. They have Baez, Bryant, and Contreras to pay in the next few years. Don’t think they can keep them all.
Joe has been solid despite over-tinkering with the lineup, and having a short hook with starting pitchers. He’s gone to three straight NLCS, and has 4 90+ win seasons. That’s not accidental. All that means nothing as the team seems to be floundering, and flirting with .500 baseball. I’m rooting for him, but I know the reality is, he is closer to the end of his career with the Cubs than not.
Baseball is in trouble. It’s fans are getting older and older. Not enough “bells and whistles” for the younger crowd. I’ll address a few of the problems, and share some ideas to “fix” it. Grab a snack, and/or a cold beverage!
The length: Baseball was never meant to be such a grueling season. It’s considered a “summer sport” yet, it starts in the cool and rainy days of spring. It ends in the cool and rainy days of late October, and now into November. If you live in the Midwest, or Northeast, you know how cold that can be. So why start so early, and end so late?
Money, mainly. That’s all well, and good, until your ratings bottom out. First thing I would do is cut 20-22 games out of the schedule. Before you throw a fit, I have a plan for that*
All-Star Break: Make it a legit break. Give players the entire week off. Managers can give those players who play in the All-Star game the Sunday before, and the Friday after (or make the league resume the Monday after). even 140 games would be a lot. They could even make it two weeks, and schedule minor league games. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the young talent in the league in my team’s home park. It would be kind of cool. The owners could recoup some of the lost revenue. Not that they are hurting for cash.
Too Bocu: There are currently 30 teams in the major leagues. That’s 4 more than there were in 1985. Why 1985? I don’t know, but I think the 80s were probably the golden age of baseball. I was a huge Cardinals fan (even though I was a Cubs fan, first) and they were having a nice decade. In 1985, you had some stacked teams. My proposal is to get rid of 4 teams, have a draft, and distribute the remaining players to the non-playoff teams. I’d get rid of both the Marlins, and the Rays (sorry Florida) and the two remaining low-attendance teams.
To make room, and also ease the burden of the season, I would expand MLB rosters to at least 27, if not 30.
Expand the playoffs. Back in the day there only used to be 4 teams in the post season, the 2 division winners on each side. There also only used to be 2 divisions on each side. Now we have 6 divisions, and a wild card team on each side. I would add more teams. Maybe give the top 2 teams a series off. I would start the playoffs no later than October 1st/first weekend. Maybe even start it in September. Regular season would start May 1st (or 1st weekend. The year would start on a Friday, so more kids could enjoy the games (all games would be at 3pm local time or later).
Extra innings: Since we are knocking 20-22 games off the schedule, I don’t think they need to mess with extra innings. Maybe put a cap on them at say 12, or 15 innings. Or suspend them at some point, and play them before the following day’s game–if possible. Maybe with the extra players, it would ease that burden. That is something they would have to look into. Another idea: If you have a 12+ inning the night before, you can expand the roster another 3-5 players, and call them up for the next day. That would give you 3 position players, and 2 pitchers. I know today’s players are more fragile, so you have to handle them with care 😉
Minimum salary cap: Just looking at the current payrolls, there is a huge gap between the least, and the most. About $150 Million dollars. Let’s say that again, $150 Million (with an M) dollars. The lowest is the Tampa Bay Rays $56M (who also have the leagues 2nd worst attendance, at just over 15k per game), the highest is the New York Yankees at about $218M. Every other US sport now has a salary cap. It works in the NFL probably better than all the other sports. Second would probably be the NHL. It doesn’t really work in the NBA, they have a lot of crap going on there. To me though, the MLB is in the same boat. You have about 6 teams that have a realistic chance at a championship in any given year. I would make it something like, you have to be within X percent of the top 5 teams. $56M is not acceptable. Not even close. If you can’t afford it, market your team better, or sell the team. I would allow a “rebuilding” period, but only for 1-2 years in any rolling 5-6 year period.
So there we go. I think I have some really interesting ideas, if I do say so myself. Feel free to comment on your ideas to “Fix” baseball, down below!
This week’s Tavern Brawl is a blast from the past: Cloneball! We have had this brawl maybe a half dozen times? It’s a fun one. There is a little bit of strategy to the randomness!
First I picked the hunter, and I got some hard luck. I forgot how the battle worked. You basically get 4 copies of random legendary minions, and a spell that takes all your minions down by (3) and all copies of it. So yeah, that’s where the strategy comes in.
Circumstance might make you use these cards sooner or later. Anyways, I got my butt kicked, then played a mage. Yeah mage! The tables were totally turned. As you see in the picture above, and below.
This is a fun, but frustrating brawl, as you see. It’s going to be feast or famine a lot of the time. Get in there, and get your free pack! Have fun. See you next week!
This week’s Tavern Brawl seems to be a new one: Henchmania! Pick a hero and go to work. There are 9 different ones to choose from. Mostly rogues, a druid, a warrior, and a paladin. I think there is a priest too. I’m not sure how I feel about the lack of equal representation, but this is life. Life is not fair.
So, I picked the bard because, well, there was no mage option. Anyways, each hero has a unique power, despite their class. My hero was a rogue who’s hero power was to steal a minion with 2 or less attack. After 2 tries with this dude, I was done. Either it’s horribly constructed, built to fight a specific hero, or I was just really unlucky.
I moved on to the Paladin and had a much better time. I probably got lucky too.
The plan is to check every hero out. I may or may not get to that…
You get a pack of the current expansion cards for completing a “Play 3 Tavern Brawls” quest, which should pop up upon logging in today (if you have a spot open). If your quest log is full, you might have to click off one of the quests to get this one.
Upon winning your first Tavern Brawl you also get the usual Original Hearthstone pack. So go on and get in there! I’ll see you next week.
