After a three-week-long winter break, the kids were all set to go back to school today. And then school was cancelled. Hooray for more time crammed together while I try to work! Again! SO MANY DAYS OF TOGETHERNESS!!!
The exchange of arbitration figures is happening at the end of this week, so you can expect a flurry of 2025 deals to avoid arbitration in the coming days. Since virtually all clubs are “file and trial” now, if any of their arbitration-eligible players actually reach the point of submitting an official salary request (i.e., the exchange of figures), then they’ll go to an arbitration hearing in February. Since generally everyone wants to avoid that, there is a lot of pressure on players to come to terms by this week. The Cubs’ remaining arbitration-eligible players who’ve not yet signed a deal for 2025: Kyle Tucker, Justin Steele, and Nate Pearson. That’s it. Everyone else has either already agreed to terms (though not all are public yet) or has been jettisoned. And, since the sides will be talking anyway, maybe it’s a chance to have a certain extension conversation with Justin Steele? I don’t think there’s any chance it happens with Kyle Tucker right now, but hey, it’s the time to ask him, too! (As for Nate Pearson, I expect both sides are going to just want to see 2025 play out.) The ZiPS projections for the Reds and Brewers are out, and they are NOT rosy. I would caution you strongly against taking too much confidence from that, particularly with respect to the literally-always-over-performing Brewers, but it is jarring to see how relatively pessimistic the system is on someone like Jackson Chourio. I mean, it sees him being something like an average left fielder overall for the next three years … I really, really doubt that. Not only was he a super-prospect for a reason, but once he settled into the big leagues, he was performing at a superstar level in the second half. I fear him greatly. All in all, ZiPS thinks the Brewers have an average rotation and a really strong bullpen, but an overall fairly weak positional group. Just one player – William Contreras – projects for more than 2.6 WAR. For the Reds, there are some strong projections (particularly Elly Da La Cruz, Matt McLain, and Hunter Greene), but most of the roster is really poorly projected. The bullpen projects for NEGATIVE WAR at the moment. On paper, ZiPS clearly thinks the Cubs have the vastly superior roster (and hopefully they are not done improving!). Disney and Fubo plan to merge their Hulu Live TV+ and FuboTV services, which is primarily about clearing a path for Venu to launch, but will have the ancillary impact of bringing more sports to subscribers of those existing services. Specifically, for one example, since Marquee has a deal with Fubo, this merger may well mean that Hulu Live TV+ subscribers will finally get Marquee (should the deal go through). Of course, it could also mean that the channel gets dropped by the combined entity whenever renegotiations happen. The Seidler Family Trust, currently operated by the brothers at the center of Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit about the control of the San Diego Padres, has responded to the suit:From the Peter Seidler Trust .. t.co/3b0YH9EKPg pic.twitter.com/w9HQpJePru
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) January 7, 2025 It seems that the most likely outcome here, eventually, will be some kind of financial settlement in one direction or the other. But until then, the operations of the Padres could be impacted, and the future could be murky. Sometimes these change of control situations, with financial settlements, actually necessitate a sale to make everyone involved whole. Happy birthday to Jon Lester:HBD, big Jon! pic.twitter.com/qHQbOVJxeI
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) January 7, 2025MORE FROM BLEACHER NATION: Check Out BN Fantasy | Subscribe to The BN Newsletter
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