Rizzo Still Loves Chicago, Swanson’s Value, South Bend Prospects, RSN Troubles, and Other Cubs Bullets

Brett Taylor Brett Taylor
Sep 06, 2024
Sep 06, 2024

If you missed the mention the other day but are looking at tablets, a heads up on a steep discount at Amazon right now . At this point in my life, because I’m constantly moving around to do various kid things, I probably watch half of the Cubs’ games on my iPad. It’s just easier. This is an #ad, but it’s also just true.

  • We know the big story of the day is Anthony Rizzo’s long-awaited and likely-emotional return to Wrigley Field. For his part, Rizzo obviously still has affection for the city and the fans. “I think that door will always be open in Chicago,” Rizzo said, . “The amount of respect I have for the fan base there, and the love I have for them and the Cubs …. After we won the World Series, the stories that you heard, all the pictures of the people going to the graves — just the countless stories you still hear. It was really special after we won and just the years after, being there, seeing how happy those fans were. I think anyone you ask on that team will say pretty much the same thing.”

  • Note, by the way, what Rizzo did on his off-day when he got to town:

  • The return of Rizzo is going to get the focus, especially today, but there are other compelling storylines. Aaron Judge plays at Wrigley Field amidst his monster season. Juan Soto waves to the fans who’ll desperately want him to get a serious offer from their team in a few months. And the Cubs try to keep their season alive by taking at least two from one of the best teams in baseball (albeit one that has been slumping pretty hard).

  • You’ll probably have to click through to see the full charts, but the short version is that Dansby Swanson continues to out-win the other three big 2022-offseason shortstops in WAR since signing (a full win ahead of Trea Turner), and is actually right there about at the top even in his down 2024 season:

  • And actually, I just checked this morning after WAR recompiled, and Swanson is indeed tied at the top in 2024 with Carlos Correa (3.6 WAR). We know how good the glove is, but it doesn’t hurt that Swanson has rebounded quite hard at the plate over the last couple months: .308/.370/.485/138 wRC+ since July 10.

  • Speaking of Dansby being valuable and hot:

  • A pretty good homer for your first as a professional:

  • Pedro Ramirez had a huge game in that one, and he’s been pretty darn hot for a month now: .327/.409/.446/148 wRC+, 11.3% BB, 18.3% K. The 20-year-old switch-hitting infielder has proven to be a bit of a streaky guy in his time in the org, but he’s mostly done what he’s needed to do overall to stay firmly on the prospect radar. He’s presumably going to be opening the 2025 season at Double-A having just turned 21.

  • One more South Bend prospect mention: top draft pick Cam Smith had a disastrous night in that game, going 2 for 5 with a single and a double. That dreadful performance lowered his High-A slash line to .412/.512/.618/214 wRC+.

  • Even after the cash-infusion-deal with Amazon fell apart, that Amazon could stream some Bally Sports games next year (including from a handful of baseball teams – Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays – for which Bally holds the streaming rights).

  • Speaking of Bally/Diamond, it’s still not clear what will happen to the MLB teams on Bally that still have no idea where their games are going to be in 2025 and beyond. There’s a deal in place to have the teams’ games still on Bally channels through 2025, but (1) Diamond Holdings, the owner of the Bally RSNs, is still in bankruptcy and I think it’s more than an open question how the rights fees will be handled when the bills actually come due, and (2) even if 2025 goes all right, what happens after that? Can teams commit to long-term contracts this offseason without knowing anything long-term?

  • in the bankruptcy proceedings, essentially, that Diamond needs to have a plan to emerge from bankruptcy ASAP in order for the affected teams, rather than some nebulous time next year (the bankruptcy has already been going on for a year and a half). What I suspect MLB *actually* wants is for Diamond to fail to come up with a plan that saves itself, and thus it has to let the broadcast rights revert back to MLB (so it can start putting together its own comprehensive, blackout-free streaming product). But they want that to happen sooner rather than later. They don’t want this thing just keep ambling along, year-to-year, while the affected teams try to figure out budgets. (The 12 impacted teams, by the way, are in two chunks: the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers (rights deals through 2024), and the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays (rights deals through 2025).)

  • All of this plays out against a pretty significant backdrop: the current MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires after the 2026 season, which means the sides are going to want to start negotiating around this time next year. If nearly half the league is in total limbo about its rights fees – and about the revenue-sharing implications of whatever comes next – that is going to be a serious hurdle for the negotiations with the players. Like, extremely serious. Like, so serious that I’m mentioning it here on a Cubs blog two years in advance.

  • DO IT IN A GAME YOU COWARD:

    • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at and on LinkedIn . Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverag﷽e of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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