Kris Bryant Is A Better Dad Than Your Dad (And Other Cubs' Stuff)
Father's Day is about 3.5 weeks away so don't forget to do something nice for your old man if such applies. Just don't get emotional that you didn't grow up in his arms watching Game 7 replays of daddy becoming an immortal legend. Obviously that would be nice but there's only one Kris Bryant and safe to say his kid will grow up better than all of us.
Personally I'm just fine with that because I'm actually more excited to see his power evolve now that he has Dad Strength. It's the ultimate 6th tool and has a lot of scouts speculating he could go for 60-70 homers once things get back to normal. Most of you may call bullshit but I'm only reporting what I know and it's called Common Sense.
Speaking of Bullshit?
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I hope so but 70% is way off from industry standard of 40-50%. So maybe he's thinking of a different revenue or conveniently leaving out revenue sharing arrangements or other streams that wouldn't be classified as Operating. Regardless, the more appropriate question is why are we even talking about this?
Answer: we're trying to assess just how negatively we can judge baseball owners for putting their short-term 2020 MLB finances ahead of fans' wants and needs. Ricketts' argument is that the Cubs uniquely draw an overwhelming amount of their revenue from operations and unless games are played at Wrigley, they're really fucked. That's the argument and it's at severe odds with what you'd describe as Normal in the realm of MLB stadium operations.
My interpretation is that the Cubs own a lot of surrounding properties, real estate and "business activities" in the neighborhood. You may have heard someone criticize it before *ROLLS EYES INTO BUTTHOLE* but the gist is that the Cubs used a lot of debt to rebuild their empire, and they need cash to pay that debt. But they can't get the cash they need without stadium operations because the well is dry on TV revenue. Realistically you couldn't pick a worse time to launch your own baseball network but here we are: balls deep in a world where Comcast doesn't program the Chicago Cubs. Turns out Cup Snake Revenue isn't as disposable as we once thought?
Marquee Network to Comcast "Update"
If you're been in the market for a meaningful update, don't hold your breath. The Cubs said at the end of March that a deal was close, but then the season got put on hold and since then they're still negotiating. Crain's put together a nice deep dive behind a paywall that should make you feel like this is going nowhere anytime soon.
Big point is the Cubs lost a lot of bargaining power without a season and with people losing their jobs and cutting cable chords. There just isn't the economic opportunity to price Marquee Network where the Cubs want it on Comcast, and Comcast isn't jumping through hoops to start broadcasting 2016 playoff replays. In the meantime, the Cubs are missing out on what they projected to be around $70million in Comcast fees for an estimated 50% of the Cubs' TV audience.
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In other words, it's a pretty shitty situation that probably won't be improving any time soon.
On A Scale Of 1 To Cody-Parkey-From-43-Yards, how confident am I we miss the baseball season?
I was more confident on January 6th, 2019 at about 8pm that the Bears would win than I am about this baseball season and that's being optimistic. There's nothing but bad news coming from these union negotiations and the prorated salaries are going to get laughed at by the veteran players. In the process you create a divide in the players' union. Younger guys want to play for $250k when they're going to make $500k. But zero chance in hell you get a $20M player to go for $5M before Uncle Sam takes his cut. Mix in the fact the owners haven't shown much good faith and you have a recipe for disaster because our social climate puts the burden on the billionaires.
Ian Happ On Red Line Radio
We had Ian Happ on RLR last week to talk in depth about the pandemic and he had some A+ insight into the unproven side of MLB players
It's definitely worth a listen for a number of reasons, but possibly none more compelling than his budding rivalry with Eddie. Apparently some lines were crossed when Eduardo made Ian's girl a smokeshow last year:
From the sounds of it, there's a lot of Rome Wasn't Built In A Day lingering with their friendship. Not saying it's irreparable but give it some time and these two should be back in their shared paddleboat of happiness, making waves on the river walk.
Until that moment comes, get familiar with their beef on the show from last week. FWIW there's a lot of momentum moving in Ian's direction and you'd be stupid not get on the same page before he takes over everyday in centerfield.
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You can support his efforts to raise money for COVID by getting in on some Guatemalan whole bean coffee roasts offered below at reasonable prices. Proceeds go to Happ's COVID-19 relief fund which is just another example of his overall versatility. One day he's switch-hitting bombs in centerfield. The next he's painting water colors and setting up charities and standing up for his girl. Pretty hard to be good at all of those but that's just me, a relatively unstable blogger that loves a good cup of joe:
Finally - We Have Anthony Rizzo On Red Line THIS WEEK
Little teaser for the diehards that made it this far. Rizzo came on the show to talk about life away from being the Cubs captain and relive some of his favorite moments in Chicago. Show drops every Thursday at 5am and tomorrow will be no exception. Anyone who unsubscribes, resubscribes, rates 5-stars and leaves a comment will automatically be entered into a contest to win a proverbial beef from WSD.
For those keeping track at home that's Jason Kipnis - Ian Happ - Anthony Rizzo in consecutive weeks. Not sucking my dick just saying there's some good Chicago interviews from the boys should that be something you fancy.