I can definitely see that. More important in the last series at home, I think.
FWIW, Jake Meyers in his last 17 games for the Space Cowboys: .308/.416/.508 with a 16% K rate.
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Some previously unreported info in Passan’s latest: Click had an agreement with the Cubs GM to acquire Willson Contreras for Jose Urquidy, straight up. Dusty voiced his opposition, and Crane killed the deal. Dusty gave on-the-record quotes about it in the article, that section is an interesting read.
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Dusty’s opposition is somewhat head-scratching. Yes he wanted to hang on to Urquidy but he also says he didn’t like the fact that Contreras would be a free agent. But Vazquez of course is also a free agent. WTF?
Crane I think is coming to believe he’s a baseball genius. Since when does an owner overrule his GM unless there were strong financial considerations involved?
Couple of other things from the article:
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Crane will address the futures of Baker and Crane on Monday
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Brantley made a great speech that fired up the hitters prior to game #4. That section of the article is also a very interesting read.
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The Brantley part is the highlight of the article—everyone should go read it (no paywall).
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Apparently Altuve was also dealing with a hamstring injury? Didn’t see that reported anywhere else.
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What I got out of it is that Dusty didn’t want to give up Urquidy, one of his players and one whom he valued, for a rental. Vazquez may still be a rental, but it didn’t cost anyone from the major league roster, and maybe that was the difference.
Since August 31, 2017?
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And a pretty strong nudge in 2019
Neither situation involved Crane nixing a deal.
Yes, both catchers were set to be FAgents after the season, but the big difference between Contreras and Vasquez per the article (and essentially per Dusty) was that the latter would be more willing to sit the bench than the other…really just fit in on this team better. That makes sense to me.
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And one is actually good defensively, while the other one…
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Plus Contreras has Cub-taint and you sure don’t want that shit getting into the clubhouse.
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Urquidy for a Contreras rental is a horrible trade. It is hard to believe that it was seriously considered much less tentatively agreed to.
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But they did involve Crane overruling his GM.
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Never underestimate CubTaint.
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It’s why the Cubs always end up behind
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SI has a little more on Altuve’s hamstring:
(It’s a good thing the Astros won the World Series in Game 6, because they would have been very hobbled if the series had made it to Game 7. Third baseman Alex Bregman told Sports Illustrated early Sunday morning that he believed he had broken his right index finger sliding into second base in the eighth inning, and that second baseman Jose Altuve had strained a hamstring going first to third in the sixth.)
https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/11/06/yordan-alvarez-world-series-home-run-batting-cage-session
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Thanks for posting that.
That’s why Yordan let him jog home.
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I liked watching Altuve go back to tag up on Alvarez’ moon shot. He waited until the ball came down to leave the bag and jog home.
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