From Comcast SportsNet Chicago:
- Another projection for 2015 has come out; this time it's the PECOTA projections from Baseball Prospectus that put the Cubs in second place in the division with an 82-80 record and missing the playoffs by a single game.
- Scott Boras wants to see the Cubs make the playoffs. Actually, he wants to see the Cubs make it all the way to the World Series. The only catch is that he wants the games played at a neutral site. Oh, and he also wants a World Series Week. No word on how he feels about the defensive shift.
From Cubs.com:
- Another Cub prospect makes another top ten list; this time it's Addison Russell placing third on the MLB Pipeline list of top ten shortstop prospects.
- [VIDEO] The MLB Network aired a special segment Tuesday night named "The Offseason: Hope in Chicago and Miami" chronicling Anthony Rizzo's battle with cancer.
From ESPN Chicago:
- It's time for another segment with Jesse Rogers and the Twitter mailbag! Topics this week include Kris Bryant, Chris Coghlan, and Spring Training.
From CBS Chicago:
- For those of you in the Midwest that read or subscribe to Sports Illustrated, this week's edition will feature Ernie Banks on the front cover. Sorry, California BCBers.
From the Chicago Tribune via RedEye Chicago:
- Sammy Sosa will not be attending Ernie Banks' funeral as he will be traveling on business to Japan. He also did not want to risk diverting attention from the services by appearing. Somewhere there's a wisecrack I could make about that.
- The Blue Cross-Blue Shield Tower in downtown Chicago was lit up in blue and white Tuesday night in honor of Mr. Cub.
- Phil Rosenthal looks at the brand that Banks made for himself as Mr. Cub and says that whatever money he made on or off of the field, he should have made a lot more.
From the Daily Herald:
- Was the Sporting News crazy for saying that the Cubs would win the World Series in 2015? Not completely, says Tom Ricketts.
- Bruce Miles takes a look at how Ernie Banks would have fared in the world of advanced statistics. Spoiler alert: He was still really good.
From Cubs Den:
- John Arguello begins his 2015 Cubs' organizational previews with his first installment focusing on the South Bend Cubs.
- Starlin Castro is crafting a new image, and it's one that Arguello likes to see.
- It appears that Yoan Moncada will be a free agent soon, according to Jeff Passan, but the Cubs will likely still be heavy spenders in international free agency this year even without him.
Miscellaneous:
- Rob Neyer has read a lot of testimonials about the power seen at the shortstop position and wonders: Why do those testimonials not include Ernie Banks?
- Tim Sullivan of the Louisville Courier-Journal has another way that baseball can honor Banks: by renaming doubleheaders.
Today's food for thought: I'm going with a slightly different tack for this edition.
- Here's something you may or may not remember: In February 1986, players from the 1969 Cubs and 1969 Mets agreed to play in an exhibition game in Phoenix that was billed as "Dream Game '86". Nineteen members of the '69 Cubs played along with 16 members of the '69 Mets. The Cubs ended up losing the seven-inning exhibition game 11-3. Ron Santo chose not to play due to the bad memories that it brought up of the '69 season, but Ernie Banks did play, and video footage of his performance is available on YouTube. Al deserves all of the credit for finding this one, and I'm thankful that he sent it along here as it probably could have made for a great story all by itself.