Article: Monday Morning North Sider: Bote, Madrigal, Ohtani & More

[Brandon Glick]

Opening Day is around the corner. The Cubs look ready for what’s to come, in their most important season in years. Also, Samford was robbed, so was Shohei Ohtani, and Invincible is still a good show.

Image courtesy of © Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

We’ll just jump right into the baseball side of things this week, since Spring Training is all but over now.

• As of today, Seiya Suzuki leads all Cubs on the 40-man roster with three home runs this Spring. We spoke about his terrific performance last week in this space, and it’s encouraging to see him look so tuned in after a scorching-hot final six weeks in 2023. 

• However, do you know who leads all Cubs in home runs in Spring Training? Why, it’s none other than David Bote, he of the ill-fated five-year, $15 million extension. 

• That contract with Bote ends this year, though he’s no longer on the 40-man roster. Since being designated for assignment at the end of the 2022 season, Bote’s been with the Cubs as a non-roster minor leaguer. He spent all of 2023 in Triple-A Iowa, and after being reassigned to minor-league camp earlier this week, odds are he’ll remain there until and unless major injury issues crop up on the major-league team. 

• Owen Caissie’s torrid spring continued on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners, including a titanic blast off of Mauricio Llovera:

• Nick Madrigal also made his return to the lineup on Sunday, after dealing with a hamstring issue for most of camp. With so much time missed, the Cubs could send him to Triple-A Iowa to begin the year just to get him some more reps to help his timing at the plate, but it appears the organization prefers to have him available, all else equal.

• Ian Happ is dealing with a hamstring strain of his own--one that kept him out of the lineup for a few days even during this week of returning to action. According to manager Craig Counsell, it shouldn’t threaten his status for Opening Day.

• The final two bullpen spots look like they’ll come down to Luke Little, Hayden Wesneski, and José Cuas, now that Carl Edwards Jr. has opted out of his deal. 

• For my money, I think the team would be smart to keep Little and Cuas, while giving Wesneski one more chance to figure it out as a starter in the minors. Little was tremendous in his cup of coffee last September, and Cuas has been among the team’s best relievers this spring. 

• Of course, keeping Little is not a necessity, since it was announced that Drew Smyly would start the season in the bullpen as Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad won the 4th and 5th starter gigs (pending Jameson Taillon’s health). Now that Mark Leiter Jr.’s splitter appears to be functional again, the Cubs could have three guys that match up favorably against opposing left-handed batters.

• Dominic Smith also opted out of his contract earlier this week, which is a real shame considering just how dominant he was in the Cactus League. Alas, it never really looked like there was going to be an available bench spot for him. He’ll almost certainly latch on with another team soon. 

• David Peralta, a late-offseason minor-league signing, will be sticking with the Cubs as he rehabs from an offseason surgery. 

• We started previewing the Cubs’ NL Central competition this week, starting with the Cincinnati Reds. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, and St. Louis Cardinals will follow this upcoming week.

• According to USA Today, the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will open the 2025 MLB season in Japan. It should be a fun series that draws a ton of international attention, even if the early morning start times here make it a pain to watch for American fans.

Beyond the world of the Cubs, MLB is having no shortage of news stories recently. Before we get to that, though, there are a few administrative notes on the agenda this week:

• The volume of video content on the site will increase in spades once the season starts. If you have any ideas, requests, or suggestions for a format or topic for a video, let us know! We’ll be experimenting with different ideas over the next few months. Check out all the newest NSBB videos on the site’s homepage or videos tab. 

• Go follow us on Twitter & Facebook (or “X” and “Meta” now, I suppose) for the latest updates, articles and general announcements at NSBB. It’s going to be a busy season, y’all!

• Lastly, our very own @Sean Chapin and @CandidCubs have started a podcast called “Bricks Behind the Ivy”. Go check it out! You may even be able win some free Cubs tickets…

Now, elsewhere in the baseball world, there’s some major storylines going down:

• There’s been a ton of discontent in the MLBPA recently, with warring factions of players either defending current Executive Director Tony Clark or seeking his ouster.

• The last CBA negotiation led to an extended and arduous lockout, and with the current deal set to expire in 2026, it won’t be long until those talks start again. It isn’t surprising to hear that some sides want new leadership, but it is disheartening to hear how contentious the topic has become between players.

• Though “Opening Day” is technically on March 28th, the first two games of the season already happened between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the “Seoul Series”. 

• They split the series 1-1, and the big stories were the Dodgers' two major offseason acquisitions, though not in the way L.A. hoped. 

• The 325-Million Dollar Man, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, made his first MLB start in Game 2 of the series, and he was blown up in his sole inning of work: five earned runs, four hits and a walk. It was a bad debut for a supremely talented player.
   

• The big talk in the baseball world, though, was the breaking news story on Shohei Ohtani. Reportedly, his interpreter and best friend, Ippei Mizuhara, stole millions of dollars of funds from him for gambling debts. 

• It’s a wild story that has changed multiple times since being initially leaked. There’s surely going to be more fallout than just Mizuhara being fired by the Dodgers (which has already happened), but the league has every incentive to protect its most popular player. It’ll be fascinating to see how it all plays out. 

• Speaking of getting robbed (too soon?), March Madness began this week on Thursday. It’s the best weekend of the year, and Day One got off to a bang with some major upsets, highlighted by Oakland’s stunning victory over Kentucky. 

• However, the biggest story was Samford’s 22-point comeback that wasn’t, because of an egregious blown foul call in the final minute of the game.

• That is just an outright whiff by the ref. In a game where it felt like there was a review every 20 seconds, the biggest call of the night stood, despite being obviously and hilariously incorrect. Some are comparing it to Jim Joyce’s botched call on Armando Galarraga’s non-perfect perfect game, and it does feel eerily similar, given the stakes and the clear sightline the ref had on the play. 

• Other big first weekend upsets included Yale knocking off 4th-seeded Auburn (who was in my Final Four…) and Clemson over Baylor in the Round of 32.

That’s about it for the big stories in sports right now. With the NFL Draft a month away and the NBA and NHL playoffs also not for another four weeks, all eyes will be on baseball with Opening Day right around the corner. 

Now, for some brief film and television discussion. 

• Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) came out a few weeks ago, and I’ve had a few weeks to mull it over. Yes, I saw it on opening night, and I admit that shamelessly. 

• It doesn’t pander to kids under the age of ten as hard as Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), but it hardly matches the mature tones and themes of the first two films. At the end of the day, it’s a mediocre film that doesn’t flop as hard as other recent Dreamworks projects, but it comes nowhere near the heights of Puss and Boots: The Last Wish (2022). 

• However, the movie commits a heinous sin against prior entries in the series: it brings back characters from previous movies to serve as voiceless, hollow husks of the dynamic figures they once were. It’s a slap in the face to fans, fails in what it tries to be (fan service) and harms the plot and sincerity of the film. Also, for a franchise known for its sinister, introspective villains, the Chameleon is an incredibly flat, one-note antagonist.

• Elsewhere in the animation world, Amazon’s Invincible has returned for Season 2: Part 2, which… obviously, an eight-episode season does not need a fourth month-long mid-season break. It has tarnished the hype for a show that had so much momentum after its debut season.

• That being said, the second half of Season 2 has been excellent through two episodes, and the show appears to be finding its footing again after an underwhelming start to its second season. Hopefully, they can end the season on a high note and keep the momentum going in Season 3.

Alright, we’ll wrap it up there, folks. The Cubs and Rangers will play the MLB “Opening Night” game, exclusively on ESPN, at 6:30 PM CST. The Rangers will hold their ring ceremony beforehand, so let’s hope the Cubs can spoil an otherwise festive and celebratory night in Arlington, Texas. 

Have a great week, everyone! Go, Cubs, Go!

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[Derek_Lee_Truther]

Not the point of the article, but the Samford loss made me irrationally angry. I was up till midnight on thursday and that foul call ruined my entire week.

Also excited for opening day. But mostly upset about samford.

[CandidCubs]

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