Top 25 Most-Viewed North Side Baseball Articles of 2024 (Part 2: 16-20)

[Seth Stohs]

We continue to look at the most-viewed articles at North Side Baseball in 2024. Today, we jump into the Top 20. 

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Cubs have a ton of top prospects. Then at the draft, they made third baseman Cam Smith their first-round pick. Weeks later, they traded Christopher Morel for Isaac Paredes. This offseason, the Cubs traded Paredes and Smith to the Astros (with Hayden Wesneski) in exchange for Kyle Tucker. So much can happen so fast in the baseball world. Those three moves all happened without five months. With this series, we'll look at the full year. Lots happened. Which articles grabbed your attention? We jump into the Top 20 most-viewed articles of 2024. 

#20: Cubs will Focus on Draft This Week but Then Spotlight Swings to Two Trade Candidates 
Matthew Trueblood 
July 8 

July has always been a busy month of the baseball season. The All-Star game is in the middle of the month, and the month ends with the trade deadline. The past few years, MLB moved their draft from early June to July. Following the draft, the teams only have a couple of weeks to sign the draft picks. Of course, by month's end, there is the trade deadline. That's why GMs get a ton of credit, but he must be able to delegate very well to make sure all goals are accomplished. 

#19: Chicago Cubs Top Prospect Rankings, 2024 Preseason: #1-5
2/22: Jason Ross 
February 22

We all love prospect rankings, and the Cubs organization has been loaded with top-end prospect talent. Jason and Josh went back-and-forth, comparing their top prospects coming into the 2024 season. The Cubs had a few strong performances by rookies in 2024, but they have a lot more elite talent still awaiting their opportunity. Several will contribute in 2025. 

#18: Is Yoan Moncada the Perfect Chicago Cubs Fit as an Insurance Policy and Upside Play at Third Base? 
Randy Holt 
December 16

With the trade of Isaac Paredes to the Astros, the Cubs have a question mark at third base. Are they ready to simply hand the job to top prospect Matt Shaw? How much can or should they rely on Gage Workman, their Rule 5 selection earlier this month? Or, should they consider long-time White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada as insurance at third base? At times, Moncada has been very good, but he has been hurt a lot the last few years. If healthy, maybe you catch lightning in a bottle for the year. If not, he could move into a utility role when Shaw is deemed ready.  

#17: With Pressure On, Jed Hoyer Is Moving up Some Timelines
Matthew Trueblood 
July 29 

The Cubs try to talk like a mid-market team, but obviously Chicago is a huge market with a huge budget. Expectations are that the team will be a contender, and quickly. Last offseason, he was aggressive in adding Michael Busch from the Dodgers, giving up a couple of exciting, very young prospects. He didn’t wait until the trade deadline to make deals. He added Nate Pearson from the Jays and Isaac Paredes from the Rays several days ahead of the deadline. This article was written before the July deadline, but you could argue that the Cubs (meaning Jed Hoyer) has continued that trend by being very active this offseason.    

#16: Pete Crow-Armstrong is Fast but How Fast is He Compared to an Olympian?
Matt Ostrowski
August 4

While watching the summer Olympics, Matt decided to do some really deep, critical thinking. We all know that Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of the fastest players in professional baseball. But if he were to line up next to Olympian Noah Lyles - who has run the 100 meters in 9.81 seconds before - could he keep it fairly close over that short distance?

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Which of these articles do you recall? What were your favorite topics from the year of 2024? 

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