Justin Steele Article in The Athletic - Great Stuff

[CubinNY]

About the Arbitration Process:

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“The deadline was this past Thursday,” Steele said. “Wednesday was when they made their first call or conversation in regards to it. To me, that’s a little stressful. (Steele said this with a smile.) The entire offseason, I’m waiting for this. You have this date. Are there going to be any talks leading up to it? No, we’re going to do it the night before. We’ll give you a call to let you know where our head’s at. The next day, it picks up quite a bit.

“My agent, Sam Samardzija, is on the phone with them a good bit. He’s calling me. They’re going back and forth. The calls stayed between them, and then Sam would come to me if the number moved. It’s a good process. It hasn’t been too strenuous for me. I would say the only bad thing is the time leading up to that date — it’s hard not to think about it. And then literally the night before is when things finally start picking up.”

Ben Brown and Porter Hodge:

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“Ben Brown … that dude’s a horse,” Steele said.

“He’s in the weight room, doing the stuff that he would normally do. (We had) conversations when all that stuff was going on with his neck. When the player doesn’t really know what it is, it can affect you mentally. It makes you not want to do stuff because you don’t want to make it worse. Just to see him being the spring chicken that he is, doing the lifts, throwing with full effort, and having that personality that he always had, it’s just fun being around him. Watching him throw his bullpens and go through his work, you know the guy is going to be a stud if he gets a full season under his belt.

“Same thing with Porter Hodge. He was so good last year. And for him to come right into Arizona and get right to work immediately — he’s working his tail off every single day — it’s been fun to watch.

“I’m like the tiniest guy (out here) besides PCA (Pete Crow-Armstrong). You see Porter Hodge, you see Ben Brown, you see (Jameson Taillon), and they’re just like lifting the entire weight room. It makes me feel really small. When I go home to Mississippi, I always feel like I’m decently sized. And then when I come out here, I’m tiny compared to these guys.”

There is also some stuff about Tucker and Sammy in the article as well... If Brown can come out and throw strikes consistently he could be a real breakout TOR pitcher. 

link https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6059974/2025/01/14/cubs-justin-steele-kyle-tucker-interview/

[imb]

haha this article put me in a weird place ... i feel pretty justified with all my bitching about this (and prior for that matter) offseason ... at the same time this should be a very fun year with even just a little health luck. 

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, imb said:

haha this article put me in a weird place ... i feel pretty justified with all my bitching about this (and prior for that matter) offseason ... at the same time this should be a very fun year with even just a little health luck. 

Same for me. So little respect for labor.