Kris Bryant's Treating The Show Like It's Spring Training
No wonder the Future of Cubbie Baseball didn't want to start the season at AAA.
He was only hitting .321 with 3 dingers and 10 RBIs in seven games at Iowa.
Bryant was off the charts all spring, honing the hopes of long-suffering Cub fans that, at long last, a new dawn was indeed upon them.
If only Theo Epstein would let the damn sun come up.
So instead of starting 2015 by doing this against the St Louis Cardinals, he did it against the Cardinals' AAA club:
But when he finally did get the call to join The Show, the actual Cardinals weren't so accommodating. But this is baseball; it's tough to make judgments until at least 150-or-so plate appearances are in the books.
And those are starting to form a clearer picture, one that is surely warming at least the left cockle of Cubbie Nation's heart:
One player, no matter how talented, does not a contender make, and Epstein is assembling a formidable cast to surround him. The central focus has been on his Core Four:
- Trading Addison Russell was one of Billy Beane's biggest gambles when he dealt for Jon Lester and a shot at all the 2014 marbles; looks like he'll be a fixture in the North Side for years to come.
- Jorge Soler is only 22 and doing what Cubans do in The Show.
- Javier Báez still needs fine-tuning, but Cubbie brass believes he's close.
- Albert Almora remains as a long-term prospect, but hell, the kid was drafted outa high school; he's showing sparks.
No one's saying these dudes are gonna be the 1927 Yankees, but Cubs fans will settle for the 2004 Red Sox.
They were curse crushers, too.