The Rundown: Bregman Voted ‘Most Irreplaceable’ Player, Ricketts Bullish on Marquee, KB Battling Chronic Pain

Like our ancestors from 20,000 years ago, those of us across the Midwest are emerging from the Ice Age with fresh optimism and fewer layers. Even as the last vestiges of glacial snowplow mounds cling determinedly to sidewalks and parking lots, they’re yielding more ground with each passing hour of warmer temps. And though most of us maintain an almost primal fear that Mother Nature will slap us across the face at least once more before changing into her spring clothing, we also know this next one will be more of a love tap.

Actual Cubs baseball is only two days away, even if it is just a glorified scrimmage. I’m still trying to find a way to get out to spring training this year, but a pesky jury duty summons is mucking up my plans. Maybe I’ll just have to take a little extra PTO and go earlier than initially planned. For some reason, I find it difficult to make time for myself with stuff like this.

Perhaps not quite as difficult as finding things to write about today, which is often the case in the doldrums between official report dates and the first game. The Cubs should be done making any significant moves for a while, so all we’ve got for the next couple days is videos of guys taking BP and fielding grounders. Fun times.

I suppose we should just get into the topics before I get distracted by a shiny object that spurs a few hundred extra words of blathering.

Bregman voted “Most Irreplaceable Subtraction”

We’ve reached the point of the offseason where optimism gives way to contrarianism, or at least that’s how it goes on social media. Desperate for engagement at a time when there’s not much else to discuss, you often find accounts throwing out intellectually dishonest grades or rankings. Like the Cubs getting a C for their work over the winter. I don’t see how they get anything lower than a B for signing Alex Bregman alone.

My opinions of Bregman are a matter of public record, so you can all go back and see that I was not at all bullish on him initially. Much of that stemmed from the idea that doing so might mean parting with Nico Hoerner, a fate the Cubs managed to avoid. Their new third baseman has said and done all the right things so far, and he seems like a guy who can be what Joe Maddon would have called a force multiplier.

That’s why a group of 36 insiders polled by The Athletic’s Jayson Stark gave Bregman 11 votes — most among all players — as the “most irreplaceable subtraction of the winter.” Pete Alonso received 10 votes and Kyle Tucker came in third with six. A lot of folks are looking at the raw number and making a direct correlation between Bregman and Tucker, but I don’t think that’s the best way to view this.

Rather, I see Tucker as that person you dated briefly who was maybe out of your league looks-wise but just didn’t match up from a personality standpoint. As great as things were with Tucker in the early going, the vibes quickly eroded once he encountered injury issues and decreased output. Leaving the team at an important juncture late in the season to see his personal physical therapist, after which he was still at a significantly decreased capacity, rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way.

I don’t necessarily agree with people that Tucker never wanted to be in Chicago, though I do believe his eyes were always on whatever was next. He was never 10 toes down, in other words. In Bregman, the Cubs have a player and person who is fully committed to both the team and the town. Cheesy though that may sound, I think it’ll have an outsized impact on the younger players in particular.

Ricketts on Marquee, Expectations for 2026

Anyone expecting Tom Ricketts to be super transparent when addressing the media is going to end up sorely disappointed, so you really need to put what he says through a filter. Maybe two or three. One topic on which he’s obviously going to be bullish is Marquee Sports Network, which restructured its leadership and cut loose several reporters to give the team more direct control over its product.

The Cubs-owned network is only broadcasting 11 of 33 spring games this season, a big drop from 24 two years ago, as cost pressures dictate changes. As disappointing as that may be, at least Marquee isn’t part of the shifting RSN landscape that’s left many teams scurrying home to the league for broadcast distribution. Well, not yet. Rickett

“Given all the market headwinds for RSNs, I think Marquee is one of the best things we ever did,” Ricketts explained to the Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro and other assembled reporters on Tuesday. “To be in control of our own destiny and be able to produce the games we want to produce the way we want to produce them, with the right people and the right staff and the right level of production quality, for us it’s been a huge home run. It’s been able to give us a chance to control our own destiny for a while and has been maybe the smartest thing we’ve done in all these years.”

This strikes me as Ricketts trying to speak something into existence, as I don’t think Marquee will be a stand-alone entity five years from now. Having a consistently competitive team will be the key, as no one is going to pay $20 a month to watch an also-ran year after year.

“You guys were all there,” Ricketts said, per Sahadev Sharma. “Wrigley was incredible in those playoff games last year. And it did remind you of some of those games back in ’15 and ’16 — and somewhat ’17 — where we had that kind of energy. And obviously, we want to have those games every year. We obviously want to win the World Series every year.

“But for me, too, it’s paying off all the loyal fans who have come to so many games for so many years and given so much to the team. To be able to pay them back with an incredible experience — like what we saw in the playoffs last year — that just means a lot to me personally, and I want to do that every year.”

Bryant Battling Chronic Back Pain

Kris Bryant was one of the main reasons Cubs fans were so energized during those three seasons Ricketts mentioned, but the former MVP has made only 712 plate appearances in four seasons with the Rockies. For context, that’s only 13 more than he had during his monster 2016 campaign with the Cubs. Bryant has been hampered by a number of issues, the worst of which is degenerative disc disease that has kept him off the field for a while now.

More than just preventing him from playing, the deterioration of his vertebrae has caused chronic pain that impacts his quality of life. He spoke with Kevin Henry of the Denver Gazette about his condition and how he’s trying to manage it while at camp on Tuesday.

“It’s not easy waking up in pain every day,” Bryant said resignedly. “So now we’re here, and I think just trying to determine next steps while I’m here with the training staff and doctors.”

This is the part where I’ll ask you to refrain from saying he’s stealing money from the Rockies or that you can’t feel bad for a person who’s getting paid that much. If money solved all problems, KB wouldn’t be in pain. You can see on his face how much this is weighing on him, as that trademark smile has been reduced to an ironic smirk that does nothing to mask his own frustration.

If you’ve ever dealt with chronic pain, you know the toll it can take mentally as well as physically. The good news is that this condition is not necessarily progressive and can “burn out” in some cases. Even though the damage is often irreversible, symptoms can be treated through lifestyle changes, physical therapy, and possibly even surgery.

Even if he never plays baseball again, I just hope Bryant can get to the point where he’s able to fully enjoy his life.

More News and Notes

• Beyond his potential mismanagement of funds and the growing wealth disparity among MLB players, former union boss Tony Clark resigned after an “inappropriate” relationship with his sister-in-law was uncovered by an internal investigation. It didn’t help that she was also a union employee.
• The very strong assumption is that deputy director Bruce Meyer will take over for Clark.
• Nick Castellanos was voted best subtraction of the winter in that same poll from earlier, even though voting took place prior to his release.
• Lucas Giolito and Max Scherzer are probably the two biggest names remaining on the market, and it stands to reason that neither will settle for a minor league deal. That means we’ll probably see them hold out until an injury creates a hole in someone’s rotation.
• There are no Chicago athletes among the top 25 highest-paid performers across the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS. Former Chicago athletes Kyle Tucker and Jimmy Butler are on the list, as is Chicago native Anthony Davis.
• If you’re a college baseball fan, take a few minutes to peruse PEARatings’ rankings of all 1,127 D1, D2, D3, and NAIA teams. Spoiler alert: NAIA Arkansas Baptist and D3 Yeshiva are pulling up the rear.
• Sticking with college baseball, the top five home run hitters are swinging either the Louisville Slugger Select Power (1), the Combat MFG Spec A1 (2), or the Marucci Cat X Rckless (one-piece, hybrid).
• The Royals’ Jac Caglianone believes he could still be a two-way player at the MLB level despite not pitching since college at Florida, but that’s probably not going to happen. It would be fun to see, though, as the 6-foot-5, 250-pound outfielder was touching triple digits as a southpaw.

Trailer Time

I’m pretty sure Glen Powell is contractually obligated to appear in 25% of the new movies being produced for the next five years. How to Make a Killing is an upcoming comedy thriller in which an illegitimate heir to a massive fortune attempts to get himself a piece of the pie, or maybe the whole thing. Also starring Margaret Qualley, Topher Grace, and Ed Harris, this one looks like it could either be really fun or a hot mess.

I’m a little concerned that I’m hearing of it for the first time just two days prior to its release, but maybe that just means it won’t have a chance to be over-hyped.