Photo derived from @CarrieMuskat

The Rundown Lite: Hendricks Sings, Maddon Prints Available, Aroldis Chapman Takes, Cardinals Playing Shorthanded

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanJune 15, 2018

Okay, I promise I’m going to be quick with this one and just hit on a few interesting items from social media and elsewhere. What’s funny about yesterday is that, even after being unable to watch the Cubs for most of the previous week, I was glad they had the day off.

That had nothing to do with consecutive shutouts at the hands of the Brewers, but was more about hitting pause for an evening. There’s something to be said for living your best life and that’s more or less what I’ve been doing here for a little while, it’s just that you have to keep paddling to stay ahead of the big-ass wave building behind you.

So before said wave churns me onto the reef, let’s get to it.

Kyle Hendricks, music professor

Not much preamble required on this one:

Putting the art back in your basement

Remember those newfangled prints Joe Maddon commissioned this spring, the ones that spliced famous works of art into modern, baseball-themed settings? There was Mona Lisa with a bat in her hands, David wearing a jock strap with the Wrigley scoreboard in the background, Salvador Dali in a catcher’s mask, etc.

Those prints are now available in various sizes and styles over at korkedbaseball.com, with prices ranging from $25-389. Proceeds go the Respect 90 Foundation, so that’s another plus. Having just been to Florence, I was really hoping to cop one of the Davids (that’s also my first name, so extra bonus), but they are not available.

And since I know Joe Maddon is a frequent CI reader (Ron Howard voice: He’s not), might I suggest having one of these made up using The Birth of Venus as template?

We’re still talking about Chapman

As long as Gleyber Torres continues to play well for the Yankees, we’re going to hear about it. The precocious infielder is currently slashing .295/.351/.577 with 13 homers and 33 RBI, so you can imagine how revisionist historians are looking to rewrite that monster trade back in 2016.

That kind of thing is inevitable and such hypothetical speculation is part of what makes this whole thing fun. But where things get wonky is when you start talking in absolutes or ignoring the facts of the matter. Aroldis Chapman may be a goblin and you’ll never find me defending his character, though you can’t deny his impact on that Cubs title.

Could another pitcher have been as valuable? Maybe. MLB.com’s Mike Petriello certainly seems to think so.

https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/1007425757839282176?s=11

In the end, this is more about phrasing. Like when Petriello said Kris Bryant can’t do damage to the opposite field, a statement for which he also took deserving flak from Cubs fans. I get that there’s a measure of responsibility on the part of the reader to afford leeway in the interpretation of tweets, but I also think Petriello is very much aware of what he’s saying and of the response it’ll get.

Cards missing two big bats

Star shortstop Paul DeJong has been on the DL for nearly a month and won’t return until at least late June after suffering a fractured hand, so he’s out for this Cubs series. Jose Martinez will also miss the upcoming weekend games in order to travel back to Venezuela to be present for the birth of his child.

Those two have been the Cards’ best hitters, tallying wRC+ marks of 149 (Martinez) and 127 (DeJong) and totaling 3.0 fWAR (1.6 from DeJong and 1.4 from Martinez). This means one of two things will happen: A) The Cubs roll to a dominant series win, or B) Rufus McNothingface gets called up from some independent league team to hit six homers in the series.

Somehow, I can’t shake the feeling that it’ll be the latter.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanJune 15, 2018
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