The Rundown Lite: Building Culture, Bellinger More Coveted Than Tucker, Red Sox Actively Seeking Big Bat(s), Thanksgiving Meal Ideas

Ed. note: There’s very little happening across MLB, so this one is comprised mainly of personal ramblings.

Thanksgiving has traditionally served as the line of demarcation for the official emotional start of winter, which is helped this year by the blanket of snow being pulled across the Midwest. While I find it aesthetically pleasing, especially knowing it’s not covering up leaves in my backyard, it complicates our transportation needs quite a bit. Getting my son downtown for his high school’s attempt at back-to-back state championships and taking my daughter back to college would be much easier sans flurries.

The Brownsburg Bulldogs are back at Lucas Oil Stadium riding an 18-game winning streak that dates back to the start of last year’s tournament. That alone would be testament enough to coach John Hart‘s acumen, but his career speaks greater volumes. He’s 363-99 over 41 years, including a 95-19 mark in 10 years at Brownsburg, and he has won Indiana state titles with three different schools at three levels since 2007. What’s more, all four of his kids have gone on to coach at the high school level.

Having grown up in a sports-crazy small town in Northwest Indiana, I learned the value of building a program very early on. You have to have personnel in order to win in any given year, but being consistently successful is a matter of creating a culture that starts with the young kids in the community. That’s not been the case here with the baseball program over the last few years, though I am seeing signs that things may be improving.

To that end, my son’s travel program has done an incredible job of developing a culture that should really pay dividends as the younger players get to middle and high school. The instruction has garnered a lot of attention, drawing elite-level players from all over the region to work out and train at our facility. I’ve seen commits from Tennessee, TCU, Notre Dame, and many other schools — none of whom actually play for our organization — putting in work over the last few weeks.

Kinda makes you wonder exactly what those big-name orgs have to offer beyond brand recognition.

It’s been really eye-opening for me to watch these workouts and see just how talented you have to be if you want to go D1 as a freshman these days. Most big schools use lower levels as their minor leagues, so you’re seeing a lot of guys go D2, D3, or NAIA in order to get playing time while working toward a “promotion” to a more prestigious team.

That was the case for Brewers rookie Caleb Durbin, who opted for D3 WashU because he knew he’d get a chance to compete for playing time right out of the gate. Then there’s the matter of getting more personalized attention for players who need a little room to develop. You basically have to throw 90+ and have triple-digit exit velocities to get an offer to almost any D1 school, but 80+ and 90+ can get you looks at lower levels. Even being 85+ on the mound with 95+ EVs won’t even get you a JV spot at some high schools, so there are kids out there with better shots at playing in college than in prep ball.

And now that I’ve rambled a bit longer than expected, let’s hit a few MLB notes.

Bellinger Over Tucker

We recently took a look at how Cody Bellinger could be a better fit for the Mets than Kyle Tucker, both due to the reduced cost and his positional versatility. That might also be the case for the Yankees. Jon Heyman wrote that Tucker “appears to be a backup plan” if they aren’t able to bring Bellinger back into the fold. That’s a helluva backup, but it makes sense.

I know I’m not alone in wondering whether Tucker will see his market deflated in much the same way former teammates Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa did in prior seasons. Maybe he really will get that $400 million deal, but there’s a sense that teams are somewhat skittish about how his contract will age.

Red Sox Looking for Big Bats

After trading for Sonny Gray, Boston is focused on adding at least one big bat. They don’t appear to be interested in Tucker, but some believe they’ll target two players below his level. That list includes Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, Munetaka Murakami, Pete Alonso, and Bo Bichette, though the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reported that they’re looking for one big star and another complementary piece.

Thanksgiving Meal Recs

My family gathered yesterday for a highly non-traditional brunch that featured grilled Spam and smokies, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Upon returning home, we had turkey and gravy potato balls from Porto’s Bake at Home. I’m glad I ordered two boxes because they were fantastic. It was just the four of us for actual Thanksgiving, so we opted for Costco’s take-and-bake combo of boneless turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

The turkey and stuffing were both top-notch in my opinion, but the potatoes had that mass-produced taste that made me wonder if they’d started as flakes. The green beans didn’t cook up very well and were pretty tough. Overall, though, not a bad option when going for something we could all enjoy without too much time or effort.

Here’s to hoping for a little more MLB news starting next week.