The Rundown Ultralite: Hoerner on Building Winner, Pads Weighing 5 Bids, Griffin Buzz Building

I’m going to be serving as a chauffeur for much of the day, so this is going to be a relatively quick one with bullets making up most of the content. In addition to my familial responsibilities, I must admit to a strong sense of malaise as spring training drags on with no home broadcasts. It’s been six days since the Cubs were carried by either Marquee or 104.3 The Score, and we won’t get another game on TV until Sunday. The next radio broadcast isn’t until March 7.

A few of the Cubs’ recent games haven’t had any coverage at all, and I don’t find this to be a situation in which distance makes the heart grow fonder. These games feature a lot of prospects, fringe players trying to make the roster, and new additions who haven’t been seen with the Cubs yet. Spring training should be a time for fans to get what could be their only looks at these players for one reason or another.

At the very least, it’s an easy way to capitalize on our collective desire to watch baseball at a time when many are still shaking off the chill of winter. And it’s not like the Cubs have to do anything special; the equipment is already there. I can’t imagine the cost to broadcast a game on Marquee is overly burdensome to the organization, though they’ve made it clear that they’re cutting every available corner.

I’ll grow tired of singing the same tune over and over at some point, but that point is not today.

News and Notes

• With the legal battles over team ownership seemingly put to bed, the Seidler family is engaged in a process to sell the Padres. Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the family has received bids from five parties. The known bidders are as follows: Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob; Santa Monica private equity billionaire and Chelsea FC owner José E. Feliciano; Everton FC owner Dan Friedkin; a group led by Vuori CEO Joe Kudla and former Chargers QB Drew Brees; and a mystery bidder.
• My money is on Lacob.
• Konnor Griffin keeps generating superlatives as he tries to become the first teenager to appear in an MLB game since Juan Soto in 2018 and the youngest to debut on Opening Day since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989. If he breaks camp with the Pirates, which many well-connected insiders believe is the plan, he’ll be just the 10th teen in at least the last 125 years to do so.
• The phenom was described to Jeff Passan as “a Ferrari…not a little Fiat,” which I found funny since Ferrari was once owned by Fiat. Whether or not he’s up on Opening Day — which is not a stretch for last season’s consensus Minor League Player of the Year — he’ll be a regular very quickly. In his first pro season out of Jackson Prep School in Flowood, FL, Griffin slashed .333/.415/.527 with 21 homers, 94 RBI, and 117 runs scored. He blasted through three levels and shouldn’t need time at Triple-A to prep for the show.
• Nico Hoerner told Patrick Mooney that he feels the Cubs are in a better place this spring due to the lack of turnover. They’ve been able to skip the “fluff” and improve “based on things that showed up in big moments of last year.”
• Jon Heyman estimates that MLB could propose a salary cap of $260-280 million with a floor of $140-160 million. That seems like a great way to make the cheapskates pay more while putting more money in billionaires’ pockets at the high end. I still say the only way to do it is to mimic the NFL, where teams must spend at least 89% of the cap over a four-year period. That forces owners to either spend or sell.
• I’m sure there’s more to cover, but that’s all I’ve got for you today.