Season's End

One of the benefits of the end of the season assessments is the plethora of good journalistic reads that reflect on the year.  Here are links to a few:

Derek Jeter: The Longest Goodbye: This is a good sarcastic piece about the newly minted tradition of star players' last tours.  Enough already.

The Death of the .300 Hitter: Another reflective piece about the dearth of solid hitters in recent seasons, particularly this one.  Not sure I agree with everything, but a decent read.

Here are others more directly related to the Cubs:

The Cubs and Justin Masterson: This one might have been put out there by Masterson's agent.  Somehow I don't see it.  Masterson was a good but not great pitcher for the Indians before leveling off after a series of injuries.  The Indians faced a similar dilemma before they traded him at the deadline to the Cardinals.  They had a choice between extending and saying goodbye.  The Cubs would likely have to make the same sort of commitment in the free agent market, so how is this worth the risk?  Masterson has been pretty awful for the Cards in the stretch run.  Somehow I expect the Cubs to make a pitch for a genuine stopper this off-season if all this stuff about becoming a perennial contender isn't just blather.  Lester would be more like it.

Sheffield: Baez Needs to Fix Flaw in Swing: I happen to agree with Sheffield here.  There is something wrong with a guy's swing and approach when he misses that often.  You don't know what is going on behind the scenes, but it seems to me the Cubs approach with Baez is a little too casual.  Again it is hard for a fan to make a judgment, but to my mind - especially if Russell is what everyone says he is - Baez is a potential trade candidate.  The consensus is the Mets need a shortstop and they have young pitching to spare.  Somehow I always have doubts about the Mets young pitching.  Their press is often better than the real thing.  A better partner might have been the Marlins, who were likely to move Stanton before their latest push to extend him.  Who knows, maybe Stanton won't bite.