Brennen Davis Joins Yankees on Minors Deal, Cubs Unhappy About Rōki Sasaki Meeting Being Leaked
Everything remains quiet on the Cubs front and is likely to remain that way for at least the next couple of days, but there are a few little rumblings here and there. The first of those is that former top prospect Brennen Davis has joined the Yankees on a minor league deal just over a month after being designated for assignment and electing free agency. That news was initially reported by Aram Leighton of Just Baseball.
Davis came to the Cubs as a second-round draft pick who also starred on the basketball court for Basha High School in Chandler, AZ. His supreme athleticism carried him to the top of the Cubs’ prospect rankings in a hurry, but he was never able to stay healthy as a series of freak injuries hampered his development. Multiple hit-by-pitches, a nerve issue and subsequent fracture in his back, and then a broken leg kept Davis off the field for much of his time in the Cubs organization.
Now he gets a fresh start with a new team and we can hope he makes the most of it even if none of us want to see the Yankees do well.
New York might soon be home to another former Cub, with Adbert Alzolay drawing interest from the Mets. Some believe he’s being eyed as a starter, which is how he came up initially before his own injury history eventually forced him into a relief role. I’m not sure a team with a strong track record of screwing up players’ health would be the best landing spot for Alzolay, but he’s a great dude who deserves a good landing spot one way or the other.
And while we’re on the topic of highly-touted pitchers with ties to the Cubs, how about Rōki Sasaki? The Japanese pitcher has been meeting with teams in Los Angeles for the past several days, with the Cubs traveling to see him last Friday. The front office likes to keep a very tight lid on these proceedings, so they were apparently a little irked when word of the summit leaked through Bruce Levine last week.
“We’re not told,” Levine said when asked how the meeting went during an appearance on Marquee Sports Network. “They weren’t happy that it got out because in these situations, probably about 12 to 15 teams are meeting with Joel Wolfe and Sasaki. And for this to get out, is that a message to the player and the agent that these conversations are not held within us. [The Cubs] were not happy about it, it came from an agent source outside the organization.
“But nonetheless, this is great information. Nobody should be unhappy about the fact that the Cubs are going after the best international free agent out there.”
It’s a little weird that the Cubs would be upset about how this would look to Team Sasaki when it sounds like it was someone from within that camp who spilled the news, but whatever. Probably more a matter of them loving to circle the wagons and betray nothing of their intentions until matters are settled. Even though everyone knew the Cubs were going to have a meeting, we also know Jed Hoyer loves to move in silence and prefers to play it very cool.
I don’t believe the news of a meeting with the Cubs or other teams will influence the outcome to any degree, so this is a nothingburger that I’m only writing about because things are so slow. Speaking of which, is it evident how checked out I am right now? I’m very much looking forward to taking it easy for another day or two.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone reading, thanks for letting us do this and for keeping gas in our private jets and luxury cars.