As the start of Spring Training creeps closer, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Cubs Convention begins today:
The Cubs are holding their 38th annual fan convention at the Sheraton Grand in Chicago this weekend. The convention begins at 6pm CT this evening, though the majority of festivities take place on Saturday. Manager Craig Counsell, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, and chairman Tom Ricketts are expected to be in attendance, and it’s possible there will be some interesting quotes that come from their public appearances. The guest set to get the most attention from Cubs fans is surely Sammy Sosa. Sosa had not been welcomed back into the Cubs organization following the conclusion of his 13-year stint in Chicago back in 2004, and though tensions between the two sides lasted 20 years and multiple ownership groups, a thaw in relations finally occurred last month when Sosa issued a statement apologizing for “past mistakes” in a tacit acknowledgement of his participation in the steroid era.
A number of current and former players in addition to Sosa are expected to be in attendance this weekend as well, including newly-acquired outfielder Kyle Tucker. Tucker settled on a $16.5MM salary for 2025 in order to avoid arbitration yesterday after the Cubs acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Astros last month. This weekend’s convention also takes place one day after the Cubs unveiled their new alternate home uniforms for the 2025 season, which will be featured during Friday day games at Wrigley throughout the summer. For more details on the Cubs Convention (including ticket pricing), you can visit the event website here.
2. Choo to be honored ahead of Rangers FanFest:
The Rangers are hosting their 2025 FanFest on Saturday at Globe Life Field. More details on the event can be found here, but one former player expected to be in attendance is 16-year MLB veteran Shin-Soo Choo, who spent the final seven years of his big league career in Texas. In advance of tomorrow’s FanFest, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News notes that Choo will be honored with the Mark Holtz Alumni Award at the team’s awards banquet this evening. A career .275/.377/.447 hitter, Choo was an All-Star with the Rangers at the age of 35 back in 2018 before wrapping his MLB career up in 2020. Since then, he’s headed back home to South Korea and played four more seasons with the SSG Landers. Choo retired at the end of the 2024 campaign at the age of 42 after 24 seasons in professional baseball.
3. Upcoming DFA resolutions:
Two players who were previously designated for assignment should see their situations resolved today: infielder Livan Soto and right-hander Amos Willingham. Soto was DFA’d by the Orioles last week after Roansy Contreras was claimed off waivers by the club, while Willingham was DFA’d by the Nationals to make room for Jorge Lopez on the 40-man roster. Both played figure to either be claimed off waivers by a rival club today or, should they clear waivers, be outrighted to the minor leagues to serve as non-roster depth for their respective club. Willingham has just 19 games of MLB experience under his belt with a 7.11 ERA, while Soto has batted .351/.407/.494 in 87 trips to the plate at the big league level across three MLB seasons. Willingham has a much stronger Triple-A track record than his brief big league run might indicate (3.47 ERA, 23.3 K%), while Soto is the opposite, having posted a .266/.362/.385 slash that’s much lighter than his production in limited MLB work.
I say he should change his name to Shin-Soo Choof, Just sayin
I wonder how come the NY teams don’t have fan fests? I think the Mets are doing just their 2nd one this year 5 years after the 1st one and the Yankees don’t even bother.
Easy way to make $$ but guess not?
Kind of surprised that Choo piled up 34.6 bWAR. No Hall of Famer but a respectable career .824 OPS. The guy was bat-only, though.
Wonder how he would have stacked up w HOFers like Harold Baines if he played the early part of his career in the states.
He would have more counting stats as a bat only player…….. still probably not good enough for HOF but would have been interesting
He played his whole career in the states. He signed with the Mariners when he was 18 years old.
Uh get your fact straight. A regular 20-20 guy with a cannon for an arm. He was like a four-tool player. None of his tools were overwhelming but he was able to contribute with all of his tools. He was a “poster”, a guy who consistently posted.
Both Baseball Reference and Fangraphs dump on his defense big time, and rightly so. He did have a decent arm but his fielding was always subpar.
And that’s why I said he was a four-tool player. And his defence was serviceable at best early in his career. When he lost a step or two and an arm later on his career, yeah it started to suffer.
“Soto was DFA’d”
What’s your point?
Welcome back drug abusing cheat! Signed cubs fans everywhere
You do not speak for the majority of Cubs fans. To my knowledge. He never failed a drug test.
Your fan base turned a blind eye to the home run race of 1998, along with the rest of baseball, and the hypocritical media. You speak for yourself.
But nice new uniforms, huh? Yeah, Sosa was a cheater and all his whining about not be as recognized by the media as fellow cheater Mark McGwire in their farce of chasing the HR record because Sosa is Latino doesn’t help his already tarnished reputation.
Are you mad because he was on the White Sox too?
Get a life, you were probably cheering him back just like the rest of us, unless you’re a White Sox fan who gave him away and sulked during his entire Cub career.
He should be in the Hall of Fame. The vast majority of players were using steroids during that era. And the generation before were taking greenies. And most of them would have taken steroids had they been available.
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire made the homerun chase of 1998 one of the best parts of my youth. Between watching Jordan and the Bulls dominate and Sammy chase 61, it was a wonderful summer for Chicago.
Across: And it doesn’t bother you that the “Home Run Chase” wasn’t on the up and up?
Avenger,
That it was tainted by the use of steroids? No, it doesn’t bother me, but I can completely understand folks that have a problem with that era and feel betrayed by those players. In general I’m much more lenient towards that era, so I don’t voice my opinion too much. I guess you could say that nostalgia blinds me and that is very much true.
It doesn’t bother me. Those were the conditions they were dealing with at the time and the Lords of Baseball allowed it. It’s not the players’ fault for doing what they needed to do to keep up with their peers.
I don’t support steroid use but as a Cub fan, I think the team holding a grudge against Sosa all this time is ridiculously hypocritical- They cashed in big time during that Sosa/McGuire HR race, and I don’t ever remember hearing about them giving any of it back to charities or discounts for fans.
Well said Rondon. Even worse—for the past about 15 years it has been singularly Tom Ricketts that made himself judge and jury over Sammy’s inclusion back with the franchise. (and he certainly wasn’t the cash in part of the late 1990s and early 2000s).
Different scopes for sure—but Ricketts grudge against Sammy can be viewed just as damning in certain ways.
Did Ricketts act as judge & jury over Arrieta’s PED usage much more recently?!?! That guy help Cubs get a ring, which Sosa never did. Interesting how Arrieta just kind of had like 3 year out of nowhere & unbelievable run and then completely disappeared. Cheating Theo from Bo Sox days and Cubs days got a job with MLB too?!?! Hmmmmm?
Just let everyone take anything cause apparently MLB turns blind eye for some teams & players. MLB PED policy over the years a total joke!
There’s your random jealous thought of the day.
Nice try but Arrieta was one of the most tested players during that time.
whosyourmomma:If you take the cheaters out of it, the all-time HR leader is Aaron followed by Ruth and Pujols. And if anyone thinks Pujols used PEDs, show me proof.
Let’s not forget that Arietta was also a well regarded prospect during that time and it worked out well for Chicago. Loved seeing his success but only wish it was in Baltimore.
Just a side note wym, you sound like Matthew McConaughey on the football commercial talking to Christian McCaffrey about Football being about food.
I hope someone signs Livan Soto. Livan,Livan likes his money, but selling cartoon balloons just doesn’t pay the bills in this economy.
All is lovey dovey at the cubs convention this weekend showing off their many big moves with the exception of Tucker!
He will get a warm reception on that stage!
So good to have news of the Cubs, been wondering what’s been going on there since, er, yesterday.
Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
Just filling in for Joel today
Wait, I thought Choo was universally banned from the league a decade ago.
Waiting for the Sammy Sosa return to Baltimore tour!