Cup o’ Joe, side o’ dough: Mini-season

Report: MLB to Propose Shorter Season; Players Would Get Full Prorated Salaries
Joseph Zucker Bleacher Report

As MLB and the MLB Players Association continue to negotiate the terms of starting the 2020 season, MLB is planning to propose a shortened season in which players would receive prorated salaries, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Passan also reported the total number of games “is being considered” but that it would likely last around 50 games for the regular season.

There’s a lot of talk of 82 games being a compromise between ownership and player proposals, but the owners have the last word. Language in March’s agreement allows the owners to impose whatever season they wish, so I wouldn’t think 82 games is possible.

Luis Vizcaino White Sox Unsung Hero
Scott Merkin, Chicago White Sox

There’s an unsung hero from the 2005 White Sox World Series championship roster, according to Don Cooper.

And if the answer to this assertion is not right-handed pitcher Luis Vizcaino, then you aren’t on the same page as the White Sox pitching coach.

Slept on this one, from Merk last week. You didn’t expect Coop to toe a standard line, did you?

Former Bulldog Jacob Lindgren on cusp of completing comeback to the big leagues
Logan Lowery, Cowbell Corner

Jacob Lindgren enjoyed one of the quickest climbs from college to the Major Leagues in Mississippi State history.

Lindgren threw his final college pitch on June 2, 2014 in the Lafayette Regional, three days before being drafted in the second round by the New York Yankees. The left-handed hurler who earned the nickname 'The Strikeout Factory' received a $1.1 million signing bonus and began his ascent through the minor leagues that summer.

This is Sports Illustrated’s MSU blog, and the feature on Lindgren — who has leaped to the top of minor-league lefty prospects, past Caleb Frare, Kodi Medeiros et. al in many minds — is a nice read.

Cubs' Tom Ricketts: Most MLB Owners Don't Take Money out of Their Team
Megan Armstrong, Bleacher Report

"The league itself does not make a lot of cash. I think there is a perception that we hoard cash and we take money out and it's all sitting in a pile we've collected over the years. Well, it isn't. Because no one anticipated a pandemic. No one expects to have to draw down on the reserves from the past. Every team has to figure out a way to plug the hole."

The Ricketts are almost impossibly bad people. The timing of these comments aside, there’s just an ugliness that staggers. And Tom Ricketts doesn’t just look like Ted Cruz — he acts like him, too!

Morning Music
It’s been a rough week, so fair warning: This one is not pretty.

But in light of recent events, it’s the first and only song that came to mind. I don’t pretend to have any rap expertise — but I can say with some authority there are few bands who drive a point home better than Living Colour.

Here’s they are, covering a Notorious B.I.G. song that is eerily appropriate this week. To think, this cover was done four years ago, and the song itself was written 26 years ago — and things have only gotten worse.

Buckle up.