Bellinger's signed. Spring training games are underway. And now the fun part begins — figuring out who actually makes this team. Today I go position by position through the 13 non-pitcher spots on the opening day roster, sorting the locks from the bubble guys and making the case for how I'd build this bench.

This episode:

• The Bellinger deal broken down — three years, $80M, two opt-outs, and why the structure is basically perfect for where the Cubs are
• The 13-pitcher, 13-position-player math — and why those last three bench spots are the most interesting decisions of spring training
• Locked in: Gomes/Amaya behind the plate, Hoerner, Swanson, Morel at third (fingers crossed), Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger, Busch, and Tauchman
• First base: Busch gets the job, but Mervis, Garrett Cooper, and Dom Smith all hover — and Mervis is running out of time to get a real look
• The Morel situation: what Craig Counsell actually said, why third base is make-or-break for roster flexibility, and what passable defense there actually buys this team
• Nick Madrigal vs. Patrick Wisdom: why carrying both makes no sense, and why I'd probably go with neither
• The case for Miles Mastrobuoni that I will keep making until someone listens
• Canario's option year, Brennan Davis's health question, and why PCA is almost certainly starting in Triple-A
• The CBT math: the Cubs are effectively already over the first tier and why that's the right call
• How the deadline fits in — and why leaving $15-20M in wiggle room now is a feature, not a bug

CubsPS+ Episode 69 — Nothing Good Comes from Tom Ricketts Talking Money

Spring training games start Friday, Cody Bellinger is still unsigned, and Tom Ricketts opened his mouth about budgets again. This week I break down what Tom actually said, what it means, what he's gotten right as an owner, and what he keeps getting catastrophically wrong — then take stock of where this roster actually stands heading into camp.

This episode:

• The Ricketts record, honestly assessed — from saving Wrigley to "biblical losses," the full arc of what this ownership has and hasn't delivered
• Tom's comments on the Diamondbacks, payroll, and "more revenue" — not wrong exactly, but never, ever helpful to say out loud
• A full tour of Cubs payroll from 2014 to now — fifth in 2016, fourth in 2018, third in 2019, and what the numbers actually tell us about who's cheap and who isn't
• The Scott Boras standoff explained — why Tom's hands-off ownership style and Boras's go-around-the-owner strategy are a perfect recipe for a stalemate
• Where I think the Bellinger deal actually stands — and why "no formal offer" is not the same as no negotiation
• Why baseball is trending younger and what that means for the mid-tier free agent market that keeps getting left behind
• Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and the case against nine-year deals for guys who give you five innings
• Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and the guys who probably aren't signing anywhere soon
• What this team actually is right now — rotation optimism, bullpen depth, and why Morel at third changes everything
• My current read on the NL Central: Cubs and Cardinals as co-favorites, Reds right behind, and a division that the healthiest team probably wins

CubsPS+ Episode 68 — Falling Down the Rabbit Hole with Michael Cotton

Nothing's happening in the offseason and spring training isn't here yet — so I brought in reinforcements. Michael Cotton, co-host of the Sun Ranto Show and host of Baseball Rabbit Hole, joins me for a wide-ranging conversation about the soul of the game: old stats versus new, the artistry analytics is slowly erasing, and whether any of it matters when baseball is still just beautiful and stupid in equal measure.

This episode:

• Michael's origin story — 10 seasons on Sun Ranto, a Bears podcast he'd rather forget, and how a podcast from the Quad Cities kept him connected to the Cubs from Colorado
• How watching 162 games a year changes you — why the 15% see the game differently, and why that's both a gift and a burden
• Henry Chadwick: the journalist who invented the box score, the baseball guide, and — possibly — the K, and why his stats stuck for 150 years
• WAR explained for the Cotton-brained among us — and why 48 wins is the floor, not the average
• The old stats tell you what happened; the new stats try to explain why — and both matter
• Javier Assad's Baseball Savant page is a puzzle, Kyle Hendricks' is a masterpiece, and what the difference tells us about contact-based pitching in the modern game
• Why PCA's best plays might not look like plays at all — and what Darwin Barney and Jason Heyward have to do with it
• Analytics as player development tool vs. analytics as player limiter — and where Michael draws the line
• Joe Maddon, game seven, and the pull that still haunts us
• Jed, Theo, and what actually changed when Craig Breslow came to town