Welcome to the 285^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. Holy cow, the Cubs gave us a ton to talk about this week. First off…Jon Lester! The Cubs were able to sign the free agent to the largest contract in organization history. We talk about Lester and what his signing means for this off-season and the 2015 season. What it boils down to is that the Cubs are now interesting at the major league level.

The Cubs also signed Jason Hammel, after trading him to A’s with Jeff Samardzija in July. The Cubs and Hammel must have liked what they saw in each other as they worked out a 2-year deal.

The Cubs added an All-Star catcher in Miguel Montero. After missing out on Russell Martin, they went out and got the catcher that is arguably the best pitch framer in baseball. What does this mean for Welington Castillo? And how bad is he, really?

Kurt runs through the players whose contracts were tendered and non-tendered by the Cubs. Corey reads some internet muscle flexes that left Andy and Kurt speechless.

We have two Cubs Convention passes to give away, courtesy of the Chicago Cubs. For a chance to win these two convention passes, email corey@ivyenvy.com with your answer to this question – Who would you bring with you to Cubs Convention and why?

We didn’t have time to read the captions for this week’s caption contest. You can click on the image below and tell us which caption you liked most.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to participate in the first ever Cubs Bloggers Forum with Crane Kenney. On this week’s episode, we talk about the event. We start off by commenting on the fact the Cubs held this event. The media landscape is changing and the Cubs fully understand the role bloggers, podcasters and other “alternative media” people fill. The beat reporters often inform us of news, but the conversation continues with us.

There were several business-related topics covered in the 70 minutes we had with Crane Kenney. On this episode of the podcast, we cover many of these topics. The Cubs told us that it’s likely the bleacher renovations will not be completed for Opening Day (Night). There are a few reasons for this and we discuss those reasons. We talk about the triangle lot and how it will be used. Rooftops were discussed, from the last deal Kenney made with the rooftops to the Ricketts family potentially buying rooftops.

Media Rights were brought up. We talk about what may happen with the games that would have been (and still might be) broadcast on WGN America. We also share some encouraging news about streaming MLB content and the frustrating blackouts. We also share what Kenney described are three potiential options for the Cubs and media rights after 2020.

Kenny also addressed the idea of the Ricketts family being cheap and not spending money with the Cubs. He also shared his opinion of Theo, Jed and the rest of the baseball side of the front office.

Here’s a link to the Jamberry flash sale.
We have t-shirts for sale. Use the coupon code “MONDAY” at http://iveyvny.com/store to purchase this beautiful shirt: