YouTube TV's channel guide doesn't include channel numbers, and the Disney dispute has made it pretty clear why that is now.

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Folks who know me well may know that I typically have about 30 to 50 tabs open on my computer at any given time (sadly, not an exaggeration (current count: 43)). There’s just always stuff I want to read, stuff I might want to include in a post, and stuff that might later trigger a new post idea. One tab I’ve had open for weeks is Angels outfielder Jo Adell’s FanGraphs page. At the end of the season, I was just kinda trolling around looking at season performances I hadn’t noticed as they were playing out, and Adell’s leapt off the page. That’s less because it was such an extraordinary performance – .236/.293/.485/112 wRC+, brutally bad defensive metrics in center and right, 1.2 WAR – and more because I’d been fascinated by his story for a long time. Jo Adell, now 26, was one of those uber prospects back in 2018/2019, when he was putting up hilarious numbers at High-A/Double-A as a 19/20-year-old. It depends on your list of preference, but he was generally considered a top-five prospect in baseball by most pundits for several years. Then, thanks to the pandemic shortened season in 2020, the Angels were left with a couple bad options: bring Adell to the big leagues so he could play, or have him miss a competitive season because he’d only barely played at Triple-A the year before. They opted for the former, he struggled badly, and so began a near five-year odyssey of Jo Adell bouncing back and forth between Triple-A (where he mostly seemed to have the hang of it) and MLB (where he continued to struggle badly). It’s not a wholly unfamiliar tale, obviously, but (1) it’s a little more rare for the caliber of prospect that Adell was, and (2) it lasted sooooo long. Fast-forward to 2025, where Jo Adell, as I said, had a solid season. It was still pretty heavy on the strikeouts (26.4%) and light on the walks (5.8%), the fruits of which you see in the slash line, but the power really showed up against big league pitching, at long last. Adell posted a .249 ISO, a 17.2%(!) barrel rate, and slugged 37 home runs. His zone contact rate had improved each of the past four seasons, and it seems he finally got it to a place where he could turn his natural power into some actual damage. Good for him. Jo Adell and the Chicago Cubs OK, so why did I go through this exhaustive preamble about a former top prospect with no connection whatsoever to the Cubs? Well, because Bruce Levine made a connection to the Cubs on Marquee: “There’s a lot of opportunities out there. There are a lot of teams that like the minor-league system of the Chicago Cubs. One of them is the Los Angeles Angels, who might be dangling Jo Adell, who is a right fielder. He was considered their top prospect for a long time. He came through last year with the power numbers. He’s still a really young guy. “The Angels are interested in young pitchers. Some of the Cubs’ younger pitchers — the guys like [Ben] Brown, the guys like [Jordan] Wicks — people like that would be of interest to the Los Angeles Angels.” It’s a bit odd, yes, but it’s so specific that it feels like it has to have come from somewhere. Even if Levine appears to have been careful not to say explicitly that the Cubs are pursuing a trade. Speaking generally, it does align with that weird rumor that the Cubs were looking at corner outfielders, and it’s not like they couldn’t accommodate Jo Adell, either as a DH or as the right fielder (where he’s typically been passable). Either way, you’d have Adell and Seiya Suzuki in the lineup, though you’d be squeezing out Moises Ballesteros and Owen Caissie, to the extent you deemed either of them ready. But more specifically, is Jo Adell actually a strong target for the Cubs? Despite the preamble, I’m not actually sure how well he projects into 2026, given the long track record of struggles prior to 2025. You’d have to believe that what he accomplished in 2025 is definitely repeatable, AND that whatever defensively limitations there are, it won’t hinder his overall value on your club. Of course, given that extreme barrel rate (and a .378 xwOBA), it’s possible some clubs are projecting Adell to get even better from here. Maybe a team like the Cubs want to get out in front of any additional steps forward? There’s also, sigh, the financial fit. I always hate when that’s a factor. But it is. Adell is projected by MLBTR to make just $5.5 million in arbitration this year, with another year of control thereafter in 2027. For a Cubs front office that loves flexibility and short-term commitments, and with questions on how much they have available to spend (with most of that probably going to pitching), you can see the obvious fit. I think this is something we’re going to have to keep an eye on. It’s a little interesting that one of the few comments Jed Hoyer made about the offense in his GM Meetings comments this week was that the Cubs struggled a bit against left-handed pitching. Jo Adell absolutely obliterated lefty pitching this year, to the tune of a .277/.346/.585/154 wRC+ slash line. And, for his career, he’s actually been above-average overall against lefties, despite the below average numbers overall. He’s not solely a lefty-crusher, which would have limited value, but it’s something he does quite well. And maybe it’s something the Cubs feel they need. From there, it’s a question of how well the Angels like players X, Y, or Z on the Cubs’ roster or in their farm system, and whether you can find an appropriate match. To me, Ben Brown or Jordan Wicks feels a bit steep given the substantial disparity in remaining team control compared to Jo Adell, but maybe there’s a conversation there.

He was a longtime critic for the Chicago Reader and contributed frequently to the Tribune. He was also a Walt Whitman devotee, hosting a yearly event with his wife that included readings from &#822…