From Black Friday through Black Monday Babe Ruth Jersey , these are the days of sales. Is Billy Eppler up early to stand in line?"Welcome to the far side of the offseason, eal. But, unlike department stores across the land, nobody is offering any super discount deals. Billy Eppler must shop, and Arte Moreno must pay. And all the merchants know it.Players, owners, execs, media mavens, all are family people. And yesterday was pretty important family time. So not too much baseball news is to be had. That’s not a bad thing. Finish your coffee and get back to your families. I’ll be here for you on Monday, when the pipes of the Internet slow to a crawl by online shopper surges..........Have some table scraps of Leftover-HaloLinks:Shotgun StyleMike Trout inspires Thanksgiving around America............Let’s pick up another catcher, shall we?Eppler adds Dustin Garneau on a Minor League deal. That’s Dustin with a “D”, and Garneau with a “G”..........Eppler is also looking at jumping into the fray for J.A. Happ.....The New York media is aghast at the chutzpah............If you are going to go fishing in the Draft 5 pond http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , it helps to have some tips on where the best spots are to drop your line............Bill Ripkin knew that Shohei Ohtani was going to be a visciously good MLB pitcher...........We know that Mariano Rivera is a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer. But are there enough votes in the crowded ballot to carry Roy Halladay in with Rivera, or will the Halladay ticket have to wait?............Did Jose Bautista’s 2015 ALCS bat flip ‘bug’ you? Well, if it didn’t before, it does now. Permanently...........If you are not braving the maelstrom that surrounds merchants offering huge discounts on all the lesser models of products that you didn’t actually want, then you and your buddies can take up debate skills on these subjects.............I skipped this FanGraphs piece yesterday because the page was full, so let’s pull it forward to today when things are slow. It is good insight into how MLB franchise owners grow their wealth less by day-to-day revenue, and mostly by ginormous franchise value appreciation..........I am not a Fantasy Baseball player, so I am not the one to determine whether or not this guide for future rotisserie strategies makes any sense. You do it. Go...............(h/t reddit) WIth the retirement of Adrian Beltre, take a look far back at Vin Scully calling Beltre’s first MLB at-bat............ CHICAGO (AP) — First, Brad Brach escaped a tough situation. Then Brandon Kintzler, Randy Rosario and Pedro Strop finished the job.Chicago’s beleaguered bullpen stepped up after Jon Lester departed with left hamstring tightness, leading the Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-0 in their home opener on Monday.“That will build their confidence. They need that Joe DiMaggio Jersey ,” manager Joe Maddon said. “The group needs that. They were all really good.”Chicago’s bullpen had an 8.37 ERA on an opening 2-7 trip, amplifying concerns about pitching depth with relievers Brandon Morrow, Xavier Cedeño and Tony Barnette sidelined by injuries. But the bullpen threw four scoreless innings Sunday at Milwaukee, and the form carried over into the matchup with the Pirates.Brach (1-0) came in after Lester was removed with two on and no outs in the third. He got Starling Marté to bounce into a double play, then struck out Francisco Cervelli.Brach worked the fourth, and Kintzler and Rosario each pitched two innings. Strop closed it out on a picturesque day at Wrigley Field.“It’s just one of those things where kind of the good pitching can be contagious but at the same time the bad pitching can be contagious,” Brach said. “I think now we’re ready to get on a little bit of a roll and hopefully seven innings can go a long way to the next game.”Lester got hurt when he scored from second on Ben Zobrist’s two-run single in Chicago’s six-run second. The veteran left-hander is scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday.“I didn’t feel a pop or any tingling or any numbness or anything like that,” Lester said. “Just kind of felt like something was in there grabbing me a little bit. So I guess that’s the positive look at it. Like I said, tomorrow will tell us more.”Pittsburgh had won four in a row, but the Pirates made four errors, including three by shortstop Kevin Newman in the second.“We need to play better defense,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “There were a couple of different sequences there Mickey Mantle Jersey , maybe, with execution of pitches didn’t help and defensively we had outs to put away and we didn’t do it, and the inning got away from us.”Newman’s first error allowed Daniel Descalso to reach after Jameson Taillon (0-2) retired the first two batters. He committed two more errors on a Kyle Schwarber grounder, and Anthony Rizzo scampered home to give the Cubs a 6-0 lead.In between the fielding trouble for Newman, Lester, Zobrist, Rizzo and Javier Báez each came up with big hits. Rizzo’s run-scoring single went off Taillon’s head, but he stayed in the game.“I’m fine. I’m unlucky I got hit and lucky I seem to be OK coming out of it,” said Taillon, who was charged with six unearned runs and four hits in two innings.Newman said it was a humbling experience.“A couple of days ago was the greatest day I’ve ever had on the field. Today was quite the opposite,” he said.OFFENSIVELY SPEAKINGKyle Schwarber added a two-run homer in the fourth as the Cubs earned their largest shutout victory in a home opener in franchise history. Their 72 runs is their highest total through 10 games since they scored 76 times in the first 10 games in 1954.WHAT A PLAYBáez picked up an RBI single in the second when he threw his bat at a ball that bounced in the dirt , leading to a liner that just got over Newman’s head. Báez shrugged as he stood on first base.“I saw Vladimir Guerrero did it back in the day and he’s in the Hall of Fame right now http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , so … ” a grinning Báez said. “Just a joke, just a joke.”WORTH NOTINGTaillon had allowed just five unearned runs in 441 2/3 innings coming into the day.TRAINER’S ROOMCubs: Morrow (elbow surgery) has completed each of his bullpen sessions so far “without incident,” according to president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. The next step for Morrow is expected to be finalized this week. … Barnette (right shoulder inflammation) and Cedeño (left wrist inflammation) are “moving along and getting closer to the possibility of rehab assignments,” Epstein said. “No setbacks with either guy.”UP NEXTFollowing an off day, right-handers Jordan Lyles and Yu Darvish get the ball when the series resumes Wednesday night. Lyles (0-0, 0.00 ERA) made his Pittsburgh debut Thursday against Cincinnati and pitched five innings in the Pirates’ 2-0 victory. Darvish (0-1, 8.10 ERA) struggled in his first two starts of the year, issuing 11 walks in just 6 2/3 innings.