{"id":7356,"date":"2015-02-21T08:33:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T14:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=7356"},"modified":"2015-02-21T08:43:17","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T14:43:17","slug":"len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric Clark<\/p>\n

Almost five months removed from his latest appearance in the broadcast booth at Wrigley Field, Len Kasper can feel the hype surrounding the Chicago Cubs 2015 campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a long time that this team has had this sort of exposure and spotlight on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As Kasper enters his 11th season with the Cubs, he is tasked with providing play-by-play for an expectation-laden team and a fan base yearning for a winner. The Mount Pleasant, Michigan, native shared his thoughts on the upcoming season with Medill.
\n<\/p>\n

Quotations have been edited for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Eric Clark<\/strong>: How has this offseason been different from those of past years?<\/em><\/p>\n

Len Kasper<\/strong>: This offseason has been totally exciting. I think the comparison I would make would be to 2007 when the Cubs signed (Alfonso) Soriano, they brought in (manager) Lou Piniella, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis. I think they spent $300 million that offseason. This kind of feel likes that, although that happened around the time of making a managerial change.<\/p>\n

This year, while there was a managerial change with (Joe) Maddon, it feels like the process has remained consistent because this is the next step of that process. It definitely feels different than the last four or five years for sure.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: How do you feel about attention that offseason activity has garnered?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Related stories<\/h1>\n

Cubs in Vegas: Unconditional loyalty<\/a><\/div>\n

LK<\/strong>: I think (President of Baseball Operations) Theo (Epstein) would be the first to tell you that you don\u2019t win games in December. And while his job is to put the best and most talented team on the field, you\u2019re never quite sure about how new guys are going to fit in on a team.<\/p>\n

I simply look at the fact that the guys they\u2019ve brought in are not really replacing anybody that they were going to count on, in terms of young players. It\u2019s more of supplementing.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: Is there an under-the-radar move that the Cubs made that isn\u2019t receiving a ton of attention?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: I think the one move that\u2019s most intriguing and maybe not as talked about is the Dexter Fowler trade<\/a>. The Cubs didn\u2019t have to give up a top prospect to get a premiere leadoff hitter and a guy the Cubs really haven\u2019t had, certainly since I\u2019ve been here. He\u2019s a switch-hitting, everyday leadoff guy<\/a> who gets on base. To me, the biggest question going into the season was \u2018Can they score enough runs?\u2019 The biggest issue this team has had is not getting on base enough. That was clearly a target for this front office this offseason. \u2026 Fowler, I think, is about as good as you can do it in terms of finding a guy like that.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: How\u00a0was the 2015 Cubs Convention different from the conventions of past years?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: More people, way more excitement. The Rizzo \u2018MVP\u2019 chants, Joe Maddon was welcomed like a rock star. I could just feel the excitement. There\u2019s always excitement. \u2026 The intensity of it was really ratcheted up this year. That\u2019s always a good sign. \u2026 It\u2019s the first time in a long time that this team has had this sort of exposure and spotlight on it.<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/192063134″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: Are Anthony Rizzo<\/a> and Jason Hammel\u2019s confident comments <\/a>dangerous fodder for the fan base?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: I think this is unique in that sometimes you may not want guys to say, \u2018We\u2019re going to win the division,\u2019 and guarantee all this stuff. \u2026 [But] because this team hasn\u2019t been competitive for a long time, and because it now has a manager who kind of embraces the pressure, I think it worked. I think it added some fun and some excitement. \u2026 I think if this team wasn\u2019t built to win now, it may come off as just talk. But I think [Rizzo] fully expects them to be there when it\u2019s crunch time and I kind of agree with him.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: As a broadcaster, do you feel any responsibility to temper that excitement for the fan base?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: I think it\u2019s more about what my personality is. I tend to live more in the middle. For me, because it\u2019s a long season and because every single day there\u2019s a new game, it\u2019s really draining emotionally and physically if you ride that roller coaster every day. I\u2019m a fan, but I\u2019m a broadcaster first, and there is a difference. I think I\u2019m able to compartmentalize each game as it comes and not get overly excited or overly disappointed on the day-to-day basis. You want your team to win, but my first job is to make sure I do my job correctly.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: How much does objectivity factor into your job as a broadcaster?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: The words that I try to come up with are fair. In terms of the game call, if an umpire\u2019s call is obvious, you have to say it \u2013 that\u2019s number one. I don\u2019t want to say fair and balanced, but you want to be fair in your call. It\u2019s obvious that we are Cubs\u2019 broadcasters, but I think (color commentator) [Jim Deshaies] would say this too: our credibility matters as baseball observers, so a bad play is a bad play.<\/p>\n

The number one thing for me in that realm is that when I say \u2018That\u2019s a great play\u2019 or \u2018This guy\u2019s had a great week\u2019 or whatever, that you have to counterbalance that by saying when a guy is struggling or had a bad play. If it\u2019s only one and not the other, people stop hearing it after a while. I don\u2019t want to be the guy who decides that everything is great all the time – because then when something really is great, nobody actually notices that you said it.<\/p>\n

EC<\/strong>: Are you a proponent of any of the proposed changes to the game, such as the \u201cpitch clock<\/a>\u201d or a reduced strike zone<\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

LK<\/strong>: I have said publicly that you can\u2019t make suggestions on pacing, but I do think to get guys to make changes you have to legislate it. The clock thing is something I\u2019m philosophically in favor of, but I want to see it in action before I come down on one side or the other. My guess is it\u2019s something young guys will get used to, then it\u2019ll be fine \u2026 I don\u2019t know if this game needs more offense or more runs necessarily, but I do think it needs more action and less standing around and talking on the mound. Sometimes, the games feel very disjointed. A 2-1 game should not go three hours and thirty minutes, and that happens way more often than it used to.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Chicago Cubs banner logo on the outside of the center field scoreboard. (Ron Cogswell\/Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric Clark Almost five months removed from his latest appearance in the broadcast booth at Wrigley Field, Len Kasper can feel the hype surrounding the Chicago Cubs 2015 campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a long time that this team has had this sort of exposure and spotlight on it,\u201d he said. As Kasper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":7452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nLen Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Eric Clark Almost five months removed from his latest appearance in the broadcast booth at Wrigley Field, Len Kasper can feel the hype surrounding the Chicago Cubs 2015 campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a long time that this team has had this sort of exposure and spotlight on it,\u201d he said. As Kasper […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"967\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ericclark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ericclark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ericclark\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac\"},\"headline\":\"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1205,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"Winter 2015\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":967,\"caption\":\"The Chicago Cubs made numerous big moves this offseason, including signing starting pitcher Jon Lester. (Ron Cogswell\\\/Creative Commons)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac\",\"name\":\"ericclark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ericclark\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/author\\\/ericclark\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Eric Clark Almost five months removed from his latest appearance in the broadcast booth at Wrigley Field, Len Kasper can feel the hype surrounding the Chicago Cubs 2015 campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a long time that this team has had this sort of exposure and spotlight on it,\u201d he said. As Kasper […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":967,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ericclark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ericclark","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/"},"author":{"name":"ericclark","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac"},"headline":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes","datePublished":"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/"},"wordCount":1205,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg","articleSection":["Sports","Winter 2015"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/","name":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-21T14:33:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-21T14:43:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/7183774498_e96c402b0b_k.jpg","width":2048,"height":967,"caption":"The Chicago Cubs made numerous big moves this offseason, including signing starting pitcher Jon Lester. (Ron Cogswell\/Creative Commons)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/len-kasper-talks-2015-cubs-objectivity-in-the-booth-and-potential-rule-changes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Len Kasper talks 2015 cubs, objectivity in the booth and rule changes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/f7d0085ef888ef99e6dfe274316496ac","name":"ericclark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54932cc4fdc91b0ad71336c8eaaa4531ccf47a9e0b7aea770b629ce0783040a2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ericclark"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/ericclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}