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Cub Tracks Got The Message

I'm going to start writing better so Dale Sveum doesn't threaten to bench me. Of course his real target was to turn his team around, which has happened (to a point). So who is responsible for the change? Kevin Gregg? Darwin Barney? Anthony Rizzo? Regression to the mean? Or have the Cubs just developed the will to win (oh yeah, we're gonna milk that)?

Action shots can look funny.
Action shots can look funny.
Andy Lyons

We've got another sabermetrics fight, veterans tuning out the manager (wait, what?!?!), and debate on who, and when, to trade.

I've also noticed that whoever gets used for the photo in one edition of Cub Tracks gets talked about even more prominently for the next one. You're up, Darwin.

From Comcast SportsNet

  • The team sees the keystone combination of Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney as game changers.
  • The brass also expects Anthony Rizzo to take his game to the next level.
  • I'm not a fan, but it looks like the club will be following another Boston Red Sox blueprint by using a closer-by-committee approach. Granted, in this case necessity is probably the mother of invention.
  • After a slow start, the team has finally gotten its wakeup call.

From Cubs Den

  • Has Dale Sveum righted the ship?
  • At what point do the Cubs need to start keeping short-term assets? Here's an argument for / discussion about hanging onto Carlos Villanueva, Matt Garza, and Nate Schierholtz.

From Cubs.com

From ESPNChicago.com

  • Five things: Gregg is emerging as the closer, Rizzo is fine (and valuable), Carlos Villanueva is human, close is good, and the manager is facing more scrutiny.
From the Chicago Tribune (register to see almost anything but videos)

From the Chicago Sun-Times (can read a paragraph, register to read the rest)

From the Daily Herald (registry required for all)

From miscellaneous sources

  • Joel Sherman rights about the proper organizational mentality. This gives you some more fodder for discussing how Theo is going about building things the Cub Way.

Today's food for thought

  • Cicadas are back. The reporter describes it as a "giant sex and death party".
  • Speaking of sex, a couple's anniversary trip had a pod of "killer" guests.