Cub Tracks: That Escalated Quickly

I was, ahem, fired up on Sunday. And I am really tired of all the bickering around here. Which leads me to try and cut off some of the source of the bickering. Which... leads to more bickering. It's a vicious circle and I do apologize for feeding into it.

So let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

There are all sorts of things we passionate Cubs fans can disagree on.

My main "problem" around here right now is one thing. And it has nothing to do with arrogance. Or Theo. Or the rebuild. Or attendance. Or this player or that player.

That one thing is accuracy.

In one of my former professional lives, I was a television news producer. I hold fact-checking, credibility, accountability, and sourcing in very high regard (I got out of the business in '02 as the industry was really starting to devolve into the hot mess you see on TV today).

My blood boils (or my gears grind, if you're a Family Guy fan) when I see information misrepresented or incorrectly attributed. Particularly when it happens repeatedly. Regardless of who is doing the repeating.

So really, I ask one thing: If you're going to summarize someone's position (from another poster to any member of the Cubs organization), do your best to do so accurately.

And, if someone shows you new information that you hadn't seen, hadn't considered, or even willfully ignored, it is completely ok to say "gee... I never thought of that, thanks." Or, as Tim put it so well in another thread, saying you were wrong is also perfectly acceptable.

In that light... I was wrong. Despite my frustrations, I should have found a better way to relay to Al that he was inaccurately portraying something Theo Epstein had said as opposed to "calling him out". For that, I hereby apologize in the most public forum I have available to me. Al is frustrated. So am I. I think we all need to work on that "cooler heads" saying.

With that said, my hope is that Al, the general body of BCB posters, and of course myself will all work to be more understanding of each other and more accurate in our representations of the positions of others in this very, very frustrating time to be a Cub fan. Maybe it's a little pie-in-the-sky, but that might go a long way toward returning some sense of sanity to BCB.

OK, so that wasn't a "sum". But I really wanted to use that quote. I love that movie. And now... on to the links.

From Comcast SportsNet

• Jeff Samardzija thinks Dale Sveum can take the Cubs to the next level.
• Meanwhile, Dale is defending the season of his first baseman, Anthony Rizzo.
• In other managerial news, Darwin Barney thinks leaving the Cubs organization for the Phillies gave Ryne Sandberg the chance he needed.
• The Cubs' plan for Javier Baez is coming into focus. A position change looks like a near certainty and that means the young phenom could be a big leaguer sooner rather than later.
• Pitching prospect Kyle Hendricks was also honored at Wrigley Field this past Saturday. The righthander is another youngster who could be helping the big league club soon. This offseason, he'll be working on two things: getting left-handed hitters out more consistently and getting his degree from Dartmouth. I'm telling you: this kid is going to be Doug Fister-esque for the Cubs.

From Cubs Den

• Here's an updated Cubs top 10 prospect list. There will be many more... the series will run down the top 50, so get ready to get your prospect geek on.
  
• A handful of notes on: Kyle Hendricks, Pedro Strop, Kevin Gregg, Javier Baez, Scott Baker, and Carlos Gonzalez.

• Junior Lake is a work in progress.
• (Video) Pedro Strop talks about his relationship with Kevin Gregg.

From the Chicago Sun-Times

• Chris Bosio is going to bat for Dale Sveum. I thought I'd make a witty comment about Bosio's career batting average. Turns out, the former hurler never took one regular season plate appearance in 10+ big league seasons playing for the Brewers (then of the AL) and Mariners. A further aside, did you know Bosio had a 5.9 WAR season in 1989?
  

From the Daily Herald

• Anthony Rizzo's season hasn't been as bad as some have said.
  

Today's food for thought

• Legless lizards have been found in California.