Happy New Year from everyone here at BCB. Russ had some family business to tend to (yes, real business, not partying!) so he asked me to fill in on this edition of Cub Tracks. It's another slow holiday week so there isn't much new to be had. Here's some New Year linkage for you, hopefully being viewed by you without too much of a holiday hangover.
From Comcast SportsNet Chicago:
- David Ross is a Cub. This, you know. What you might not know is the crazy story of the day leading up to the signing, summarized by Tony Andracki.
- Of Mark Strotman's Top 14 Chicago sports stories of 2014, the Cubs take two of the top four slots and another rounding out the top 10.
From Cubs.com:
- Carrie Muskat writes about the Cubs' top five storylines from 2014.
- Former Cubs catcher (and pitcher!) John Baker scooped the national writers on the signing of Chris Denorfia.
From ESPN Chicago:
- Jesse Rogers recaps the Cubs' best five moments of the year. Three of the five were off-field things that will bode well for the future.
- Jesse's got his worst five Cubs moments of 2014, too. Hopefully, none of those will be repeated in 2015. Hopefully, Edwin Jackson will not be repeated in 2015 in pinstripes.
From the Daily Herald:
- The Blackhawks will play in the 2015 Winter Classic later today against the Capitals at Nationals Park in Washington. Some of the Blackhawks who played in the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field reminisce about the experience and look forward to this afternoon's contest.
From Cubs Den:
- John Arguello ponders the 2015 Cubs, including the numbers and intangibles. He seems hopeful, yet realistic.
From Chicago Cubs Online:
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Kris Bryant is awesome. You already know that. The CCO notes that he's so awesome he made the cover of Baseball America's Prospect Handbook.
From Cubbies Crib:
- David Miniel has a look at a BCB favorite -- Armando Rivero -- as a possible bullpen piece for 2015.
- And for you Ben Zobrist fans, Nicholas Blazek says he'd be a perfect fit for the Cubs.
- Jacob Misener wonders what we can expect from the Cubs' young players in 2015.
From Chicago Cubs 101:
- Tim Duxbury is looking for big things from Jorge Soler. (So are we all, Tim.)
Miscellaneous:
- At Fangraphs, Jeff Sullivan has National League team projections which have the Cubs with an over-.500 record. (And in the wild-card conversation.)
- Those pesky Stephen Drew rumors won't go away. Joel Sherman of the New York Post is the latest to write about them.
- At Rant Sports, Dan Marmaduke says Anthony Rizzo will be the 2015 National League MVP. If that happens, the Cubs should be in contention all year.
Today's food for thought:
- Check out this huge underground city found in Turkey. Some of the rooms could be from as far back as 3,000 B.C.
- Here's a cool design for a prosthetic leg that's made on a 3-D printer.
- Do you like eclipses, meteor showers and other astronomical events? Here's a list of many such events that will occur in 2015.
- There was a dusting of snow in parts of Southern California on New Year's Eve. Here are some photos of that fairly rare event.