Here's the latest from around the web:
From Comcast SportsNet Chicago:
- Another award, this time for the booth: Pat Hughes is being honored as the 2014 Illinois Sportscaster of the Year. It's the seventh time he's won the award in Illinois and tenth time overall with three wins in Wisconsin.
- Years after meeting as a cancer survivor and a player working to beat it, Jon Lester and Anthony Rizzo have become building blocks for the Cubs.
From the Chicago Tribune via RedEye Chicago:
- Mark Gonzales looks at three pressing topics still on the Cubs' radar before pitchers and catchers report to Mesa.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
- Rick Morrissey jumps on the Sporting News-bashing bandwagon (with a dig thrown at David Kaplan), pondering whether it's possible for an entire website to have a drinking problem.
From the Daily Herald:
- In former Cub coach news, Jeff Pentland will be taking over as the hitting coach for the New York Yankees. No word as to whether or not Sammy Sosa was seen trying out Yankees jerseys.
From Cubs Den:
- Who's the best Cub candidate for Rookie of the Year: Jorge Soler or Kris Bryant?
- With Ben Zobrist off the table, John Arguello looks at the ways that the Cubs can still become a more versatile team.
From Chicago Cubs Online:
- The Arizona Diamondbacks are still working hard to add a catcher, according to Jon Paul Morosi, and Welington Castillo remains an option.
- I thought this horse was dead and buried, but apparently not. According to Nick Cafardo, Major League Baseball is still investigating tampering charges that were filed by the Tampa Bay Rays.
- Kyle Hendricks took his turn with the media, speaking with Jeff Joyce and Steve Sax from MLB Roundtrip on MLB Network Radio.
From Cubbies Crib:
- Nicholas Blazek also looks at the Cubs that he feels could possibly end up as Rookie of the Year.
- More former Cub news: Tyler Colvin has signed a minor-league deal with the Miami Marlins...
- ...and Ryan Kalish is no longer with the Toronto Blue Jays.
From Chicago Cubs 101:
- This week's Bold Prediction from Tim Duxbury: 2015 will be a resurgent year for David Ross.
From Cubs Insider:
- From the "What Could Have Been" files: Ryan Davis looks at what a Cubs trade for Ben Zobrist might have looked like.
- Nate Schmidt looks at the adjustments that Javier Baez could make by examining his hot and cold zones.
- And for those of you who are in a quandary when it comes to blackout zones preventing you from watching the Cubs, Evan Altman shares your pain.
Today's food for thought:
- Maybe pennies aren't worthless; one recently sold at auction for $2.6 million.
- If you're looking to move to northern England, you can buy your own castle for under $500,000. You just have to share it with a ghostly woman and possibly a phantom hound.
- Forensics recently discovered that a person from Italy was murdered. So what, you ask? The Italian was a mummified warlord that died almost 700 years ago.