Cub Tracks Prepares For The Challenges Ahead

Here's the latest from around the web.

From Comcast SportsNet Chicago:

• The Cubs are looking forward to the challenges in the month of August, with Joe Maddon saying that it's "the tough month to get through."
• Dan Haren is looking forward to making the most of his time with the Cubs... but will this be his final season before he hangs it up?
• And with Kyle Schwarber performing well and likely to stay in the lineup, what will happen with Miguel Montero?
• On the Javier Baez front, Maddon said that there is no rush to bring Baez up to the big club. (Check back in a couple of weeks.)
• Records only go back six years, but Kris Bryant now holds the record for most jersey sales for a rookie.

From Cubs.com:

• Addison Russell credits his second-half resurgence to hitting coach John Mallee who, along with Joe Maddon, is trying to give Russell something to think about other than the game.
• Being with the Cubs is a huge plus for Tommy Hunter off the field, as he now is a lot closer to his mother who is in Indianapolis battling cancer.

From ESPN Chicago:

• Jesse Rogers writes that for him, it feels like the playoffs start this week.
• One big thing that Kris Bryant took away from his head-first slide on Sunday that took him out of the game: He's planning on sliding feet-first from now on.

From CBS Chicago:

• Even with their playoff probability standing at over 62 percent according to Baseball Prospectus, the Cubs' management believes that they're still at the very earliest end of their development curve, writes Dan Bernstein.
• This week's "Behind the Plate" looks at Darryl Wilson, one of the people responsible for manning the center-field scoreboard for the past 29 years.

From the Chicago Tribune:

• Dan Haren on his season with the Marlins: "It was a rough situation."

From the Daily Herald:

• Connor McKnight looks at the trade deadline and says that the Cubs' moves were designed to be stabilizing forces for a roster that's being counted upon to find itself.

From Bleacher Nation:

• Brett Taylor looks at the post-deadline trading process -- namely, the waiver part of it -- and how exactly the process works.
• Along that line, what's to be made of the "light buzz" regarding Chase Utley?
• Michael Cerami looks back at the draft and discovers that the Cubs spent just about as much as they could without losing a pick in next year's draft.
• The funk is gone: Submariner Ben Rowen was claimed by the Blue Jays.

From Chicago Cubs Online:

• Three Cub prospects from the Short Season-A Eugene Emeralds -- Eloy Jimenez, Oscar De La Cruz, and Pedro Araujo -- were named to the first ever Northwest League All-Star team.

From Cubs Insider:

• Evan Altman writes that whenever Javier Baez does make it back to the big club, fans are going to need to be okay with the likelihood that he's still going to strike out a lot.
• Altman also looks at the correlation between the power of Anthony Rizzo and the success of the Cubs and finds that, this year at least, good things happen when Rizzo goes yard.

Today's food for thought:

• Why do ice cubes get cloudy in the middle?
• Here's a neat video showing an aerial view of some of the "chaos terrain" on Mars.