Cub Tracks Gets Comfy

From where I sit, this is how things look to me. I respectfully decline to be supine, instead, I'm inclined to recline.

*denotes autoplay video/audio and/or other timewasters and browser-botherers.

Goose Down:

• Tim Baffoe (CBS Chicago): Bad opinions of Goose Gossage and his geese are flying south to die. "...their raspy squawking will become a humorous footnote in baseball history."
• Jared Wyllys (Cubs Den): This is supposed to be fun. Roger that. Compares the baseball offseason to Lord of the Flies. That means that Goose Gossage is a talking head on a stick, like a smelly baseball version of Achmed. New motto: Refute Beelzy.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune*): Old-School thinking takes a beating at Cubs camp. "...count Maddon as pro-nerd."
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Not everyone reviles dorks. Joe Maddon thinks nerds are pretty cool. Part whiteboard confessional, part speculation. Giving the thumbs-down to the Goose.

Fleecy Does It:

• Bruce Miles (Daily Herald): Jason Heyward the best thing to happen to right field in years. Since the Hawk, he says.
• Bruce Levine (CBS Chicago: John Lackey a key component to Cubs' starting rotation. He is expected to be the #3 starter.
• Marat Bayashev (Wrigleyville-Baseball Prospectus): The case for Jason Heyward over Dexter Fowler in center. Analysis of relative strengths and weaknesses of two Cubs outfielders.
• Tony Andracki (CSN Chicago*): How Cubs plan to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump for young players in 2016. Srsly? They're in the best shape of their lives™. They have embraced the target. They respect 90. They have even embraced the bald.
• JJ Stankevitz (CSN Chicago*): Kyle Schwarber nears return. Cubs expect him back Sunday. Albert Almora expected back Saturday night against the Dodgers.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Jeimer Candelario is turning heads this spring. Prospect is a pleasant surprise. This is his first major league camp, and Candelario is taking advantage of it.
• Luis Medina (Bleacher Nation): The Cubs have two of baseball's best backups. Namely, Javier Baez and Jorge Soler. They'd start for almost anybody else.
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider): One pick leads to another: A look at the Cubs draft strategy. Could the Cubs target Jacob Heyward in the draft?
• JJ Stankevitz (CSN Chicago*): Joe Maddon: Cubs -- White Sox is "legit" rivalry. "It’s not contrived," he said, "and that’s why I appreciate it."
• Neil (Chicago Cubs Online): Baseball America ranks Ian Happ third-best second base prospect. Happ, along with Javier Baez, has the kind of versatility that the Cubs seem to prize.

Memory foam:

• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): To Joe Maddon, John Lackey improving with age. The right-hander has gained in experience what he's lost on his fastball.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times): Juan Perez brings a different kind of depth to Cubs outfield. Perez was a good friend of Oscar Taveras.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune*): Ability to adapt and adjust leads to achievement for Cubs' Ben Zobrist. Gonzales trying to enter the alliteration hall of fame with redundancy, recounts Zobrist's attributes.
• Jerry Crasnick (ESPN*): Matt Murton hopes to complete a rare trip from Japan to the majors. "Murton has some skills that could make him a useful piece in a complementary role."

Safe at home:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Dan Vogelbach crushes his first homer of the spring to center field. [VIDEO]
• Javier Baez destroys a baseball. [VIDEO]
• Jorge Soler goes oppo. [VIDEO]
• Dexter Fowler hammers one. [VIDEO]
• Cubs hype from the BCB Facebook page. [VIDEO]

Food for thought:

• Brian Truitt (USA Today*): Marvel launches program for female scientists.
• Christopher Crockett (ScienceNews): Black Hole smashup generated yottawatts of power. Rather than a flash of light, the power came out as ripples in spacetime, much like a Kyle Schwarber home run. A "Yottawatt" is 1 million billion billion watts. 36 septillion yottawatts were generated by the collision. Whole lottawatts!
• Ryan Whitwam (Geek): Scientists discover bacteria that will happily eat old plastic. Ideonella sakaiensis produces an enzyme that allows it to decompose PET plastic, one of the most common forms of plastic. Don't take it to Grandma's-Durofab is made out of PET plastic.