Cub Tracks pivots

Here’s today’s Cubs News and Notes. As always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

We can hope for regular updates on the young man’s progress, no matter what city he is in. He can still grow to understand. Others have differing opinions. I have no desire to hash it all out, and we already have two pages about various permutations of this subject.

Good luck to Tommy La Stella in his new digs.

Ha!

Umm?

• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs sending wrong message by leaving door open for Addison Russell. “At a minimum, this is a bad look.”
• Jon Greenberg (The Athletic {$}): Cubs tender Addison Russell a contract, now it’s time to trade him. “It’s fair to say the Cubs owe him support right now, but in the future, they owe him nothing.”
• Sam Fels (Wrigleyville-Baseball Prospectus): When you want it is as important as what you want. “It’s not that the Cubs don’t want to spend money. It’s that they don’t want to spend money now.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): What the Cubs can learn from the Brewers’ unique pitching strategy. “I think it’s on us to change how we evaluate those guys,” said Jed Hoyer.
• Kevin McCaffrey (Wrigleyville-Baseball Prospectus): 2019 player profile: Dillon Maples. “His stuff is classically closer, Kimbrel-esque, except for the command.”
• Jeff Burdick (Cubs Insider): Traditional leadoff hitters are neither luxuries nor necessities, just very helpful to offensive success. “...the leadoff role can be filled by hitters who compensate for deficiencies in one area by excelling in others.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Mythbusters: Did the lack of a prototypical leadoff man hurt the Cubs offense in 2018? “...the reality is, the lack of consistency at the top isn’t what sunk this offense last season.”
• Randy Holt (Wrigleyville-Baseball Prospectus): 2019 player profile: Javier Baez. “...unless something weird happens, we should see exactly what we hope for: an MVP candidate at the shortstop position...”
• NBC Sports Chicago: Cubs Talk podcast with Mark DeRosa [AUDIO].

Food for thought: