Cub Tracks sees stars

The Winter Meetings start next week. Until then, dribs and drabs. Lots of players were thrown overboard yesterday. Some of them may be useful to the Cubs. But Bryce and Manny are still at sea, for now. Eventually they’ll be reeled in. Until then, hold the line.

Let’s not forget this:

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).

• Robert Kuenster (Forbes*): Are Cubs and White Sox preparing to make big offseason moves? “Capturing success at the major league level is so hard to find and keep...”
• Michael Ernst (Cubs Den): Chicago Cubs 2019 offseason tracker.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Seven Cubs players tendered contracts. “Ronald Torreyes, Justin Hancock and Allen Webster were non-tendered and are now free agents.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): How one ill-fated at-bat led to Webster being non-tendered. “Moving Webster to the 40-man nullified the successor contract, but the Cubs weren’t willing to lock up that extra roster spot knowing how much more work they’ve got to do this winter.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Non-tender roundup: Wow, a lotta potentially useful players just became free agents. “Consider some of the newest free agents who absolutely could contribute to the Cubs in some kind of role...”
• Moshe Wilensky (Cubs Insider): Cubs now have five options for Addison Russell’s future. “In my opinion, the Cubs’ decision to tender Russell is largely due to a group action problem we just saw play out in the NFL (and may see again with Kareem Hunt).”
• Kenny Kelly (Beyond the Box Score): The shortcomings of MLB’s domestic violence policy. “Until larger problems are addressed, players like Addison Russell receiving a second chance will always feel unjust.”
• Doug Glanville (NBC Sports Chicago*): Glanville Offseason Journal: Kris Bryant and the small window a player has to make big money. “...value is about what someone is willing to pay and the market that defines that value.”

Food for thought: