Cub Tracks goes over the top

Well, that was a crappy way to begin, and a crappy ending, to be sure, and a pretty crappy middle on top of a pretty crappy game Friday, and no mistake, but I don’t do recap (The fastest recapper in the midwest does). I do snark and link, and I always relish these opportunities. We’ll proceed first to the word salad course before diving into a veritable soupçon of possible subjects and takeaways from last night’s game. Being but a simple burgher, I again have melted cheese for the top of today’s entree, which will definitely not be meatloaf, as the Cardinals made hamburger out of the Cubs Saturday afternoon.

Thanks for the kind words, by the way. I appreciate the condiments. Now, lettuce proceed with today’s epistle, which is fully loaded with hot and cold takes, sprinkled with just the barest touch of wit and wisdom, and spiced up by hyperbole.

It’s way better than searching Twitter for #Cubs and reading St. Louis fans’ tweets, I can tell you. This is one of the nicer ones:

It’ll be sweet to think about people like that watching their team miss the playoffs. Again. As always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

Cubs News and Notes:

Knuckling down.

Shoulder to the grindstone.

WGN represent

Needs work.

• Sean Sears (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs still not done at the deadline, showing interest in Marlins Kyle Barraclough. “...the asking price for a guy like Barraclough wouldn’t be as hefty as it was for Zach Britton or Brad Hand.” More on this from Evan Altman.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Javier Baez stays hot, but Jose Quintana chased early. “It was a weird day at Busch Stadium that the lefty would like to forget.”

• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Tyler Chatwood heading to Cubs bullpen with Cole Hamels set to make debut Wednesday. Left-hander Mike Montgomery will keep his spot and start Thursday night against the Padres. More of this by Al. Chatwood discusses his demotion [VIDEO].
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Montgomery learning when to back off extra work. “The All-Star break gave me a chance to refresh and get some work in, so I’m building off that,” he said.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): The Cubs want Hamels to be himself, but maybe a little sharper than his 2018 self. “It’s not like there’s some hidden Holy Grail,” Theo Epstein said.
• Craig Edwards (Fangraphs): Cubs’ need for quality pitching leads to Hamels. “In order to give themselves the best possible chance of qualifying for the postseason, Chicago needed better starting pitching.”
• Jesse Rogers (ESPN*): New addition Hamels ‘always wanted to play’ for Cubs. “This was a place I always wanted to play,” Hamels said. “I’ve had the utmost respect for Theo [Epstein] and what he’s been able to accomplish.”
• Ryan Davis (NBC Sports Chicago*): Jesse Chavez may be the big bullpen addition the Cubs have needed. “...the recent acquisition of 34-year-old right-hander Chavez might be the one of the most underrated moves of any contender ahead of the trade deadline.”
• Ryan Davis (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs in no hurry to get Drew Smyly back on the mound. “His next step will be a sim game, it sounds like,” Theo Epstein said.
• Chili Davis talks to the Score [AUDIO].
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Ian Happ to earn majority of playing time at third while Bryant recovers. “I’m not opposed to playing Bote anywhere, but for right now my comfort zone (is Happ),” Maddon said.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.