Cub Tracks Capitolizes

Today is Jack Flaherty’s birthday. The Nationals gave him an early present. Hopefully the whole Cardinal team can go on vacation after tonight. Stephen Strasburg looks to be finally fulfilling his immense potential. Bryce Harper probably has a sad. Tommy Edman is still looking for that changeup.

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). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used here as sarcasm font.

• Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Winner’s trap: How did a Cubs dynasty start to fall apart before it truly began? “When you don’t win, everything gets magnified,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer listed as potential victims of next year’s ‘GM Purge’. That’s what Joel Sherman wrote in the New York Post.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Why the Cubs should want to interview Gabe Kapler. “... it’s worth listening to Kapler’s philosophies.” Jordan Bastian adds his wisdom. Paul Sullivan makes remarks. Gordon Wittenmyer adds on.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times*{$}): Carlos Beltran declines to interview for Cubs’ managerial job. Sam Fuld also declined. Sam declined everywhere.
• Alex Pavlovic (NBC Sports Bay Area*): Source: Giants interested in Cubs’ Will Venable for managerial opening. Venable, 36, spent eight years as a Padres outfielder and finished his career with the Dodgers in 2016, when Farhan Zaidi was the general manager there.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Former Cub Mark Prior likely to take over as Dodgers pitching coach in 2020. “... he’s making a name for himself in the coaching realm.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): The Craig Kimbrel Conundrum: Closer a major question mark for 2020 Cubs. “... where do the Cubs go from here?”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): The underlying numbers tell the true story of the 2019 Cubs bullpen. “Like their season as a whole, the Cubs bullpen was quite the enigma in 2019.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs re-sign 38-year-old pitching prospect Luke Hagerty, and I love it. “Hagerty says he’s throwing pain free now for the first time in 16 years...”
• RJ Anderson (CBS Sports*): Chicago Cubs top prospect list 2020: Nico Hoerner offers help now, while others could provide impact later. “... there are some players worth watching on the farm.”
• Andy Koval (WGN-9): Wrigleyville firehouse, Cubs grounds crew saves couple’s rainy wedding day. “We got to go in the clubhouse, take pictures in the seats and in the dugout,” Dana Arvanites said. “It was incredible.”
• Cubs birthdays: Don Robertson, Juan Cruz. Also notable: Mule Watson, Mule Haas, Jim Command (who wasn’t a pitcher), Jim Palmer (HoF).

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.