Cub Tracks rounds off

This October is shaping up to be perfectly horrorshow and I’m learning to make peace with it. There’s no postseason use for my preferred laundry and my ‘W’ flags (18 of them) repose in their cardboard coffin. Perhaps it is significant that I bought a black Cubs hat this year, and curtailed the eating of Chicagoan food like Italian beefs and deep-dish pizza on game days. Perhaps not. I may have simply run out of intestinal fortitude. Perhaps there is benefit to stochasticism after all. I’ve always thought so, but then baseball, after all, is a random variable.

Things don’t run the way we planned ‘em. Hopefully the Red Reign over the NL Central is short. I’m still a little ‘stitious and I started reading the tea leaves to find out, but they dried and I smoked them and went for entrails instead. Autocorrect made me wind up with chemtrails, which are hard to read.

Often, while watching games this past season, I felt like Alex de Large, with my eyelids propped open, waiting for the train to run completely off the rails. It feels like there’s a chapter missing, o my droogies, and many appy polly oggies for detaining you with so many arty allusions. I’m a loser, baby. But I’m in the best shape of my life — round.

Speaking of round, nothing else is likely to happen before free agency... but there’s a manager carousel going on. 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.

• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Tom Ricketts promises changes in a letter to Cubs fans: ‘We struggled to deliver ... in the moments that mattered most’. “... we share your desire for change and are committed to building our next championship team.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): ‘Real change’ coming for Cubs this offseason. “... we’re likely to see real change, real adjustments at various levels, most levels, of our baseball operation in some form or another,” said Theo Epstein.
• RJ Anderson (CBS Sports*): Cubs manager search: Joe Girardi, David Ross, Mark Loretta among those who will interview for job. “The Cubs are talking to the usual suspects, at least to begin the process.” Loretta interviewed Thursday. Ross, Girardi, and Will Venable interview this coming week. Evan Altman puts forth the idea of Sam Fuld as a potential manager. Brett Taylor discusses ramifications. Gordon Wittenmyer offers his thoughts. Paul Sullivan debates recycling and talks about Girardi.
• Mike Rosenstein (NJ.com*): MLB rumors: If Cubs hire ex-Yankee Joe Espada as manager, he has Red Sox’s Alex Cora to thank. “It wouldn’t be unrealistic for the Cubs to take a good look at Espada...”
• Phil Rosenthal (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Your Cubs-Marquee Sports Network questions answered — and no, we don’t know yet if your TV service is carrying it or its effect on your cable bill. “Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies are still in line to call Cubs games.” Brett Taylor airs his thoughts.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Pedro Strop on potential Cubs return: ‘They know this is my house here’. “We built a family here in this clubhouse and we’ve been proud of it for a long time.” Elaborating on Patrick Mooney {$} article.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Craig Kimbrel’s 2020 vision: ‘Strive to get better’. “... Kimbrel will be looking into why batters seemingly were able to sit on his fastball.”
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Can Willson Contreras stay healthy? 5 questions about the Cubs catchers heading into 2020. “... this is the most tooled out, athletic catcher who has a huge heart and wants his pitcher to succeed as well.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs head into offseason targeting center field, second base upgrades. “Center field and second base were the two positions where we had the least production this year, we had the most trouble finding consistent performance,” Epstein said.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Kyle Schwarber’s second-half turnaround makes him lock to remain with Cubs. “Schwarber was the Cubs’ most valuable hitter in the second half (2.1 fWAR) and found himself among the top 20 in MLB in wRC+ (151).”
• Cubs birthdays: Roger Denzer, Norm McMillan, Charlie Pechous, Al Heist, Rey Sanchez.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading. And hey! A book I have a story in was presented to Svengoolie yesterday. It’s called Spooky Berwyn: Creepy Tales from the Chicago Suburbs and is available for your purchase.