Cub Tracks homes in

It’s not the ‘service-time issue’. It’s complicity in collusion that’s driven the Cubs’ offseason to a halt, frustrated the fans, and excited sportswriters looking for a story buried in the outfield ivy like Andre Dawson. The owners, through their mouthpiece Rob the Poor, have decided on a de facto salary cap and pinned it to the ‘luxury tax’. We’ll probably talk a bit more about that as there aren’t likely to be a lot of happenings during the coming week, and frankly it interests me enough to investigate.

Let’s call it the tacit declaration of interdependence by the bourgeoisie. Or not.

Kris Bryant’s service-time issue is a driver, and certainly adds the stochastic wrinkle to prognostications, but it isn’t the main factor. The main factor is ownership massaging the bottom line. That’s how there became a service-time issue in the first place.

Seriously. The emperor doesn’t have a stitch on. It’s effing naked greed on display. And it’s clobbering the game the way Gallagher clobbers watermelons. There’s no way you can convince me that the Cubs are losing money, or are in any danger of losing money anytime soon. They’re just NOT.

I don’t pretend these observations are original or highly observant. But I do hold these truths to be self-evident. There likely ain’t no way us peons can change things. We’re too busy being oppressed, but a prole can dream, yes? They can’t take that away... yet.

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.

• Sean Holland (Cubs Insider*): Cubs need to avoid Panik move amid budget crunch. “If Joe Panik really is the only affordable external option, the Cubs have better options on the roster already.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): How the 2020 plan and the Kris Bryant service time grievance ground the Cubs’ offseason to a halt. “... it’s possible that the Commissioner’s Office, not the Cubs, has taken the lead on this case.” Tim Stebbins reports on this story also. Evan Altman chimes in and adds Marquee/Comcast.

• Cubs birthdays: Elrod Hendricks. Also notable: Connie Mack (HoF), Steve Carlton (HoF).

Today in baseball history:

• 1899 - The fledging American League owners meet to map a strategy against the established National League. They agree to place a team in Chicago with Charles Comiskey as the owner-manager of the franchise.
• 2012 - Ryan Freel, who was a victim of numerous head traumas during his nine-year major league career with the Reds and four other teams due his aggressive style of play, is found dead from what appears to be a self-inflicted shotgun wound. Within a year, a study of the 36-year-old’s brain will reveal he suffered from a degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a condition believed to be triggered by repeated concussions that has been linked to suicide. That led to an unforgettable gift for Xmas. A tragedy for sure — but the upshot is that CTE is being studied closely with plenty of money poured into the research.
• Bob Nightengale (USA Today*): Decade of sports: Cubs winning 2016 World Series was best moment of the 2010s. “The first visiting team to ever win a Game 7 in extra innings.”

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.