Cub Tracks leaves it all on the field

One of my favorite players. I loved the way he played.

The Winter Meetings are hard upon us. Let’s hope the future augurs well and that our beloved Cubs are not on the treadmill toward oblivion.

Good music for a Sunday. 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.

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Renovation budget overage, Federal probe into Wrigley’s ADA compliance create poor optics for Cubs.”... the true meaning of “Everybody In?”” More from Sports Law Insider.
• John Morris (Accessible Gameday*): Chicago baseball at Wrigley Field. “My experience using a wheelchair at Wrigley Field was very positive. I enjoyed my time inside the Friendly Confines much more than I have at other ballparks.” (from 2016)
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$): Meetings expectations? Cubs roster open for business as Theo and Co. head to winter meetings. “... Epstein said he’s looking for a starting pitcher and expected to explore a free agent market that has more depth than usual.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Baseball winter meetings ‘winners’ are defined by amount of activity in the Twitter age. But the best move still can be the one you don’t make. “These guys whose names keep coming up in trade rumors have done a ton for our franchise,” said Epstein.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs free agent focus: Hyun-Jin Ryu. Part of a continuing series.
• Andrew Simon (MLB.com*): Need a backstop? This All-Star may be available. Willson Contreras trade fits.
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider*): Cubs Organizational Breakdown, Pt. 2: Cubs actually developing prospect depth at 1B. Well, you have to trade somebody for Mike Trout and Daniel Vogelbach is gone. Catchers was the previous installment.
• David O’Brien (The Athletic {$}): How the Braves’ opening-day roster could shake out, with more moves expected. One move could be Kris Bryant?
• Alexaner Patt (Fansided*): The true Summer of Sammy was 2001. “... a season which did not see any postseason baseball, but still a competitive team that recorded 88 wins.”
• Cubs birthdays: Kid Camp, Reed Johnson. Also notable: Mike Mussina (HoF).
• Belatedly:

food for thought:

Thanks for reading.