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Cub Tracks ‘hoerns’ in on the fun

Nico, Yu, and other news from the underground. Sweet, Jane. No kale.

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Nico without the Velvet Underground
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Cubs’ scrubs win. Al has the recap. Yu Darvish has jokes.

The prevailing narrative is your basic ‘remains to be seen’ stuff ... which makes sense, really, even if outlier Tony Andracki advocates freaking out. One ... small sample size, spring training, yadda yadda, and two, different environment as far as climate and pressure/expectations, people working on stuff instead of unleashing everything competitively. But that stuff gets old, midway through the spring session, and, as much as I disliked scrounging for anything Cubs-related all winter long, I’m ready for real-game “this time it counts” action, and probably you are, too. We’re workin’ on it. I’d also like to see every game on my big screen ...

But that’s not gonna happen til the season begins.

So ... grab you a cuppa, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and without further ado, 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).

Nico Hoerner testimonials:

“Everyone wants to be a shortstop, and I’m going to play shortstop for as long as I can and really work on that,” Hoerner said. “But if you come up in the Cubs system thinking you’ll play only one position, you’re crazy.”

Hoerner played second base during his freshman year at Stanford before moving to shortstop, and he believes he can play third base, left and center field.

“I’ll do whatever I can,” Hoerner said. “If I hit, there will be opportunity. I just want to be prepared for whatever opportunity there is.” — Mark Gonzales.


“He’s impressed everybody with his work ethic,” Epstein said. “He’s had a real nice experience. His first full bona fide big league camp will be a lot easier for him now, and he’s more familiar with the atmosphere around the big leagues. And the players, the coaches and staff have gotten to know him a little bit better. It’s just been a real productive scenario all around.” — Jordan Bastian.

Cubs birthdays: Walt Kinzie, Vic Keen, Ken O’Dea, Vern Olsen, Hobie Landrith, Hee-Seop Choi. Also notable: Lloyd Waner (HoF)

Food for thought: