Cub Tracks sows the seeds

I did my gardening today, tilling the soil and planting three kinds of peppers, two kinds of hops, petunias, and lantana. Am still expecting cactus varieties. And my indoor herb garden gets planted tomorrow. Spring has sprung!

There will be real baseball soon. Games that count! Not ties~at least not 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).

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• Robert Kuenster (Forbes*): Cubs roster is a blend of new and old that will send team on another postseason ride. Rosy predictions.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ Yu Darvish (blister) ‘ready to rock and roll’ after throwing Wednesday. “... Maddon didn’t rule out pushing the presumptive No. 2 starter in the rotation back in the opening order to start the season as a precaution.” Jordan Bastian has additional words. Brett Taylor has more about Yu. Sahadev Sharma {$} bats cleanup. A blister pack!
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): No apologies, regrets from Carl Edwards Jr. after defending Cub hitters with HBP. “It’s the nature of the game, spring training or not,” Edwards said Wednesday. “You just get to a point where you’re kind of tired of your guys getting hit.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Will quieter emotions, quieter mitt take Cubs C Willson Contreras to next level? “There’s a lot of people that doubt [me] because of last year,” he said.
• Cam Ellis (NBC Sports Chicago*): 19 for ‘19: What type of season can we expect from Javier Baez? “... there’s reason to believe that Baez ... is simply hitting his prime.”
• Sam Miller (ESPN*): MLB’s David vs. Goliath: Will Daniel Descalso outhit Giancarlo Stanton this year? “In 2018, Descalso was the fourth-clutchest hitter in the majors, according to FanGraphs’ metric.” Michael Cerami chimes in.
• Anthony Castrovince (MLB.com*): Descalso adjusts at the plate to win over Cubs. “I felt like there was more in the tank, and I was just having trouble unlocking it,” Descalso said.
• Connor Johnson (Cubs Insider): Projection of Cubs contract values reveals huge surpluses, relatively small deficits. “ ... what’s “surplus value?”
• Jason Cohen (Robb Report): The Cubs manager and a Michelin-starred Chef are opening a restaurant together. “... Maddon’s Post, a partnership between the Cubs’ World Series-winning manager and James Beard Award-winning chef Tony Mantuano ...” Eater Chicago piles it on.
• Cubs birthdays: Oscar Bielaski, John Sullivan, Jim Hughes, Owen Friend, Tommy Davis, Len Church, Bill Plummer, Shawon Dunston,

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.