Cub Tracks comes through in the clutch

CarGo came. 33 isn’t too old to help some. Who knows? Ideally, he’s the next Jim Edmonds/Gary Gaetti. Clearly he retains his defensive skills. His bat looked plenty quick Monday but SSS. Perhaps he can climb to his previous heights and the plateau isn’t so lost.

He sounded plenty happy to be in Chicago in the postgame interviews. I like it. We can build a couple of runways for the CarGo cult but I dunno if we wanna go full-out tiki 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.

“Right now, the Christmas gift is gonna be Pedro Strop very soon. The moment we get Stroppy back, that lengthens the whole bullpen again.

”Just let it play out, man. I don’t worry about stuff like that. I like the group that we have when Pedro comes back — [Steve] Cishek fills a different role, they all become different in a good way. You just can become thicker in the bullpen. Once Pedro’s arrived, I think you’ll see a difference with that. And then regarding any free agents or whatever, that’s not up to me — it’s up to the front office.” — Joe Maddon

• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): The Cubs have a weird June schedule. “In total, the Cubs have just three days off from May 3 through July 4, a stretch of 63 days.”
• Russell Dorsey (MLB.com*): Cubs surge behind Jon Lester’s splendid 7 in win. Lester picked up his first victory since May 12 vs. the Brewers.
• Jon Tayler (Sports Illustrated*): Ranking the best fits for Craig Kimbrel. “In all likelihood, these are his last days as an unwanted man.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): What signing Craig Kimbrel would mean for the 2019 Cubs. “Kimbrel isn’t any sort of savior... but if the money’s right ... signing the closer would be a no-brainer upgrade for a team with World Series aspirations.” Brett Taylor pitches in. And further in. Sahadev Sharma closes the deal.
• Madeleine Kenney (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Tommy La Stella part of larger story with his 12 HRs this season. “La Stella’s surge in home runs this season shines light on a larger phenomenon in Major League Baseball.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): ‘How about that new guy?’ Carlos Gonzalez makes impression as Cubs beat Angels. ‘‘It’s a new chapter in my career,’’ he said. “... I’m positive that there’s a lot of baseball ahead of me.’’ Cam Ellis sends one up the middle. Russell Dorsey moves the runners over.
• Cubs birthdays: Orlie Weaver, Lee Magee, Arnold Earley, Rick Wilkins, Scott Servais, Chang-Yong Lim.

Food for thought: