Cub Tracks’ brown acid

Well, THAT didn’t end well. It didn’t start well, either. The middle was okay. Check Al’s recap for details. Welcome to second place. Pedro Strop needs to be moved down in the pitching order, stat. This is a bad trip. 5 baserunners, three of them Kris Bryant. Yuck.

Ian Happ and Ben Zobrist were covered on the front page Friday. Feel free to talk about them as things have developed a tad since then. Happ made a nice catch and played left field. Zobrist is heading to Iowa. Derek Holland is a Cub now. Cubs needed a good LOOGY bad. Tim Collins got DFA’d again.

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.

Jed Hoyer went shopping.

• Adam Berry (MLB.com*): As Deadline nears, what will NL Central do? “By 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, executives around the NL Central must decide whether they’re in or out, buyers or sellers, pushing in or pulling back.”
• Jesse Rogers (ESPN): Why Cubs’ nine-game gauntlet could define entire NL Central race. “... the Chicago Cubs face off against their top two rivals nine times over the course of the next 10 days.”
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Facing a key 6-game trip against the Brewers and Cardinals, the Cubs are a woeful 19-30 on the road. That must improve if they want to win the NL Central. “The mindset you have as a player is the next game is the most important game, but this could be a week where it defines our season — playing the Brewers and Cardinals with the trade deadline,” said Bryant.
• Brendan Miller (Cubs Insider): Kyle Hendricks’ release point slightly different since returning from injury. “... his horizontal release point is about 2.5 inches further away from his body than it was before he got hurt.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): How oft-used Steve Cishek plans to avoid a late-season fade in Cubs bullpen. “I tried to combat that in the offseason, really,” Cishek said.
• 670 The Score: Cubs discussing multi-inning work For Craig Kimbrel. “Kimbrel is unscored upon in his past eight appearances.” Includes [AUDIO].
• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs should have parted ways with Addison Russell a long time ago. “Very little has felt right about the Russell rehabilitation experiment.”
• Patrick Mooney, Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): As Ian Happ returns, the Cubs’ potential trade deadline moves are becoming clearer. “Teams need to keep depth in mind a little bit more,” Theo Epstein said. Bruce Levine has more on this subject.
• ESPN: Ian Happ talks about his return [VIDEO]. Mark Gonzales has some positive words.
• Cubs birthdays: Jack Doscher, Joe Tinker (HoF), George Yantz, Zack Taylor, Jack Hiatt, Larry Biittner, Bump Wills, Enrique Wilson, Yoervis Medina. Also notable: Leo Durocher (HoF).

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.