Cub Tracks gets Carded

No game Monday. Tonight the Cubs take on the Cardinals, with Yu Darvish set to take the mound. The trade winds are blowing and rosters will take their final pre-September shape soon. We’ll know more at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday. I’ve taken this opportunity to spice up the narrative.

Former Cubs are on the move — Zac Rosscup is reportedly now on the wrong side of the rivalry and might appear in this series. Here’s another platter du jour:

And then, 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. I’m off to go find the Cookie Monster.

• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): ‘Growing sentiment’ among MLB general managers to move trade deadline back, starting next season. “Under the current rules, teams have less time to decide whether to buy, sell or stand pat at the deadline.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Tommy Hottovy talks about three relievers the Cubs need to rely on down the stretch. Pedro Strop and Steve Cishek are obvious. But Rowan Wick?
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): The state of the Cubs bullpen as MLB trade deadline approaches. “The Cubs very well may still add to the bullpen before the trade deadline...
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Epstein: Signing Craig Kimbrel eliminated ‘basically all’ financial flexibility for deals. “... the possibility exists that Epstein was sandbagging in an effort to downplay the Cubs’ ability to participate in the market and gain more leverage.”
• John Grochowski (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Stats confirm what fans already know: The Cubs’ offense is struggling. “Cubs leadoff hitters are batting .218 with a .289 on-base percentage.” The walk rate is down too, adds Brendan Miller.
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Cubs are reportedly “intent on getting a leadoff guy” – names mentioned: Jarrod Dyson, David Peralta, Ender Inciarte(?) Bruce Levine was pretty clearly reporting that the Cubs are intent on adding a leadoff hitter, but only sharing these three names as possibilities.
• Phil Thompson (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Not even a cardboard glove and a roster snub could derail Robel Garcia’s remarkable journey from the Dominican Republic to Italy to the Cubs. ““His age (25 at the time) was totally against him, so I was almost at a point where I wasn’t even going to mention it,” said Cubs area scout Gabe Zappin.”
• Cubs birthdays: Tod Brynan, Bill Merritt, Paul Minner, Bill Moisan, Steve Trout, Scott Fletcher, Todd Haney, Calvin Murray, Oswaldo Mairena. Also notable: Casey Stengel (HoF), Joe Nuxhall, Clint Hurdle.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.