Cub Tracks loafs around

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s poetic offering. We don’t have anything nearly as aesthetically pleasing today. But we do have various choice items available for your infotainment needs as we await a possible Cubs sweep. Recap here.

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.

• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs extra: How much impact did trade deadline have on National League Central? “... four trades made during the final days leading up to Wednesday’s trade deadline might give the Kimbrel signing a run for potential impact.”
• NBC Sports Chicago*: Cole Hamels returns to the mound for Cubs [VIDEO].
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Glovegate: Brandon Kintzler, Cubs move on after puzzling mid-game glove issue. “... it comes from above ...”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Big-boy time: Cubs giving Rowan Wick his shot to keep proving his worth in bullpen. “What Rowan’s doing right now causes us to rethink a lot of stuff,” Maddon said before Saturday’s game.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Willson Contreras’ injury mars Cubs victory, Hamels’ strong return. “The Cubs finally had their best 25-man roster.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Contreras exits with apparent hamstring injury. “... the Cubs’ third-string catcher would be Triple-A Iowa’s Taylor Davis.” Or would you prefer Jonathon Lucroy? Jesse Rogers elaborates.

The Cubs didn’t have any concrete information after the 4-1 win regarding Contreras’ status moving forward, but he will go for an MRI Monday morning.

”We’ll find out the severity at that point or the lack of it,” manager Joe Maddon said. “Victor was gonna catch tomorrow anyhow; Darvish is pitching. So we’ll just wait and see how it plays out.”

“It’s always a tough blow when you lose a catcher like him, especially the type of hitter he is,” Cole Hamels said. “He’s an All-Star. You don’t find them out there [on] the waiver wire and you don’t find them as free agents right now.

”We just have to take care of it. I know Caratini’s gonna get the bulk of it, but he’s been playing well. It’s just a matter of seeing what we can do with the options that we have.” — Tony Andracki.

• Jimmy Greenfield (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Ben Zobrist shows his South Bend Cubs teammates how to be a big-leaguer on and off the field — and goes 2-for-3 with an RBI. “He’s been in the big leagues for a long time, and there’s a reason why,” shortstop Andy Weber said before the game.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Javier Baez’ hard contact disappeared, but maybe he’s finding it again? “Baez isn’t ever going to become a walk machine, but given his style, you *want* him swinging at almost every strike he sees, especially if he can hit it hard in the air.”
• Anthony Fenech (Detroit Free Press* {$}): Nicholas Castellanos on the Detroit Tigers: ‘This was my trial-and-error’. “... he never wanted to leave.” Sporting News has more. Jay Jaffee writes him up.
• Bruce Miles (Daily Herald* {$}): Chicago Cubs breathing new baseball life into Castellanos. “Outfielder Castellanos has a new spring in his step...”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Q&A with ‘Jeopardy!’ champion James Holzhauer on working for the Cubs, cashing in on his celebrity and changing how the game is played. “Ryne Sandberg was my favorite player growing up.”
• Cubs birthdays: Henry Clarke, Tuck Stainback, Bill Schuster, Gabe Gabler, Rich Nye, Troy O’Leary, Bob Howry, Mike Freeman. Also notable: Jake Beckley (HoF), Dallas Green.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading. My new book.