Cub Tracks’ abridged too far

Not much happening on the Cubs front. But let’s operate on the principle that no news is good news, for now.

Here at Cub Tracks News and Notes, we are winding up the fifth year of the reign under Duane (and closing in on the eighth anniversary overall) and also it’s almost my birthday. We’re not planning any big celebrations but there you go. As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. (In the comments section, use @ before and after your remarks @ to produce sarcasm font.)

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Rob Manfred believes rules will return to ‘Status Quo’ for 2021, would like to limit shift. I would like to limit Rob Manfred. He does not like baseball. More about that, including interview with Dan Patrick.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Looking back at Cubs’ 10 hitting coaches to depart team under Theo Epstein. “... here’s a look back...”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Willson Contreras did one part of pitch-framing better than anyone in OVER FIVE YEARS. “This is incredible stuff, and it really tracks with the visible changes to Contreras’s style.”
• Cubs birthdays: Jack Doyle, Tom Stanton, Russ Meyer, Bobby Thomson, Pete Mikkelsen, Mike Harkey, Terrell Lowery, Alberto Cabrera. Also notable: Pedro Martinez HOF.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.