Cub Tracks exercises caution

Congratulations to Yu Darvish and David Ross for their nominations. Congratulations are also due Ricky Renteria. That’s as political as we’re gonna get, except for a very funny column from Paul Sullivan, who is easier to like these days as he’s clearly been given more latitude.

Remember that it isn’t really my brief here to break news (or wind), though I do try, and stay up late after games chasing quotes and such. It’s just a wrap-up of current conversational fodder, as was outlined in Erik’s original mission statement.

The line between politics and sports is blurred by all of the foot traffic nowadays. But I try to be an honest journalist and as such I have to hug that line — sport ownership has always been political, and skirmish lines have formed among the rank and file also, as both of my columns have portrayed with increasing frequency, and as the front page reflects.

Let’s bear in mind that we are all adults and Cubs fans and that we don’t have to meet at high noon in the town square. The saloon will do.

Here at Cub Tracks News and Notes, we are closing in on our eighth anniversary. 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.)

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Commissioner Rob Manfred: “I wouldn’t say a neutral-site World Series is completely off the table”. “... frankly, I don’t even think it’s worth a conversation.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Why Dan Kantrovitz wants to finish what he started with the Cubs. “In the short term, even pre-pandemic, we’ve been planning to modernize the department while also retaining and attracting top scouting talent,” Kantrovitz said.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Well-earned nod for Ross as Manager of Year finalist. “If the Cubs were going to bring in a new manager, they got the right one.”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): How Darvish stacks up vs. Cy Young finalists Trevor Bauer, Jacob deGrom. “Darvish had the best record of the three by a large margin.” John Grochowski says Yu deserves it.
• Alex Shapiro (NBC Sports Chicago*): Jon Lester bought Chicagoans A LOT of beer over the weekend. “... it appears he spent $47,111.38 on Miller Lites ...” Jesse Rogers has the less-filling version.
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation*): Now that he’s finally a Free Agent, should the Cubs take a low-risk flyer on Chris Archer? “... as far as velocity goes, Archer hasn’t dropped off a ton so far...”
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs temporarily shut down their Arizona Instructional League season after a positive COVID-19 test. “... games Monday and Tuesday were canceled out of an abundance of caution ...”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Athletes like Jay Cutler and Jack Nicklaus are eager to share their political affiliation. But do their endorsements really carry weight in this year’s election? “Everyone is free to offer an opinion, of course, but why anyone would listen to someone just because they’re famous is beyond me.”
• Cubs birthdays: Jim McCormick, Ed Lennox, Bob Fisher, Fred Richards, Ken Holtzman, Jonathan Herrera, Ryan Tepera. Also notable: Bob Feller HOF.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading!