Cub Tracks uses the old noodle

As you surely know by now, Yu Darvish has been traded to the Padres. Details here.

Here’s Cub Tracks News and Notes, your every-other-day-except-on-weekends escape from the humdrum. 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*): Cubs may move Kris Bryant for ‘Strong Package,’ paying down salary has been ‘Non-Starter’ in talks. The Cubs have had conversations, writes Bruce Levine. Michael Cerami adds on.
• Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs 2021 outlook: Prospects to watch, the GM search and free-agent targets. “... let’s call this a baseball discussion between colleagues.”
• Phil Rogers (Forbes* {$}): Chicago Cubs deal with fallout of down years for Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo. “Jed Hoyer ... is in a position of weakness in terms of the contract situations with his biggest name players.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): The best Cubs to wear each uniform number. “From No. 1 to No. 99, here are the Cubs’ all-time jersey picks.” Al did a series on this very topic last spring.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading!