Cub Tracks’ overarching questions

Now what?

Here’s Cub Tracks News and Notes, the only links column that really matters. 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 here as sarcasm font.

“I have spoken with the owners of all of our major sports teams and I’ve asked them to cancel all of their games or play without spectators until May 1. All of the owners that I spoke with told me that they completely understood and were more than willing to comply with this guidance.” — J.B. Pritzker, governor of Illinois

• Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich (The Athletic {$}): Behind the scenes as baseball scrambles to resolve issues related to COVID-19. “... industry sources believe it is unlikely the season will begin before May ...”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): ‘It’s such a heavy subject’: How the Cubs are responding to baseball’s shutdown. “There is no playbook for a sports team in the middle of a global pandemic.” Sahadev Sharma {$} speaks of the new normal.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Baseball stopped after 9/11 and because of the 1994-95 strike. But this stoppage from the coronavirus is different. “... there’s no definitive resumption date after the coronavirus has put a massive lockdown on communities around the world ...”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Theo Epstein lays out the current plans for Cubs players. “The Cubs are kind of treating this time like January (i.e., pre “reporting” dates). “ Tim Stebbins sacrifices the collective.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs 2020 roster outlook: Relief pitcher Jeremy Jeffress can bounce back in Chicago. “... the overarching question is whether last season was an anomaly or the start of the veteran reliever’s decline.”
• Cubs Birthdays: Roscoe Coughlin, Dick Scott, Bob Locker, Freddie Bynum, Jon Jay, Also notable: Harold Baines (HoF), Kevin Youkilis.

Food for thought:

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