Cub Tracks raises its spirits

Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™. Here we have material from current beat writers, bloggers, and the occasional in-house habitué, moonlighting. These pieces center around #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball.

“He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts” — Stephen King.

Thanks, big guy. Yeah, I see ghosts. The ghosts of what might have been, as former Cubs continue to parade across my screen. Spring training/postseason demon Joc Pedersen, for one. Had he hit a lick, he’d have been traded later, for more and better.

Dusty Baker insists on going to the postseason repeatedly, cheeky devil. I still don’t like him but the man gets it done unreasonably often.

Jorge Soler is still out and about as the Braves plunge ahead with their dubious chant, reveling in their ‘incorrectness’. That was a pretty productive trade though, so he’s not so mostly ghostly.

The others, closer to the Core™, are home now, awaiting their own free-agency fortunes as the postseason clanks to its fateful finish. At least it’s a complete season of baseball. But my mind still reels at how this past season unfurled.

Baseball is crazy. Off its rocker. Toys in the attic. Crazy, truly gone fishing. It drives me up a wall, year after year. I stay up late yelling at the tv (okay, that’s a hobby), miss assignments, obsess over lineups and matchups and rotations and arm barns and other bull$3&% and in general behave like a lovesick skunk over a kid’s game.

I can’t wait to do it again. Happy Hallowe’en.

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. In the text body. It doesn’t work in the headlines).

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Could Postseason pitching moves prompt Rules Changes? “... the only thing that matters is that you win in the end.”
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): What is the Cubs’ biggest need this offseason? “The Cubs’ starting pitching was their downfall last season. Even before the trades of Kris Bryant, Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo, the rotation put the Cubs behind the eight-ball.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): 3 moves to drastically improve the starting rotation. “This staff wasn’t just bad – it was one of the worst in recent memory..”
• Benjamin Hudy (Cubbies Crib*): Face it: Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez aren’t coming back. “... this might be hard to hear, but I think it’s time that we get this out of the way.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Nelson Velazquez – And Andy Weber! – Continue to rake in the Arizona Fall League. “Velazquez’s 1.250 OPS is first in the league among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances.”
• Karli Bell (Marquee Sports Network*): The spirit of 1908: Group fans go full zombie to cheer on Cubs and give back to Chicago. “A lot of people had comments and all of a sudden everyone wanted to take a picture with us. That’s just become something that we do.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): A St. Louis Cardinals prospect was attacked by a bear. “Dalton Roach, up in a tree in Wisconsin...”
• Paul Sporer (Rotographs*): 2021 Roster Review: Chicago Cubs.

Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading.