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, such as they are.
The Cubs are busy finding ways to skirt the rules, or they have a more sophisticated understanding of said rules, I don’t know which, but they signed a guy. He may not be the Fixx we were hoping for, but he’s a young lefty arm.
Having made my bias known, still I am honor-bound to report what both sides of the CBA contretemps have to say, and we have a few words from Rob Manfred below. Whether you think those words are disingenuous or not is your decision.
Sadly, I was just getting to contemplate the taste of crow, given the obvious intelligence of the Cubs’ recent moves, and I’ll keep looking at recipes over the course of the lockout, may it be short and less acrimonious than I suspect it will be, but things Cub were trending in such a positive direction... and remember — nobody can get signed, but they can make phone calls, as I understand things.
We can still turn this page into a discussion of classic rock, prog-rock, yacht-rock, stoner-rock, science fiction and horror media to complement Josh’s fine offerings.
ducks
But for now we have baseball. Actually I would discuss baseball media if we run out of material. It would give me an excuse to talk about my novel
ducks
instead of the elephant in the room... yes, exactly, how soon Javier Báez induces panic in Detroit. Silent cars and traffic lights indeed.
Aaaaaaaanyway, 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).
Thriving through the journey. pic.twitter.com/F2bb7ikEgH
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) December 4, 2021
Thrilled to receive @MidwestEmmys nomination for my “Class is in Session” episode on @MLB All-Star game. Inspired by my teaching at @UConn @Yale @Penn. Thanks to team at @WatchMarquee and guests @cgrand3 @ken_rosenthal @Cubs Jason Heyward @TelevisionAcad pic.twitter.com/C7c2ZIW0pO
— Doug Glanville (@dougglanville) December 4, 2021
“It’s not a good thing for the sport,” Manfred said of the work stoppage. “It’s not something that we undertake lightly. We understand it’s bad for our business. We took it out of a desire to drive the process forward to an agreement now.
“We wanted to move the process now because we want an agreement now for our fans.”
- Mark Feinsand (MLB.com*): Commissioner reiterates desire to make deal. “We made a proposal yesterday that if it had been accepted, I believe would have provided a pretty clear path to make an agreement,” Manfred said. Timeline of recent CBA negotiations.
- Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): The good, the bad, the ugly of MLB shutdown for Cubs. “It’s hard to put a positive spin on MLB’s first labor shutdown in 26 years, but at least it hasn’t cost games or spring training time — yet.”
- Evan Altman (Cubs Insider)*: Have Cubs forced themselves to make more big moves post-lockout? “Even Tom Ricketts promised a winner.”
- Jon Greenberg (The Athletic {$}): Is Marcus Stroman the harbinger for a new Cubs era? Or just a guy willing to take their money? “They’re definitely not in a full rebuild,” he said. “I think they definitely want to win now.”
- Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Why Stroman made sense for the Cubs, who aren’t shifting their plans for the offseason. “It’s always been about building a roster that can compete this year,” Hoyer said.
- Jesse Rogers (ESPN*): MLB free-agency grades: Marcus Stroman signing a good first move for Chicago Cubs’ ‘retool’. “... the rotation is better today than it was yesterday.”
- Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Chicago Cubs sign lefty Stephen Gonsalves to a minor league deal. “Lockout, schmockout!” Todd Johnson has more.
- Braxton Piatt (Cubbies Crib*): Top 3 Chicago Cubs pitching prospects that can make an impact in 2022. “... the team has a lot more pitching depth for the upcoming season than you might be aware of.”
- Michael Brakebill (Cubbies Crib*): Chicago Cubs, Willson Contreras need to find a path forward. “The problem with trading Contreras rather than extending him is simply that you would rather have what he brings than those prospects.”
- Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation*): So here’s what happened with Michael Hermosillo’s weird roster journey this week. “By the next morning, his agent had received interest from seven or eight other big league teams...”
- Marc Severson ( Cubbies Crib*): Diminutive Larry Corcoran left a mammoth legacy. “Corcoran’s secret weapon was a deadly curveball.”
Food for Thought:
Scientists Have Finally Discovered Why The Brain Consumes So Much Energy, Even at Rest https://t.co/SI0ppEiXac
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) December 3, 2021
Why Some People Find It Harder To Be Happyhttps://t.co/6bpWqCLXXi pic.twitter.com/Z6835ofdCL
— IFLScience (@IFLScience) December 4, 2021
This New Ultra-Compact Camera Is The Size of a Grain of Salt And Takes Stunning Photos https://t.co/Hw8RKwe3sY
— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) December 4, 2021
Thanks for reading.