Cub Tracks is strong to the finish

Barring incidental weirdness, this is probably the group that the Cubs will be taking to camp. There are arms to try out, righties to spell Joc Pederson, four or five middle infielders around, and plenty of room for suspects to become training camp prospects. None of those infielders will be Kolten Wong, who has been added to the Milwaukee Brewers middle infielder collection. We hope things fall sunny-side-up.

It’s a balmy 82° F here in southern Arizona, and some of my ‘thoughts’ have turned to Spring Training. I wish that I could attend. I love me a road trip and I have a spiffy new turquoise Nissan. But, the pandemic, you know. So, theater of the mind.

The writers have also turned their gazes to the Valley of the Sun, where forces are due to converge in a fortnight. Aides-de-camp will be decamping equipment in a few days in Gilbert and Chandler and other points west.

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

• Mike Petriello (MLB.com*): How the NL Central is still a four-team race. “Talent leaving NL Central: 44.2 WAR. Talent joining NL Central: 6.6 WAR.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs loading truck for Spring Training. “... there’s real hope that fans will be back in larger numbers by summer.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Spring Training begins in two weeks – What’s left for the Cubs to do this “offseason”? “hey, let’s try to win some games in 2021”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): What Adbert Alzolay can bring to Cubs rotation. “I think he felt comfortable in the big leagues for the first time,” Matt Dorey said on the Cubs Talk Podcast last month. “After that last start, he feels like he belongs.”
• Adam McCalvy (MLB.com*): How does NL Central stack up at catcher? “Here are the backstops who are about to be very busy as pitchers and catchers report to camps.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Brewers sign Kolten Wong, join Cubs, Cardinals in making late winter splash. “According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal...”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): How the Cubs’ high performance department can help their youngest prospects. “Before the 2019 season, the Cubs hired Adam Beard as their director of high performance.”
• Daryl Van Schouwen (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Players union rejects MLB plan for 154 games, delayed start to season. “... for now, following an abbreviated 60-game season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic in which expanded playoffs and a universal designated hitter was in place, the game will go back to the way it was and there will be baseball, as scheduled.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Delaying the start of the 2021 MLB season makes perfect sense. And that’s how we know it won’t happen. “... Major League Baseball and the players union got back to doing what they do best: arguing over money.”

Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading!