Cub Tracks’ flying sorcery

The team looks about ready to head north. Anthony Rizzo should have his own show, and one day probably will. The regular announcing team is smooth and professional and don’t talk so very much. The sounds of the game are part of the show too.

Now there’s real applause and laughter and little kids in the stands. Kind of missed those, last year. The pandemic is easing some. I got my first vaccination Friday.

But we still need to mind our p’s and q’s. That originally meant beer in pints and quarts. So I’m down with it. Here at CUB TRACKS NEWS AND NOTES, we like to keep things brief on the principle that it makes us appear wise. Unless we feel a rant. But we don’t mind a little informing with the entertaining.

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.)

“I’m calling fastball here. Am I just all in or what?” — Anthony Rizzo to Boog Sciambi and Jim Deshaies.

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Cubs’ roster crunch has Ross’ head ‘churning’. “I usually wait ‘til the season to not sleep too much,” Ross said on Thursday.
• David Schoenfield (ESPN+ {$}): The 2021 MLB All-Underrated team. Kyle Hendricks is the cover boy.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): Ross: Adbert Alzolay ‘looked like a major league starter’ vs. Dodgers. “A lot of All-Stars in that lineup,” Cubs manager David Ross said.
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Despite option ruling, Alzolay ready to pitch for Cubs in 2021. “As a swingman or a starter, right now, it doesn’t matter. I want to make the roster,” Alzolay said.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): How the Cubs’ deep pitching infrastructure helps starters get locked in for the season. “...the mechanics of pitching can be so complicated.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Mic’d up Rizzo calls fastball, and Joc homers. “Rizzo called it. Joc Pederson crushed it.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Tommy La Stella offers Cubs fans playful apology: ‘Sorry I stunk’. “Since that trade, he’s hit .289/.356/.471, earning a three-year deal with San Francisco this past winter.”
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): For Cubs’ Javy Baez, the price of fame almost cost his love of the game. “It kind of pulled me away from everything, even from my family. My family and my friends,” Baez told the Sun-Times.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs worth over $4 billion, according to one valuation. “For all the talk about “biblical losses,” the Cubs franchise has continued to gain significant value over the past year.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): MLB Players Association may look to discuss moving All-Star Game out of Georgia. “Generally, we don’t see MLB get this directly involved in political activities that aren’t tied to their own labor interests...”
• Cubs Talk podcast*: Women in sports journalism panel.
• NBC Chicago*: Dream Job Alert? Chicago Cubs Looking for Wrigley Field Announcer.
• Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading.