Cub Tracks’ readers’ indigestion

Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor.

Extensions are in the air. I’m not talking about weaves, I’m talking real money. Everybody says Happ and Hoerner are going to get paid. Matt Mervis may or may not start at first, at first. We will wait and see.

It’s a holiday week. It’s going to be slow, I suspect. The newspaper beats seem to be on vacation again. So how about them Bears?

Oops. Rebuilds are everywhere.

I don’t take DeGrom or Judge talk very seriously. Some ideas are harder to swallow than others. Those don’t seem like intelligent spends to me.

* 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. The powers that be have enabled sarcasm font in the comments.

• Michael Brakebill (Cubbies Crib*): 4 realistic trade proposals to give the Cubs their ace. “... the Cubs have a multitude of young outfielders you don’t want to have held back when they’re ready to move up.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs ‘expected to seriously engage’ Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ in extension talks soon. Michael Cerami has thoughts. Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma say it’s so {$}. Time changes perception.
• Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): How the Cubs view Matt Mervis’ breakout year as they explore options in free agency. Evan Altman has thoughts. Depth is still an issue. Mervis may not start at first, at first.
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): Cody Bellinger only wants a one-year contract. According to a new report from The Athletic (see above). “Even without the offensive firepower he once displayed, this is a guy who runs well and can give a team above-average defense in center field.” Evan Altman has thoughts. Brett Taylor does also. Ken Rosenthal caps it off {$}.
• Greg Zumach (North Side Bound*): Top 30 Cubs prospects is loaded with upside. “... it would be easy to mark the year down as a flop, but the sheer impressive levels of depth allowed the Cubs to weather the injury storm...”

Food for Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the opinions of writers whose work is linked to in this series of articles. Thanks for reading!