Cub Tracks’ clarity begins at home

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, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor.

Oh the free agent and trade market is booming. Love is in the air and so are players and dollar signs. And so is the Cubs’ future, unless they manage to tap into that flow and actually sign a top of the line middle infielder, catcher, and/or starter.

“Intelligent spending” has been revealed to be the corporatocracy buzzword some of us thought it was from the outset. It was never actually defined by any Cub brass and the moment instead will have to provide clarity.

Could I be wrong? Of course. In random moments, I’d actually LIKE to be. I don’t want the Cubs to suck, but I do want Jed to find another address. That essential dilemma, that existential crisis, defines my fandom currently.

It’s better to suck than to be mediocre, yes? Isn’t that the bottom line of ‘the tank’? And that’s what we were promised wasn’t going to happen. That horse may have been tenderized but it clearly hasn’t gone to the knacker’s quite yet. On the contrary, it has gone on to Romero zombiehood.

And the Cubs are going to make an ‘X’ out of duct tape and sign that for a backstop, like I did back at good old Pasteur school, in the day.

The Cubs Convention is going to be special. I can just feel it. It’s clobberin’ time.

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• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Former season ticket holders explain Cubs’ sales woes. “As ownership’s commitment to fielding a winning team has waned, so has the interest from a fanbase thought to be as die-hard as Bruce Willis’s acclaimed Christmas movie.”
• Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic {$}): What I’m hearing about how the MLB free-agent market is evolving. “Both agents and executives note that the surge in the marketplace will force teams to look at their existing contracts differently.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): 3 thoughts on MLB’s offseason so far, including Willson Contreras’ new jersey and a possible thaw between Dusty Baker and Sammy Sosa. “For some owners, overspending is an accepted way of doing business.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation*): Baseball America’s new Cubs Top-10 prospect rankings are in … hello, Matt Mervis! #4 in our hearts?
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Not even Christian Vazquez – he’s signing with the Twins. “... yet again, some other team gets the guy who makes sense for the Cubs in an offseason where they are theoretically trying to compete.” Chris Bassitt is gone, too. Tim Stebbins has more.
• Aldo Soto (Sports Mockery*): Cubs no longer favorites to sign Carlos Correa. “According to at least one national MLB analyst...”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): It’s looking more like Dansby Swanson or bust for Cubs. “It’s also fair to question just how much green was really in the green light Hoyer was given.” Jon Morosi agrees.
• Ryan Taylor (NBC Sports Chicago*): Red Stars’ Mallory Pugh, Cubs FA target Swanson get married. “The Cubs have targeted the veteran shortstop and are in the mix to sign him, according to NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Is one-time MVP Cody Bellinger a sleeper signing for the Chicago Cubs? Only time will tell. “Sometimes a change of atmosphere is all that’s needed, and the Cubs are hoping this is one of those instances.”
• Neil Steinberg (Chicago Sun-Times*): More than just the Tumblers. “... he tells of being in the Cubs minor league organization and hitting a home run...”

Food for Thought:

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