Cub Tracks’ wait lifting?

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.

Everybody by now has met with everybody. The table has been set and some toothsome appetizers have been served. Trea Turner to the Phillies, Justin Verlander to the Mets. That’s a good start.

What did the Cubs’ brass put on their plates when they bellied up to the buffet? Or are they turning in their clown shoes for another set of cheap skates?

“Intelligent spending” has some of the same ring as “military intelligence” to a certain segment of the spending public. It’s a bathtub ring, and damnably hard to remove — it hangs around like a bad odor, wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper.

It might be the One Ring. No developments today, revolting or not.

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• Jayson Stark (The Athletic {$}): How MLB’s new rules are shaping the 2022-23 offseason and changing the art of team building. “... the shift is only one of the new rules that are about to transform the sport in 2023.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs need to go big at Winter Meetings or go home. “The Phillies are why you try.” Why Gordon thinks they will [VIDEO]. Paul Sullivan has similar thoughts {$}.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): MLB winter meetings preview: Surveying the Cubs’ biggest needs this offseason. ‘‘We’re in the market for good players,’’ Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said.
• Anthony Castrovince (MLB.com*): MLB Draft Lottery set for Tues., 7:30 p.m. CT (MLB Network). “... baseball’s lottery includes anti-tanking measures that go beyond anything we’ve seen in the other major professional sports.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs among four named “Teams to Watch” on Jameson Taillon. Mark Feinsand says so. Evan Altman considers this.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs again linked to Christian Vázquez, who could command 3-year deal. “... Vázquez fits what the Cubs are looking for in a catcher because he’s an excellent game manager who sets the tone for the defense.”
• Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$): What we’re hearing on the Cubs, Dansby Swanson and others ahead of the Winter Meetings. “How far is Hoyer willing to go outside his comfort zone?”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Can the Chicago Cubs lock down a top free-agent shortstop? 3 questions as the winter meetings begin. “... will the Cubs be serious spenders? It’s one question, among others, that looms this week at the winter meetings.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): MLB rumors: Xander Bogaerts Cubs’ ‘top priority’. Bob Nightengale says so.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Carlos Correa is still “Drawing Interest” from the Cubs. “None of that means the Cubs are a finalist...”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): It’d be cool to see Cubs add another legacy player by trading for Daulton Varsho. “... they could do worse...”

Food for Thought:

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