Cub Tracks is still out in the cold

Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™. Here we have material from current beat writers, bloggers, and the occasional in-house habitué, moonlighting. These pieces center around #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball.

Hopefully we can have some MLB ball soon. Otherwise Brandon Palmer will keep on texting. I hate when he texts — he uses nonwords like ‘irregardless’ and non-phrases like ‘would of’ just to get me off my game. It doesn’t work but is annoying.

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). #IStandWithThePlayers.

• Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic {$}): No reason to believe MLB season will start on time. “As the days tick off the calendar, there is no indication yet that either party is ready to bend, or soon will.” Tim Stebbins adds on.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): It’s on Rob Manfred to end the MLB lockout. But if the commissioner is as good of a negotiator as he says, why hasn’t more progress been made? “... with fans already dealing with the pandemic, runaway inflation and a rise in crime, the notion of billionaire owners shutting down the game over a financial system that could easily be fixed is nothing less than obscene.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Scott Boras on the huge connection between draft changes and tanking, and also a great bonus idea. “... Boras hammers the idea of non-competition in the sport...”
• Braxton Piatt (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs are still determining David Ross’ long-term value. “... some stretches seemed like this team has what it takes to compete relatively soon again.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Five Cubs storylines we’d be watching if spring training kicked off this week. “And here we sit on Day 75 of the lockout.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): 3 players who get traded if they succeed, but the team struggles. “... in the right circumstances, it can be the right move to trade those guys and sell high...”
• Adam Scheerer (Sports Mockery*): Harold Ramirez, Colombia win Their 1st Caribbean Series. “In the 7 games played by the Dominican, Ramirez slashed .333/.355/.400.”
• Manny Randhawa (MLB.com*): Broadway Joe was nearly Wrigley Namath. “... baseball was Namath’s first love. And Roberto Clemente was his hero.”

Cubs birthdays: Charlie Irwin, Footer Johnson, Chuck Estrada, Ron Cey, Rolando Roomes, Brian Williams, Nate Schierholtz. Also notable: Billy Hamilton HOF.

Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading. Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the opinions of writers whose work is linked in this series of articles. We try to present a balanced view, and let the facts speak for themselves.