Cub Tracks goes to the plate

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.

Not a lot of stuff for your Tuesday. Some interesting enough to gnaw on but not a sustaining meal by any means. Still, it’ll keep you going for a while. Maybe a side of Snickers would help.

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).

• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Why this week is most important of MLB lockout. “Every week is more important than the last the longer this thing drags on.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Is pitch-calling about to completely change? “I would suspect this is the kind of thing that would need to be working without any flaws before you’d get too many teams or pitchers/catchers on board.”
• Duane Pesice (Cubbies Crib*): Position battles, trades and free agency will create chaotic drama. “... there is bound to be a fun-filled free-agent frenzy shortly after an agreement is reached between the players and the owners.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): Lockout makes trading or extending Willson Contreras challenging. “... there aren’t alternative options out there for Chicago to pivot to while expecting anywhere close to the same level of production.”
• Braulio Perez (Fansided*): Cubs making the wrong choice with Contreras. “... Contreras will be taking the field without knowing what’s going to happen down the road.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Safe at home: Why Ed Howard ‘built for the pressure’. “I’m able to handle anything thrown at me.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Here are 5 Cubs Prospects who should break out, bounce back in 2022. “... it’s business as usual for those players not assigned to a club’s 40-man roster.”

Cubs birthdays: Steve Barber, Eric Yelding, Brian Duensing*. Also notable: Sparky Anderson HOF.

*Pictured.

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.