Cub Tracks’ slumber yard

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.

Fergie’s gonna need to build a shed or something. By now you’ve seen Al’s rather succinct summary of Saturday’s ‘negotiations’. Joe Sheehan puts the point on it:

I called it Groucho Marxism in October. I didn’t think there’d be a season then. I’m less optimistic now. Brandon Palmer texts me hourly. I don’t have the heart to tell him that more recent versions of the game have David Ross managing. Tanstaafl, Brandon.

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. The powers that be have provided sarcasm font in the comments.

• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are living monuments to baseball’s past. How long can they be part of its future? “History is more important to baseball than to any other American sport...”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): MLB reportedly seeking to accelerate certain rules changes, including the pitch clock. “... amidst the financially-motivated lockout, this a sport in crisis for reasons that have nothing to do with money.”
• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): MLB’s lockout — 87 days in and counting — is testing fans’ patience. Is baseball blowing it? “For a lot of baseball fans, there is bliss in maintaining a level of ignorance of what these key issues in the current dispute between owners and players are really all about.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): MLB faces potential lost games, ‘deep harm’ as lockout drags on. ‘‘Resolve is going to be tested,’’ Doug Glanville said.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Who wins the NL Central in 2025? “If it’s not the Cubs, then things have gone drastically wrong for them.”
• Mike Rosenstein (NJ.com*): Cubs’ Marcus Stroman: I received death threats, was called the N-word while with the Mets. “Based on previous tweets, it’s clear Stroman is not a fan of Mets general manager Billy Eppler.” Michael Cerami elaborates.
• Richard Johnson (Cubbies Crib*): Who are the 5 best players drafted by the Chicago Cubs? “We’ll rely on the Baseball Reference version of WAR here.”
• Todd Johnson (North Side Bound*): Jim Callis talks prospects and what’s ahead for Cubs’ farm system this summer. “Here are some tidbits from the brief interview.”
• Taylor Bechtold (The Analyst*): Not all walk-off home runs are created equal. “It could be argued these are the most dramatic walk-offs of all...”
• Bill Goodykoontz (Arizona Republic*): What former Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster will be up to in Tempe for Innings Festival. “Just tell stories and laugh — what better time than now?”
• Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus (The Athletic {$}): Can a baseball person lead the Blackhawks as general manager? Hawks thoughts. “... the Blackhawks are definitely going to choose someone who hasn’t been a general manager before or doesn’t have a lot of high-level hockey-ops experience.”

Cubs birthdays: Bud Teachout, Sammy Taylor, Carl Warwick, Ron Hassey, Matt Stairs, Willie Banks, Craig Monroe, Adam Morgan. Also notable: Hilton Smith 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.