Cub Tracks in the humdrum

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

“I ride tandem, with the random

Things don’t run the way I planned them” — Peter Gabriel

CT of course is a depot for the Alfonso Rivas train. That train shouldn’t have a stop in Des Moines. Data-heads will disagree, but I have a Sam Clemens-like disregard for statistical projections. Not that .292/.396/.814 (MiLB) over 887 at-bats is all that bad — I’d like a good long look at him, please, Cubs powers-that-be.

Hey, at least Rivas was in the lineup for Friday’s game. He hit, too. But the Kyle Hendricks tribute band was out there again and it just isn’t the same experience. This play didn’t help.

Things sort of went downhill from there. Yikes. I guess the Mark Leiter Jr. starter experience is over for now, judging by his relief appearance. I’ll be happy to let Al tell you about that game. Seeya tomorrow.

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• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Quantifying Hope: Cubs still have better playoff odds than Reds, Pirates. “... the Cubs are still believed to be better than their 68-win pace even though their upcoming schedule says otherwise.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Reliever Scott Effross keeps defying odds one appearance at a time. “... it wasn’t really until the Arizona Fall League several months later that the plan was revealed.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Is the Chicago Cubs offense for real or is it too small of a sample size to judge? “... so far, so good.”
• Mark Bowman, Ethan Sands (MLB.com*): There is crying in baseball: Contreras bros’ special moment. “That’s pretty special,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It doesn’t happen every day.” Brett Taylor adds on.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Contreras’ bigger Chicago Cubs leadership role is fueled by years of listening — and putting in work. “... we have really good young players that might need help, might need advice, might need a hug, whatever,” Contreras told the Tribune. “I want to be available for them and be the best I can be out there.”
• Benjamin Hudy (Cubbies Crib*): Alfonso Rivas continues to make the most out of opportunities. “The 25-year-old has shown that he should be getting in this lineup more than twice a week.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Atlanta reunited: Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki runs into Carp mascot from his Japanese club. “Four years after they overlapped in Hiroshima, Seiya Suzuki is in his rookie MLB season, and Jacob Mosella is the Braves’ mascot coordinator.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Seiya love me? Mike Trout wants to meet Cubs’ Suzuki. “I’m curious to see him in person and meet him,” Trout said. “I hear a lot of great things.”
• Jason Parini (Da Windy City*): Chicago Cubs fans need to stop disrespecting Jason Heyward. “While it’s difficult to watch Heyward struggle on the field, the day will come when Cubs fans welcome him back to Wrigley Field with open arms.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs have been “Taken Aback” by how good Pete Crow-Armstrong has looked. “The 20-year-old lefty is hitting a silly .370/.485/.574 (194 wRC+) at Myrtle Beach, with a home park notorious for suppressing offense.”
• Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): What we’re hearing about Cubs prospects: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Riley Thompson, Brailyn Marquez. “There’s absolutely no need to panic when there are so many factors at play...”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs lose assistant GM to the Blackhawks front office. “... Chicago sports fans can watch Greenberg and see if he can bring magic back to the United Center.” The Athletic staff has more {$}.
• Chicago Crusader*: Bigger than baseball: Cubs charities to celebrate the power of sport. “Diamond Project Grant celebrations across Chicago on Saturday, April 30...”

Food for Thought:

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