Cub Tracks’ ill at ease

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.

Friday night, Drew Smyly (whose real first name is Todd) opposed former Cub Zack Davies, whose offerings baffled the Cubs in their first meeting. The game was available via Apple TV+, who wisely chose not to black the broadcast out, so I was able to see the game and that concrete mausoleum the D-Backs play in, and to hear the dulcet tones of former Chicagoan (ok, Markham native) and Cub outfielder Cliff Floyd (Mark Mulder and Steve Trout also went to Thornwood HS, Floyd’s alma mater).

I didn’t hate the broadcast crew. I didn’t love them, but they didn’t make me throw anything or even gnash my teeth much. They left plenty of air, didn’t talk much about anything not-baseball. I was a little disappointed that Heidi Watney didn’t say flat-out at any point, but that’s the way the ball bounces. It was better than listening to a Mexican radio... the graphics and statcasting were cool. More of that please. My Twitter feed didn’t like the broadcast at all. I’m going to sub for a month for 4.99 so as to see “Prehistoric Planet”, so the advertising worked, too.

Speaking of bounces, Rafael Ortega awarded the D-Backs some extra bases in the bottom of the third, when both teams traded odd numbers and came out even. I suppose it would be disrespectful to ask Jason Heyward to play right sometimes? But hey, Jonathan Villar is at second. I guess you have to dance with who brung ya, hats or no hats, but still, Arizona is a pretty good team. You can’t give them extra outs.

It was like that. If you can’t score off of Zach Davies, maybe you don’t deserve to win. Smyly didn’t pitch badly at all. The Cubs had some chances, especially late, but failed to cash in, and another one-run game was added to the loss total.

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• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs culture? Anthony Rizzo, Yankees know the difference. “Culture is one of the most overused, meaningless terms in sports.”
• Bill Felber (Call to the Pen*): Presenting the 2025 Chicago Cubs as National League contenders. “... a contending Cubs team in 2025 won’t look much like the current Cubs team.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): More than half the Chicago Cubs roster is hurt right now. “I have never seen a team as laid up as the Cubs are right now in terms of sheer volume...” It’s not just the major-league team, either...
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): ‘Batman and Robin’?: How new Cubs hitting coaches complement each other. “Cubs hitting coach Greg Brown and assistant hitting coach Johnny Washington joined the club this winter.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): How the Chicago Cubs’ aggressive base-running approach — ‘pushing the envelope’ — is paying off. “For us to compete, we’ve got to do that a little bit more and take some chances in areas,” said David Ross.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Rizzo has no regrets over his ‘bad breakup’ with the Chicago Cubs — ‘I wish them well’. Steve Greenberg has some, too.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs rookie Alfonso Rivas inspiring confidence with bat, glove. “He’s a great hitter,” catcher Willson Contreras said of Rivas.
• Michael Consolo (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs have found a guy to build around in Nico Hoerner. “The biggest concern with Hoerner is his ability to stay healthy but if he can keep himself game-ready, I have no doubt big things are in store for him.”
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): ‘I’m making progress’: Chicago Cubs infielder Andrelton Simmons inches toward MLB return. “I kind of got the minor league experience again,” Simmons said with a smile.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs prospect Ed Howard suffers ‘freak’ hip injury. “It was just a freak accident,” Cubs farm director Jared Banner said. Jake Misener has more.
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): Top-ranked Chicago Cubs prospect Brennen Davis placed on injured list. “Just from having conversations with him, I think it was something that he might have just felt in spring training,” Marty Pevey said.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Has Ian Happ finally found his defensive home in left field for the Cubs? “I’ve always felt like my athleticism didn’t match up to the metrics,” Happ said. Andy Martinez has more Happ.

Food for Thought:

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