Cub Tracks’ may take a week, may take longer

Welcome to today’s edition 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 guess it’s a good thing the Cubs didn’t pick up Dallas Keuchel. Ouch. Maybe he’ll get picked up by the Yankees and have to shave.

Keegan Thompson was on the bump Saturday, facing Johnny Cueto. Cueto had faced the Cubs 27 times, accumulating a 3.48 ERA, a record of 9-10, and 133 SO in 165.1 innings. Thompson had a small-sample 7.94 ERA in 5.2 innings.

Things started out crooked. The stakes were high and the Cubs were ordering ribeyes. It looked like the Reds were going to take it on the chin. I could hear the music early. It was Steam. LOL, just kidding. It was Strange Days.

Yasmani Grandal runs like a turtle with a piano on its back. Len sounded so sad when he was thrown out, but maybe that was just knowledge of the inevitable outcome. He was out by a furlong. Maybe even an extra-long. The music got louder.

Christopher Morel’s stance and stroke remind me of Aramis Ramirez. One hopes he develops the RBI sense, too. A-Ram was nails with runners on.

Thompson threw five and allowed one. The bullpen shut the door and bricked up the entryway for good measure.

Let’s love it two times. To take two at Guaranteed Rate would be a weird scene inside the gold mine for the vaunted ChiSox. Whether coup de grâce or Coupe de Ville, I can’t say, because the music’s over.

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• Daryl van Schouwen (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs drop White Sox below .500. “Thompson pitches five innings of one-run ball in Cubs’ 5-1 victory.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): 3 things we’ve learned about the Cubs as May nears an end. “You can just about guarantee the likes of Robertson, Givens, Smyly and Miley are playing somewhere else before the season ends.”
• Payton Havermann (Cubbies Crib*): Re-grading the fateful 2021 trade deadline. “... how do those moves look at this point?”
• Will Leitch (MLB.com*): 1 secretly dominant pitcher from all 30 teams. “He’s 37, he was the guy who took over for Mariano Rivera and he missed the 2020 season.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ Codi Heuer could become White Sox’ one who got away. “Heuer and the Cubs think Tommy John surgery may answer questions about the reliever’s declining velocity.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs lefty Wade Miley’s next start pushed back as he deals with shoulder issue. “Miley is dealing with some shoulder discomfort, which he likened to middle-of-spring training dead arm.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs, Seiya Suzuki face IL decision Sunday; Miley call also looms. “I talked to him a little bit, trying to get a sense of it,” team president Jed Hoyer said. “It’s just sore and swollen and stiff. You hope you can avoid it.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs using rebuilding year to see if Nico Hoerner is a long-term answer at shortstop. “The lineup is largely constructed with the future in mind...”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs’ Clint Frazier reveals newly discovered weight-loss secret. “Go to Iowa.”
• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Results of a survey of sports bettors are in, and they’re 100% unbelievable. It’s Cubs vs. White Sox this weekend on the South Side, and you can cut the excitement with a plastic spoon.

Food for Thought:

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