Cub Tracks’ work in progress

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 and attempt to distill the zeitgeist into a potent potable. Please enjoy immoderately.

Monday was an off-day for the Cubs. Patrick Wisdom was not in the Home Run Derby, which I didn’t watch. I rooted for Kyle Schwarber in absentia. Today’s edition had an early deadline, though, so even had I watched, I wouldn’t have the details.

The Cubs drafted more guys, though. And there was analysis of the previous guys, the Cubs first and second round picks, A Horton Who Hears and Ferris Bueller. I mean of course Cade McNown Horton and Jackson Ferris, who is destined to be a big wheel.

Forgive my little joke (you people had some good ones in the comments, too). It has been a trying day on the good planet Mercury, where the ‘feels like’ was in the low 130s Fahrenheit, a temperature that defies air conditioning, and the ac fan in my car gave up the ghost. Please read on. I promise chewy goodness. The more obsessed among you have probably read all of these things, but here they are in easily digestible form.

Nazier Mule, a two-way player who is likely to stay on the mound, was selected. Christopher Paciolla, a shortstop, was selected as well. Brandon Birdsell, another RHP, was also given the nod. Mark McGwire’s son Mason, another RHP, has a blue destiny. But wait! There’s more!

And Erich Uelmen is now a Chicago Cub, up from Iowa, where he had been dealing. That’s the end of the Daniel Norris story from our end.

* 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 enabled sarcasm font in the comments.

“Steven’s had a little bit of a tough road and worked his way back,. He’s a guy in the offseason that was on the radar, a guy that’s had some big league success. Has been hurt a little bit, some things changed. I always love those starters that go to the bullpen, know how to get out both righties and lefties. They’ve been in every moment. The moment’s not going to speed up on them. I think he’s got real stuff.” — David Ross, on Stephen Brault.

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Chicago Cubs say Cade Horton and Jackson Ferris were their top targets in Rounds One and Two. “After the fact, you always have to take these kinds of comments with a modest grain of salt.”
• Tim Stebbns (NBC Sports Chicago*): 2022 MLB Draft: Ian Happ’s advice for Cubs’ First-Round Pick. “I didn’t understand at the time how lucky I was to be drafted by this organization,” Happ said.
• Bryan Smith (Bleacher Nation*): A deep dive on Cubs surprise First-Round Pick Cade Horton: An athlete who popped late. “The 20-year-old recently threw back-to-back starts with double-digit strikeouts in the College World Series, essentially halving his ERA, and igniting his draft prospects.” Jordan Bastian has words. Tim Stebbins adds on. Keith Law analyzes the whole round {$}.
• Andy Martinez (Marquee Sports Network*): Cade Horton already feels at home with Cubs thanks to connection with Ed Howard, Pete Crow-Armstrong and others. “Moments after his name was announced as the 7th overall pick by commissioner Rob Manfred, Cubs’ 1st-round pick Cade Horton picked up his phone and made a call.” Tim Stebbins has more.
• Greg Huss (Cubs Insider*): Cubs target high-risk, high-reward players in Day 2 of MLB Draft. “... there was a very clear emphasis on high-risk, high-reward players, whether they came from the prep or collegiate ranks.” Tony Andracki has Day Two thoughts.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs snap nine-game skid, but David Ross knows there’s a lot of work to do. “The four-day All-Star break will allow the Cubs to physically heal, but Ross is determined to remind his players of the improvements and corrections that will be imperative in the second half.”
• Alexander Patt (Cubbies Crib*): Will the 2022 Cubs surpass the 2012 team’s 101 losses? “It would have been hard to imagine for Cubs fans that they would see another season like 2012 in the near future after winning it all so recently, but here we are.” Paul Sullivan has similar doubts.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Marcus Stroman won’t dwell on the negatives as the Cubs’ losses pile up. “I’m too present to really look back and do that, man,” Stroman said when asked to assess the first half of this rebuilding season.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Willson Contreras on All-Star ride with brother: ‘It’s crazy that it’s happening’. “It’s something we’ve always dreamed about. But it’s something that, it’s crazy that it’s happening.” Steve Greenberg has more.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Amateur News: No more undrafted signing cap, International draft negotiations, lawsuit settled. “In theory, settling this suit does not end possible political efforts to close the antitrust exemption, but in practical effect, it might.”

Food for Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the opinions of writers whose work is linked to in this series of articles. Feel free to discuss in a civil fashion. If you have any question as to what kind of discourse is allowed, here are the site guidelines. Thanks for reading!