Cub Tracks’ Assad story

Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits from Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, and cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor.

Adrian Assad looks more and more like a find. Some offensive support would have been nice. Better selection might help that. Cubs were swinging pretty wildly, especially in the seventh when they had a good chance to score. Might have helped, since Sean Newcomb was coming in, and he has a propensity for adding to the score. He’ll be somewhere else next year.

That was fugly.

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• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): The Cubs have a serious — and fascinating — roster conundrum this offseason. “We’re having a lot of talks right now about what do we do in September kind of roster-wide and it’s complicated in a good way,” Jed Hoyer said last week. Paul Sullivan has thoughts.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): The 13 big numbers for Cubs’ August — and 1 bizarre one. “The Cubs went 15-15 in August...”
• Mitch Bannon (MLB.com*): Cubs look to build on ‘good month’ down stretch. “It’s a good month,” manager David Ross said. “Try to build on that going into September.”
• (MLB.com*): Marcus Stroman — ‘17 WBC MVP for USA — to rep Puerto Rico in ‘23. Stroman, whose mother is from Puerto Rico, said on Twitter in late July that he was “beyond excited to play for Team Puerto Rico.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Drew Smyly has really loved his time with the Cubs – which says a couple things. “... he’s currently throwing as hard as ever.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): As baserunning mistakes pile up, the Chicago Cubs must better balance aggressiveness and situational awareness. “It did not take long for Chicago Cubs infielder Zach McKinstry to learn how his new team approaches baserunning.” Maddie Lee has more of this.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Pete Crow-Armstrong could make Cubs debut next season. “This kid’s going to be the goods, it’s just a matter of how quickly we get to see him at the highest level.”
• Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs prospect notes: Cade Horton, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Moisés Ballesteros. Capsules on various minor-leaguers.
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): Iowa Cubs outfielder Darius Hill finds inspiration from little brother’s perseverance. “Everyday, he just brings the most positive attitude and he’s a joy to be around and that’s something that’s really just inspired me, no matter what’s going on,” Darius said.
• Bob Goldsborough (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Jon Lester sold his house.

Food for Thought:

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