Cub Tracks’ moral turpentine

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

Former Cubs catcher and current persona au gratin Willson Contreras hasn’t said anything untoward about the club recently. This does me a concern. The Cubs and the stinkin’ Cardinals don’t meet until the second week of May. It’ll be hot — a little bit of water goes a long way. The two teams will meet in the original home of Cheddar in the last days of June, too. Not, not Milwaukee. That’s the city that beer made famous. London, Merrie Olde England.

I’m tempted to take the drive and watch it on my tablet from the London Bridge. But more about that when it’s appropriate...

Justin Steele threw a bullpen and is on schedule, I understand. This is a good thing, I submit. I’m of two minds on the right field issue. One, I appreciate that someone will/should get a chance that ordinarily wouldn’t. But I was really keen to see the bulked-up Seiya Suzuki mash. I know a lot of people disagree but my first choice for those at-bats is Patrick Wisdom (who is still day-to-day), and I’d let Edwin Rios try to claim third base for now. I’d like to let Christopher Morel put in the time at third in Iowa. I wouldn’t oppose Nelson Velasquez in right, though. Spring training may determine how that plays out. We shall see how it all unrolls. I’m not going to put that prediction in concrete yet... there’s still time to wallow in the mire.

Tweetstorm coming, better hide.

* 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.

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs among teams with largest gap between ticket cost, average metro income. “... 35% of fans surveyed said they’re planning to go to fewer MLB games this season due to cost.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Pitch clock surprises Cubs’ Drew Smyly: ‘I didn’t think it was going to be an issue’. “Smyly worked the fastest of any Cubs starter last year, but he felt sped up in the Cubs’ 6-3 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday.”
• Jack Vita (Fan Nation*): Hayden Wesneski could be breakout star for Chicago Cubs in 2023. “Wesneski is currently competing for the fifth spot in the Cubs’ pitching rotation...” More Wesneski from Brett Taylor.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Cubs rotation battle too close to call in first week of spring training games. “With rookie Hayden Wesneski’s start against the Mariners on Wednesday, the Cubs made it through the rotation once.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Don’t be surprised if Jeremiah Estrada becomes a big-time impact reliever this year. “R.J. Anderson at CBS picked Estrada as the Cubs representative on his surprise breakout list...”
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): 23 for ’23: What will the Cubs’ new era at catcher look like? “David Ross referred to Gomes and Barnhart as “co-starters”...”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Matt Mervis showing his patient side so far this spring. “I’ve been very impressed with him,” said Trey Mancini.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Cubs’ Trey Mancini in a good place mentally and physically: ‘It’s just about thinking less’. “I hit once the new year hit and almost started from scratch and got back to my roots,” Mancini said.
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs formulating next steps with Seiya Suzuki out due to oblique injury. “I think it’s one of those things where we’ll put the plan in place, react to how he’s feeling, let him build back up,” Ross said. Meghan Montemurro has thoughts. “Last year’s (finger) injury was something that I could have played through, but this one is a little different. And it’s repetitive (motion), so I want to make sure that it’s 100% and it’s not going to come back again when I get on the field.” — Seiya Suzuki. Jordan Bastian mulls the options. Patrick Mooney has things to say, and more {$}.
• Jim Callis (MLB.com*): Here are the Cubs’ 2023 Top 30 prospects. “... there’s plenty of prospect talent on hand to return the Cubs to contention in the near future.” Brett Taylor has comments and adds notes on the Baseball America list, which is behind the paywall.
• Marquee Sports Network*: Cubs Weekly Podcast: Ted Lilly and Jon Lieber.
• Bill Ladson (MLB.com*): Jared Banner on his path to Cubs front office, advice to young fans. “It’s communication and collaboration,” Banner said.

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. Thanks for reading!