Cub Tracks’ horseshoes and hand grenades

Welcome to today’s episode 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.

Fetch me some popcorn. I’ll sit and watch the deals go down with new/old Cub Jeimer Candelario. Hoo boy, we are coming down to the wire. And there’s a game today, too. Congratulations are in order for Iowa center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. The implications of that promotion are yet to be seen. Rule 5-eligible players on the move, check it.

I’m ready for the Stro’ Show. Who’s Andrew Abbott? Why is Mancini still here? Jose Cuas for Nelson Velázquez? I dunno about that one. Sinkerballer though, lots of ground balls.

The Stro’ Show didn’t have its best night. Six earned in three innings ain’t going to get it done. Let’s get ‘em tomorrow.

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• Brady Farkas (Fansided*): Chicago Cubs’ Marcus Stroman continues slide, puts up stats that Cubs haven’t seen in more than a decade. “Stroman allowed 27 earned runs in July over 6 starts. That’s the most ER in a calendar month by a Cubs pitcher since Jeff Samardzija (27 ER) in June 2012.”
• David Schoenfield (ESPN+ {$}): MLB trade deadline 2023: Players most likely to be dealt. “Marcus Stroman, Chicago Cubs”.
• Patrixck Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Now the Cubs have to make buying worth it after avoiding sell-off at trade deadline. “We’ve got to get better in some areas,” David Ross said. More from Mooney {$}.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs get righty José Cuas from Royals for Nelson Velázquez. “This one was a little unexpected, though the writing was on the wall...” The Kansas City Star has more.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt and Brittany Ghiroli (The Athletic {$}): MLB Trade Grades: Surging Cubs land Jeimer Candelario to bolster lineup. “Time is a flat circle, and so is baseball’s trading deadline.” Daily Herald has more. More from The Athletic {$}.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): How the Chicago Cubs could upgrade as they prepare to bolster the roster at the trade deadline. “Honestly, the mental lift will come in the next couple days when it’s over,” Kyle Hendricks said.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): The difference between selling and being wrong, and buying and being wrong. “I would much rather this year’s Cubs team buy and then be proven wrong, rather than sell and be proven wrong.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Cubs Trade Rumors: Lefties dominate reports of Hoyer’s targets as Cubs ‘certain to add’. “... the Cubs could use a veteran lefty.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Would the Cubs consider seeing if there is a trade market for Patrick Wisdom? “Maybe there is a market inefficiency here to exploit.”
• Michael Brakebill (Cubbies Crib*): Chicago Cubs prospect Yonathan Perlaza is a prime trade candidate. “... it appears the Cubs just aren’t committed to finding an everyday spot for him...”
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs promoting top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong to Triple-A Iowa. An augur of things to come? Tommy Birch has more.
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Cody Bellinger helped power Cubs’ surge, controlling his own trade-deadline fate. “Conversations in the Cubs’ front office have shifted to supplementing a group that has proved it can compete for the division title.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune*): With Cody Bellinger staying and Jeimer Candelario en route, the Chicago Cubs are ready to make their move. When informed that his manager had confirmed he was staying, Bellinger joked: “I thought it was confirmed (Sunday).”

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