Cub Tracks rhesus pieces

#Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news, notes, and commentary, four days a week, rain or shine. Too much monkey business? Roll out the barrel!

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. No artificial intelligences were deployed, employed, entranced, or embalmed in the commission of this missive (apparently I might be training some though). Cub Tracks eagerly awaits the advent of robotic umpires and has already amended the three laws. The going is weird. Cub Tracks turned pro a long time ago.

Cub Tracks. Where the great ones run away.

There’s a lot of trade talk out there, but little of it is credible, to me, so I haven’t linked to much. It’s going to be a square peg offseason as the Cubs try to get ‘creative’ and deploy a strategy of ‘intelligent spending’, which plays as cheapness even if that isn’t the reality.

Maybe next year we can have a new POBO and some other decision-makers, but for now, these are our dance partners. Adjust expectations accordingly. Await developments.

Or not.

Happy belated birthdays to Michael Busch and Moises Ballesteros.

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• Marquee Sports Network*: Cubs Weekly Podcast: Recapping the 2024 General Managers Meetings. Andy Martínez and Bruce Levine summarize.
• Sam Blum (The Athletic {$}): After signing with Angels, Kyle Hendricks reflects on end of Cubs tenure. “I am so grateful and so lucky to have what I had in Chicago,” Hendricks said. “I could have never imagined it. It just made sense for both sides to move on.” Andy Martinez has more*. Maddie Lee does, too*.

You’re family, you’re always welcome back, whatever you want to be involved in and want to be a part of,’’ Hendricks said in a video news conference Friday. ‘‘So it’s just so nice and relieving to know I have that waiting in the future, if it is a possibility. Chicago will always be so special in my heart. It’s family.’’ — Lee.

• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation*): The Cubs should recreate the Ross-Lester winter with Free Agents Travis D’Arnaud and Max Fried. “… I think the Cubs should consider something similar…”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Isaac Paredes can improve results with ‘Simple’ Fix, just won’t be easy. “… swinging harder would create better contact.”

Food for Thought:

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