Cub Tracks buries the living

Here at CUB TRACKS NEWS AND NOTES™, we have news for you. The going got weird quite a while ago, but the Chicago Cubs’ 2021 season is finally over. We are spared that particular horrorshow, but we’re not spared the post-apocalyptic, as we’ve signed on for the director’s cut. Surely that doesn’t exactly drop the bomb on you.

Surely Jed Hoyer’s phone is ringing. Is it the new GM? Only time will tell. This song isn’t over. In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy this collection of elegies, eulogies, and merrie melodies, from our usual cast, stitched together to meet our dead line.

Hey, at least the Cubs weren’t the DOORMAT of the National League. They were a parts car at the ivy-covered junkyard, and will probably end up in Bensenville with the rest of the parks and wrecks department.

So much for the classic pyramid lede. I want my mummy.

Comedy gold.

The ‘elder rookies’ probably won’t toe this line again. But they almost certainly will be given the opportunity. I gazed into the abyss and Frank Schwindel gazed back at me.

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• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): How will this Cubs rebuild be different from the last? (And will it be shorter?). “Even the last run of Cubs’ success required quite a bit of good fortune.”
• Mike McGraw (Daily Herald* {$}): Cubs finish with a win, now the real work begins. “I think it will be a really interesting offseason from a bunch of different perspectives,” said outfielder and player rep Ian Happ.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs and Manager David Ross have had “Preliminary Talks” on an extension. “We’ve had some preliminary talks,” Ross confirmed this weekend, per NBCSC.

• Brian Johnston (Cubbies Crib*): Chicago Cubs should hold off on extending Ross. “The team may want to give him another chance, but they really don’t have much to go on to determine whether he’s the right man moving forward.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs finish 71-91 — it’s the 7th-worst record in the majors this season and their most losses since 2013. “When the Cubs trotted out their Game 162 lineup, only outfielder Ian Happ remained from opening day.”
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ roller-coaster season officially comes to an end. “... it’s almost as though the Cubs played two different seasons.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs’ roller-coaster season ends with MLB history in finale. “I think I might have been the only guy who was in there for both of them, which is crazy. Crazy year.” — Ian Happ.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Denial to acceptance: A draining season ends with the Cubs starting over again. “... the 162-game marathon is far more revealing than the division title the Cubs won after last year’s 60-game sprint.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Cubs take away ‘a lot of positives’ from 2021. “It’s just something you can’t prepare for,” said Cubs veteran Kyle Hendricks.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Hendricks ‘really curious’ to see how the Chicago Cubs upgrade the roster in what should be an interesting offseason: ‘I want to win at the end of the day and that’s it’. “It’s going to be really interesting. I’m going to be a fan like anybody else, sitting back and just watching what happens with free agency and really curious to see where we go.”

• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Impact decision for Cubs: Embrace Ian or play Happ-less. “... only one man remained standing from the first lineup of the season.”
• Jake Meisinger (Cubbies Crib*): Chicago Cubs: Looking at Happ’s Jekyll and Hyde 2021 season. “Happ credits his skipper, David Ross, with his hot streak that began in mid-August.”
• Bryan Smith (Bleacher Nation*): “That’s what the losses are for!” – Introducing the 2022 MLB draft class. “... a 23-name introduction to the class...”

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.