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CHICAGO CUBS NEWS

Here at CUB TRACKS NEWS AND NOTES™, we have #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB news for you, optimized for SEO and ready to go. The news is, there’s no new news today. There are things of interest, though. Read on. Whether you opt for Can-D or Chew-Z, the same players are on stage. They just arrive via different paths.

Here, we are astigmatic. — Brandon Palmer-Eldritch.

The Three Laws of Robotic Umpires (!)

1. A robotic umpire may not misidentify a thrown ball or, through misidentification, allow a strike to be called a ball, or conversely, a ball to be called a strike. All calls must be objectively correct.

2. A robotic umpire must objectively and correctly interpret the strike zone except where such interpretation would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robotic umpire must make the objectively correct call as long as such a determination does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

(!) Adapted, of course, from Dr Asimov’s famous Three Laws of Robotics.

The invasion of the robot umpires.

As always, * 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. (In the comments section, use @ before and after your remarks @ to produce sarcasm font. In the text body. It doesn’t work in the headlines.)

• Duane Pesice (Cubbies Crib*): Flies in the ointment, asking ‘where did it all go wrong?’ “William Golding would probably recognize the scenario.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Tom Ricketts: Cubs have resources to compete, ‘will use them’. “We will be active in free agency and continue to make thoughtful decisions to bolster our team this offseason.” To the letter.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Why power pitching is at the top of the Cubs’ wish list this offseason: ‘We didn’t strike enough guys out’. “Our starting pitching simply wasn’t good enough this year to compete.”
• Scot Gregor (Daily Herald* {$}): In dire need of pitching, will Cubs make run at Carlos Rodon? “... considering his continuing run of health issues, the left-hander could be much more affordable and a good fit across town.”
• Erik Mauro (Cubbies Crib*): Chicago Cubs will go down in flames again if arms don’t drastically improve. “Chicago’s arms were a wildly mixed bag after the deadline – with far more bad than good.”
• Kevin Henry (Roxpile*): Trade rumors: Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs a fit for Willson Contreras deal? “That’s the question being asked by MLBTradeRumors in this article.”
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): The (former) Cubs are thriving this postseason. “It feels like forever ago those years [in the playoffs with the Cubs],” Kris Bryant said last week.
• Stephen J Nesbitt (The Athletic {$}): Grading MLB umpires: Meet the humans behind the Twitter bots that track balls and strikes. “This is a day in the life of a bot.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Many come and go, but 92-year-old Bob Newhart is the godfather of celebrity Chicago sports fans. “He wasn’t just a Chicago fan in real life but on TV as well.”

Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading.