Cub Tracks awaits developments

#Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news and notes. It’s not abridged, it’s concentrated. The latest news and rumors.

-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.

More reports about Edwin Escobar indicate that he has signed, but no word from the Cubs yet.

We’re in the dead zone between the GM Meetings and the Winter Meetings. The beats are all hibernating and only bloggers remain, all writing about the same things.

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• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Yoshinobu Yamamoto drawing most interest agent has ever seen. “This is by far the player with the most interested teams that I have ever seen at the beginning of free agency,” Joel Wolfe told the Kyodo News.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Pirates starter Johan Oviedo to have Tommy John surgery. “Presumably the 25-year-old righty will now miss all of 2024, and have to shoot for a 2025 return.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Why 30-start season means so much to Justin Steele, Cubs’ outlook. “The team wouldn’t have come so close to making the playoffs this year if it weren’t for Steele’s consistency.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs need to build a roster that lets the prospects work through growing pains. “… there’s a lot riding on Counsell’s ability to seamlessly integrate his younger players…”
• Nick Deeds (MLB Trade Rumors*): MLBTR Poll: Should the Cubs trade Christopher Morel? “… upside could make it hard for the Cubs to part with Morel, especially given the amount of team control he has remaining.”
• Larry Brown (Larry Brown Sports*): Yankees reportedly have 1 issue with Cody Bellinger. “… according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, some with the Yankees are concerned with Bellinger’s hard-hit rate.”

Food for Thought:

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