Chicago Cubs news and notes — Kerry Wood, Boyd, Kelly

Today’s Reflections

I was just wrapping up Cub Tracks for you good folks, checking for mistakes and broken links, giving the news feed one last refresh—

I (and probably a lot of Cub fans) feel like they are standing on the precipice of either the second World Series appearance in a decade (the Dodgers just moved to the AL, the Angels moved to the NL) ….. or utter devastation. Standing on that cliff, we look behind us and see an offense, mostly starting to click really well, foaming at the mouth, waiting for their chance to SMASH BASEBALL!

Then we look over the edge of the cliff and see the pitching staff — anybody that stands 10 inches above the height of home plate — and they are just ….. foaming, and decaying, period.

We turn back to the hitters and tell them:

Here’s an interesting quote from below: “This is the most unlucky and unfortunate injury-impacted season in recent Chicago Cubs memory”. Obviously, Mr. Cerami isn’t anywhere near old enough to recall 1985. This is where we call upon Al: Wrigley Field History, April 16, 1985:

Everything looked great for the Cubs that year, even into June; they won on June 11, running their record to 35-19, four games in first place. But then the starting pitchers began to get injured. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. All five starters — Sutcliffe, Eckersley, Scott Sanderson, Steve Trout and Dick Ruthven — spent time on the DL.

It’s not a mirror image and we still have Shota. And we’re used to a couple dozen bullpen injuries at a time. But, yeah. PLEASE be careful, Shōta! Let someone brush your teeth for you, for God’s sake! You, too, Colin Rea! I don’t want to see another 37 stories in a row about YOUR injury. Or xxxxx’s, or xxxxx’s, etc.

(Sigh) Let’s at least start the links with what yesterday was SUPPOSED to be about — recollection and celebration:

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• Jesse Rogers (ESPN): ‘What even is that pitch?’ An oral history of Kerry Wood’s 20-K day. “It was an otherwise nondescript day. In fact, it was a forgettable one.”
• Jordan Llanes (Clutch Points): Cubs’ Jed Hoyer preaches patience on big trades, but has team in position to strike. “Chicago Cubs president of baseball ops Jed Hoyer preaches patience when it comes to blockbuster trades yet has the team in position to strike.”
• Ryan O’Rourke (Cubbies Crib): Injury to huge potential Cubs trade target could change the equation at the deadline. “(Joe Ryan’s) imaging showed no structural damage in his elbow and he’s expected to make his next start, but you can bet the Twins – and any team with interest in shoring up the rotation this summer will be keeping a close eye on him.”

• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Cubs hit with crippling surprise Matthew Boyd injury news (with bizarre origin story). “A meniscus trim would likely have Boyd back in the rotation by the end of July. A meniscus repair would sideline Boyd for the remainder of the season ….. No, it wasn’t anything Boyd was doing on the field that caused the injury. Instead, he was sitting down to play with his kids.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): No, Freakin’ Way: Now Matthew Boyd Is Getting Surgery (UPDATE). “You have GOT to be kidding me. According to Taylor McGregor, Matthew Boyd is getting surgery on his meniscus (knee) and “will be out for the foreseeable future.” I don’t even know what to say, other than this seals it: This is the most unlucky and unfortunate injury-impacted season in recent Chicago Cubs memory.“
• Tommy Erbe (SportsNetOnTap): Chicago Cubs Trade Target Emerges In Wake Of Matthew Boyd News. “After the Chicago Cubs announced Matthew Boyd would be on the shelf for “foreseeable future,” a possible trade target has come forward.“

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): How Ryan Rolison Explains the Universe (Kind of) (For Now). “The Cubs have won back-to-back games in walkoff fashion, and each time, the win has gone to an unlikely pitcher. Lefty reliever Ryan Rolison is an emergency fill-in for a bullpen with higher-octane arms. He’s also what makes the Cubs great in 2026, in microcosm.”
• Nick Hudson (SportsNetOnTap): Carson Kelly Proves Knowing The ABS Zone Is A Game Changer. “Chicago Cubs catcher Carson Kelly’s use of ABS is ridiculously good. The system is improving games and creating real momentum swings.”

• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): Alex Bregman’s Power Is Coming Back and in a Really Encouraging Way. “In the first year of a $175M deal, yeah, we’re justified in expecting more. But here’s the thing, I actually do think that’s coming. In fact, it’s already started, and in a sustainable way.”
• N.B. Linberg (Fangraphs.com): Which Young Player Will Your Favorite MLB Team Extend Next? “Franchises have never been more aggressive in extending their top prospects. These are who could be next.”
• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times{$}): Nico Hoerner, MVP of smoking-hot Cubs so far, has more and more people talking. “Given the Cubs’ 13-game Wrigley Field winning streak entering Wednesday, it seemed like a fine time to ask around about who is “the man” on a team with a long list of guys playing well.“
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Winning Is Fun, Which Means Cubs Baseball Is Very Fun Right Now. “It’s like experiencing the Platonic ideal of a chair, only to then be forced to go back and use highly imperfect recreations in perpetuity.”
• Max Ralph (MLB.com): Rojas, Cubs No. 4 prospect, hits 4th homer to continue strong Double-A start. “Jefferson Rojas had a shaky start to his time in Double-A as a 20-year-old last season. Now with another trip around the sun under his belt, the Cubs’ No. 4 prospect is raking at the level.”
• Tommy Erbe (SportsNetOnTap): Numbers Suggest Michael Busch Is Climbing Back Up To Normalcy. “Michael Busch is heating up offensively; the numbers prove it. When Busch is on, so too are the Chicago Cubs.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): With Wrigley Field rocking, the Cubs are setting the stage for a big trade deadline. “All things considered, the first-place Cubs (24-12) are in excellent shape.”
• Zachary Cariola (Sporting News): National League Central labeled one of the most ‘chaotic’ by MLB expert. “According to MLB.com’s Will Leitch, the National League Central is considered the third-most chaotic division in Major League Baseball, with a score of 7/10.”
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Alex Bregman Has Been Fine for the Cubs So Far. Is ‘Fine’ Good Enough? “In many ways, Alex Bregman has been exactly who the Cubs thought he was when they signed him to a five-year deal this winter. In other ways, they’re still waiting for him to get going.”
• Nick Hudson (SportsNetOnTap.com): Carson Kelly Proves Knowing The ABS Zone Is A Game Changer. “Chicago Cubs catcher Carson Kelly’s use of ABS is ridiculously good. The system is improving games and creating real momentum swings.”

• Anthony Laurila (Fangraphs.com): Cubs Prospect Jonathon Long Has a Long Swing That Pairs Power and Contact. “Ranked 17th on our recently released 2026 Cubs Top Prospects list with a 40 FV, the 24-year-old first baseman has a profile that is promising, yet in some ways concerning.”
• Zachary Draves (ClutchPoints): What Pete Crow-Armstrong said about Michael Conforto’s clutch walk-off home run.

• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs’ Moisés Ballesteros is always on the attack: ‘He’s just incredibly confident’. “Moisés Ballesteros carries a mantra with him into the batter’s box.”
• Joe Maddon (The Athletic {$}): Joe Maddon: These are the 3 best leaders I managed in MLB. “In a dugout during the game, if someone screwed up on the field, I never had to walk down and tell the player on the bench.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic{$}): As Moisés Ballesteros navigates breakout season, Cubs have clear vision for rookie. “As yet another line drive rocketed off Moisés Ballesteros’ bat during spring training, Cubs manager Craig Counsell was business as usual as he turned to the club’s hitting coaches assembled in the dugout: We need to talk.”

Food For Thought:

Muddy Waters was, in many ways, the archetypal bluesman. He was raised as a sharecropper in the Mississippi Delta, where he learned to play an acoustic guitar. He went to Chicago in 1943, and the band he assembled established the electric blues sound. Over the next three and a half-decades, his band became a springboard for many of his sidemen, launching a prominent school of blues performers.

Muddy Waters was born McKinley A. Morganfield on April 4, 1913 at a small enclave in Issaquena County, Mississippi known as Jug’s Corner. Muddy usually cited Rolling Fork as his home. The area, near the Mississippi River, was wet, and his grandmother nicknamed him because of the mud puddles in which he played. Muddy’s mother died when he was very young, and her mother raised him. She moved north to the Stovall Plantation outside of Clarksdale before Muddy was three years old. He stayed there, for the most part, until he was thirty years old.

Animal rescuers in British Columbia came to the rescue of a blue heron that turned out to have a talon stuck inside a giant oyster’s shell. The Dewdney Animal Hospital in Maple Ridge shared a video explaining rescuers responded Saturday to a report of a blue heron that appeared to have its leg caught between rocks in the water off Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The rescuers arrived to find the rocks in question were actually the two halves of a giant oyster’s shell.The post joked that the oyster “got shellfish and clammed up, which really shucked.”

The bird and the oyster attached to its toe were taken to the animal hospital to be separated. Veterinarian Adrian Walton injected fish anesthetic into the oyster’s shell and was then able to pry the shell open and release the heron’s talon. The heron suffered some torn ligaments, so it was fit with a splint and transferred to the Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia for rehabilitation. (VIDEO)

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