MESA, Ariz. — Imagine the kicker driving into the New England Patriots’ practice facility and parking in Bill Belichick’s spot. That only begins to explain the absurdity of Tommy La Stella starting a prank war against the Cubs’ front office by stealing parking spots.



It’s roughly 40 steps from RESERVED spots 12 and 13 — where Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer park a Range Rover SUV and a Tesla sedan — to the front doors of the Under Armour Performance Center in Mesa.



It’s another universe from the summer of 2016, when La Stella refused to report to Triple-A Iowa and took some “me time” back home in New Jersey, an act of insubordination that probably would have gotten him released from the other 29 Major League Baseball franchises.



But the Cubs vibrate on a different frequency, as manager Joe Maddon likes to say, so there was La Stella on Tuesday morning, hanging out at his locker and...