Bears Angst

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April 22, 2022

The NFL season opened March 16 and the Bears' new regime went to work. Allen Robinson signed with the Rams. I know he was hurt most of last year but my guess is he will flourish with the Rams with Matt Stafford as his quarterback. The same day they released nose tackle Eddie Goldman. The next move was the trade of the oft injured Khalil Mack. It’s no coincidence that these three were the highest paid players on the roster.

 By trading Mack, new GM Ryan Poles pretty much signaled the Bears wouldn't be competitive in the two years left on Mack's contract. In this era, there have been many instances of teams going from worst to first (Cincinnati Bengals) but the Bears think they have to rebuild first. I hate the fact that the Bears hired another GM who is in training.  The Bears freed up money, though they weren’t going to spend in the first wave of free agency. This is where they may have acquired a playmaker to help out quarterback Justin Fields. Poles messed up his first foray by signing defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi who failed his physical.

Coach Matt Eberflus and Defensive Coordinator Alan Williams have their work cut out for them. The Bear defense returns only four starters from last year. Trevis Gipson, a 2020 draft pick, looked good last year and should one of the starting Defensive Ends..

Here is who the Bears have added on defense:

Linebacker Nicholas Morrow – Coming off his best year with the Raiders. Signed a one year prove-it deal for $3 million.

Defensive Tackle Justin Jones - Signed for $12 million over two years. More affordable than Ogunjobii but a marginal player at best. 

Defensive End Al-Quadin Muhammad - Though no Khalil Mack, he is a solid option to help out on the pass rush.

It would be amazing if Eberflus and Williams can get the defense to rank in the top 15 in the league. This is easier said than done. Poles primary focus should be locking up the Bears best defensive player, Roquan Smith.

Where Poles has failed more is on the offensive side of the ball. Fields will be wasted until he gets some playmakers. What Poles doesn’t realize is having a proficient offense with a 15^th ranked defense probably gets you in the playoffs.

The Bears ranked last in the league in sacks allowed. Last year’s first pick, Teven Jenkins, was injured for most of the year. Drafted as a Left Tackle and basically in his first year, the Bears have him playing Right Tackle. Larry Borom will be on the left .The Bears signed former Green Bay Packer Lucas Patrick to replace Sam Mustipher at Center. He may join veteran Cody Whitehair at guard.

The Bears did sign a couple of receivers but are still looking for wide receivers in the draft:

Byron Pringle – Despite being the fourth option on the Chiefs, he is coming off a breakout season. He is signed for only one year. He is perfect for the Bears as his base salary is only $4million to 6 with incentives.

Equanimeous St. Brown – Signed for less than $1million, he is basically a depth option.

It’s never a good sign when you sign players to one or two year contracts. These are stop gap players. Even if they have great years, other teams will offer more than the Bears. To that end, Poles said he likes to build through the draft. This will be hard to do with only six picks, none in the first. I guess Virginia McCaskey will continue to be pissed off while George Halas is spinning in his grave.

After Five Years Bulls End Playoff Drought

 April 15, 2022

In the two years since the Bulls hired Arturas Karnisovas (AK) as President of Basketball Operations, Zach LaVine and Coby White are the only two players left on the roster he inherited. Karnisovas has done a great job putting together a competitive Bulls team without a rebuild. In his first year, trying to make the playoffs, he traded for all-star center Nicolas Vucevic. That may have worked if Zach LaVine wasn’t out of the line-up for the last 14 games.

After a year of watching, AK went to work. He signed 24 year old point guard Lonzo Ball to run the offense. Forward DeMar DeRozan was signed to ease the burden on LaVine to score points. A move that was under the radar was adding Alex Caruso, whose defensive tenacity made him a favorite of Bulls fans. The Bulls did not have a first round pick however, they found first round talent when they drafted Ayo Dosunmu in the second round.

I felt the team would be better, hoping they could play .500, be a 7-10 seed and in the play in round of the playoffs. The team ended up ten games over .500 and secured the number 6 seed in the playoffs. They exceeded my expectations and normally I would have been extremely satisfied.

The Bulls started the season on fire and had the best record in the Eastern Conference. DeRozan is having the best season of his career. He hit a couple of game winning baskets with the clock expiring. He was also Mr. Clutch and was among the leaders in points scored in the fourth quarter. Many of the wins were predicated by the defense. I was dreaming of what could have been a 50 victory season with a high playoff seed. Disaster struck as Ball and Caruso, their best defensive players, got injured in the same week. Both were expected to be out for six weeks. Caruso is back but has been playing hurt and Ball will not return until next year. It didn’t help that LaVine has been playing with an injury as well.

The Bulls have been struggling ever since, especially against the top seeds. The only thing the Bulls have going for them is Caruso and LaVine have had time to heal. Budding star Patrick Williams is also ready to go full bore. Vucevic needs to be more consistent. In the first two close games against the Milwaukee Bucks he put up 20 points. With all this going for them, the Bulls still probably don’t win one game, let alone the series.

With AK in charge, I am excited regarding the future. I’m sure he will be active to improve this team to compete with the upper echelon. For continued success, you have to avoid injuries and with the continued improvement on the part of their young core.

Baseball is Back

 

April 7, 2022

After weeks of acrimonious negotiations, baseball finally has a collective bargaining agreement. The major disagreements between billionaire owners and millionaire players were about money. Baseball is a multi-billion dollar industry so there should plenty of money for both sides. After the previous agreement ran out the owners locked out the players and didn’t come to the negotiating table until a month later. I think all along owners wanted a late start where they could deduct money on a per game basis. They wanted the players to agree to 16 teams making the playoffs, getting TV money to broadcast mediocre teams. A 16 team playoff format dilutes the importance of the 162 game season. Thankfully the players countered and the owners accepted a 12 team format.

Last season the only chance the Sox would have had against the Astros, was home-field advantage. Outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert each played less than half a season. Catcher Yasmani Grandal, was the hottest hitter on the team when he got injured and missed a month. However, the most crucial injury was to catalyst shortstop Tim Anderson. He only played 123 games and was in and out all of September. Without these injuries, they probably would have had home field advantage.

So the key for the upcoming season is to stay healthy. Things were going smoothly this preseason and then the injury bug popped up. Reliever Garrett Crochet is going to have Tommy John surgery leaving Aaron Bummer as the only lefty in the bullpen. Lance Lynn has a knee injury that requires surgery and will out approximately 8 weeks. I expect Dylan Cease to have a break out year and Lucas Giolito can be very good. After that it’s a crapshoot. Dallas Keuchel needs to turn things around from his worst year and they need about 150 innings from Michael Kopech The Sox did sign free-agent reliever Kendall Graveman another link to all-star closer Liam Hendriks.

The White Sox have one of the best line-ups in baseball and score plenty of runs. They added one time all-star and contact hitter Josh Harrison to fill the hole at second base. The Sox traded reliever Craig Kimbrel for right fielder A.J. Pollock. I prefer seeing Andrew Vaughn playing right field. He is capable of having a monster season.

Cubs President Jed Hoyer said the Cubs have the resources to sign free agents. He signed mediocre pitcher Wade Miley, not exactly the monster move their fans were looking for. Hoyer then was able to persuade Marcus Stroman, one of the best free-agent pitchers available. Hoyer has to be commended for signing a 5-tool outfielder Seiya Suzuki from Japan. It may take some time but once he gets acclimated, he will a cornerstone of the rebuild. Suzuki will lay right field with Jason Heyward moving to center. It is time for the Cubs to eat his contract. They have to find out about 27 year olds Clint Frazier and Michael Hermosillo.

Second year players, first baseman Frank Schwindel and third baseman are both 29 years old. In only 328 at bats Wisdom hit 28 homers. He will probably hit at least 30 this year. Problem is, he struck out 187 times. Schwindel hit .342 with 13 homers 

The offense may put up runs but maybe not enough to cover pitching deficiencies. Kyle Hendricks had a few hiccups last year. He has to regain the form that made him elite. Marcus Stroman is an excellent number two.  Wade Miley was supposed but three but he is currently injured. I would venture to guess that next up are Alec Mills and Justin Steele. The Cubs will have to monitor Steele so as not to overwork him in his first year. In two years he will be their number one. Keegan Thompson may slide into Miley’s spot. This is much better than trotting out Jake Arrieta. The starters can be very good but the bullpen is full of questions. It will be a bullpen by committee with no definitive closer.                 

Final Four & Other Stuff

 

March 31, 2022

There are four teams left standing in the NCAA tourney. All the teams are no strangers when it comes to competing for championships. The Cinderella team of the tourney, Saint Peter’s Peacocks, upset Purdue to become the first #15 seed to make it to the elite eight. North Carolina, who beat #1Baylor, blew out the Peacocks to advance to the final four. They will face arch-rival Duke with legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski who is in his last year as their coach. 

The other game features Villanova vs. Kansas. This is the only game so far with a #1 against a #2. Kansas, with excellent coach Bill Self, is favored. However, he has no national championship banners. His counterpart, Jay Wright, has won two at Villanova.

I see that former Bears GM Ryan Pace was hired by the Atlanta Falcons. I wonder what impressed them: his bad first round draft picks or his mismanagement of the salary cap? His job title is “Senior Personnel Executive,” meaning he won’t he won’t be making big decisions.

I also saw former Bears coach Matt Nagy got a job. My feeling here is that his former boss, Kansas City’s coach, felt bad that he was unemployed. Nagy is going from head coach to Senior Assistant/Quarterbacks Coach. Kansas City doesn’t really need a QB coach with Patrick Mahomes. Like Pace, Nagy will not be making any decisions. Both their careers are spiraling downward.

Chicago still has a hockey team. The Blackhawks are having a hard
time getting rid of the stain from covering up a sexual abuse case. On the ice they are one of the worst teams in the NHL. Former disgraced GM Stan Bowman kept trying to upgrade his defense, paying no attention to the offense. The Hawks have been shut-out 6 times and average less than three goals per game. Bowman’s assistant Kyle Davidson was named interim GM as the Hawks went searching for their next GM. Rather than get fresh eyes on the team they gave the job to Davidson. His first move in rebuilding the Hawks was trading the team’s third best offensive player, Brandon Hagel, for draft picks. What makes this even more stupid is that Hagel is only 23 years old. From the looks of it, the picks will not be high enough and it will take a couple of years before they are ready. This will be my last time talking about the Hawks until they are relevant again.