April 9,
2020
The world of
sports may have stopped but there has been news looking forward. Golf’s Masters
Tournament has been rescheduled for November. Wimbledon tennis has been
canceled, so I’ll just have to settle for the movie
.
The NFL is
looking to start up in September or October. The Bears starting quarterback
should be Nick Foles. He is already familiar with Coach Matt Nagy’s offense and
so is the rest of the league because he calls pass plays 70-80% of the time. In
the second game, Charles Leno Jr. misses his block and Foles gets sacked and
injured. Mitch Trubisky replaces him and has MVP season leading the Bears to
the watered down NFL Playoffs. Fairy tales can come true…
Baseball is
looking at a 100 game season, which is good news for the Cubs. A decreased
schedule could be a benefit for the aging Jon Lester. Jose Quintana may also
rebound after faltering last September. He went winless and had an ERA over
11.00. That figure may not indicate how bad he was, however 38 hits in 18
innings does. Games being only seven innings is another option being discussed.
This could lessen the appearances of Craig Kimbrel. You can’t have a one inning
closer with a 6.58 ERA. He gave up nine home runs in just a little bit over 20
innings.
The biggest
problem could be that MLB is looking at playing games at neutral sites.
Therefore, the Cubs don’t get the advantage they have at Wrigley Field. You can
take solace that they probably won’t have a September collapse.
Though the
shortened season may stunt the growth of top prospects Luis Robert and Mick
Madrigal, the White Sox have enough
talent to contend. In a short season you can’t have too much pitching. Michael Kopech should be ready to go and
Carlos Rodon will return batting sometime in August. The line-up is filled with
speed and power. They have the major league leader in average in Tim Anderson.
Yoan Moncada will be in the conversation when talking about the best third basemen.
These two also possess blazing speed. Jose Abreu, who hit 33 home runs and led the league with 123 RBI is joined with
power hitting free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal and DH Edwin Encarnacion. I believe Eloy Jimenez will put up MVP type
stats.
The NHL and
NBA are looking to resume the season. They may not finish the season and start
with the playoffs. With no fans, the
major reason for continuing is TV money. The play will probably look sub-par. As usual the Blackhawks and Bulls won’t be
involved. They should cancel the season. That would make it extra special when
the games return.
When the
Blackhawks return, they will have the dilemma that Corey Crawford is a
free-agent. The Hawks should coax Tony Esposito and Murray Bannerman out of
retirement to share the goaltending duties. Training camp will start by getting
players in shape, skating from the defensive zone to center ice to practice
dumping the puck. Scrimmage fools the Hawks that this a good strategy because
their defense can’t clear the zone. In the regular season, more often than not,
they turn the puck over. Skating and passing to get into the offensive end and
winning scrums and making good passes to get out of their own end should be
their top priorities.
The Bulls
have hired Arturas Karnisovas, well respected General Manager of the Denver
Nuggets to replace John Paxson as Vice-President of Basketball Operations. It’s
about time. The most pleasant surprise is that a Reinsdorf owned team went
outside the organization for a replacement. His first order of business will be
hiring a GM to be his right-hand man. The next move is firing Coach Jim Boylen.
Anyone not in a coma would be a better
option. Next move is to open talks with the teams who have the top three picks
in the draft. Hold on to Coby White and Lauri Markkanen and offer them your
first round pick plus any four players on the roster. I’m not sure if teams
would make this trade but it’s worth try. Does Phil Jackson want to coach again?
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