Bears Shine in the Rain

 

September 12, 2022

The Chicago Bears pulled of a stunning upset over the San Francisco 49ers winning their home opener 19-10. This was a game of two halves in which the Bears came from behind to win. I know it’s only one win but a win is a win.

 The 49ers scored on their first second half possession to go in front 10-0. Bear fans may have been thinking here we go again. However, for the first time in years the coaching staff made halftime adjustments. The Bears only had 68 yards and QB Justin Fields couldn’t complete a downfield pass in the first. Fields had to be better for the Bears to have a chance. His first touchdown pass was a thing of beauty as he broke tackles, reversed fields and found wide receiver Dante Pettis wide open and with a key block from wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown scampered 30 yards into the end zone.

The 49ers committed 12 penalties many resulting in first downs. They committed three third down penalties aiding the Bears next touchdown, an eighteen yard pass to Brown and suddenly the Bears were up 13-10. The Bears later cashed in on a turnover. This short drive ended with Khalil Herbert scoring from five yards out and 19-10 lead.

Another thing we haven’t seen recently is good clock management. The only disconcerting things was Cairo Santos missing 2 point after attempts. David Montgomery averaged 1.5 yards per carry. I don’t how much longer he can be the featured back.

The defense was pretty good in the first half. San Francisco had good field position throughout the first half and the Bears held them to seven points. They staved off disaster causing a fumble at their 10 yard line. The 49ers moved the ball but couldn’t put up any points. It was nice to see the Bears make defense adjustments as well. They starting putting pressure on QB Trey Lance and disguised there defense to confuse the second year QB. This led to a fourth quarter interception by Eddie Jackson, his first since 2019. His return set up the offense for their final score. The defense and poor field conditions shut out the 49ers after the early third period field goal.

This should be a good boost for the Bears. It will take a while to see if they might be better than most thought. Their next game is prime time Sunday in Green Bay against the Packers. The Bears usually embarrass themselves in front of national audiences. The Packers will be seeing red or should I say loaded for bear after getting crushed by Minnesota in their opener.    

Bad News Chicago Bears

 

September 7, 2022It 

After an excruciating play-off loss and three mind numbing seasons, the Bears have pushed the reset button. Since it worked so well in the past, the Bears hired first time GM Ryan Poles and rookie coach Matt Eberflus. One of the most distressing things is Poles is content with Bears being lousy not only this year but next year as well. His roster consists of 10 players who were let go by other teams. Poles filled the roster with second tier players on one or two year contracts.

The Bears have been one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL. With the exception of center Lucas Patrick, Poles did nothing to improve the offense. Justin Fields has all the attributes you need to be a good quarterback, however, he needs some help. New offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said his offense will be focused around the strengths of Fields. One problem that crops up is- who is he going to pass to? The Bears have only one proven receiver, Darnell Mooney.  Tight end Cole Kmet should get some targets. The other big problem is with the porous offensive line, Fields may be running for his life. To show what the Bears think of running back David Montgomery, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, there are no signs that they will re-sign him.

Eberflus is supposed to be a defensive genius and will have to be for the Bears defense to be any good. The Defense will now have four lineman and three linebackers. Robert Quinn will anchor the front four. Trevis Gipson had some good moments last year. Unknowns Al-Quadin Mohammed and Dominique Robinson will be the other two starters. Roquan Smith and Mathew Adams will surround middle linebacker Nicholas Morrow. Eddie Jackson and first pick Jaquan Brisker will start at safety. Brisker has looked pretty good so far. The starting Cornerbacks are Jaylon Johnson and second pick Kyler Gordon. I don’t know how good this defense will be. Eberflus’ goal is to make them respectable.

The Bears special teams is solidified by kicker Cairo Santos. Santos may turn out to be their MVP. Third pick Velus Jones JR. vs. the 49ers front four led by Nick Bosa could make it a rough day for Fields. They were the third best defense last season. The second game is NBC’s game of the week. This does not bode well as the Bears are usually embarrassed on national TV. Their opponents are the Packers in Green Bay so the Bears start 0-2.  The Bears are no shoe-ins when they have weaker opponents. 6-11 sounds right.  

It Can't Get Much Worse

 

August 29, 2022

Losing series to the Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks the White Sox (63-65) are five games back of the Cleveland Guardians. For all intents and purposes the season is all but over. The Sox have been one of the most disappointing teams of my lifetime. Sox fans have a right to be angry including yours truly. What went wrong? Here’s hoping I can answer that.

What was supposed a powerhouse team, the Sox are 27^th   in Home Runs. They have played 50 games by two or less runs. If they were in the middle of the pack, they would be 5 games up in first. This team doesn’t walk either. Most balls in play are ground ball outs.

The Sox are the worst defensive team in baseball. Their fielding percentage would be even worse if not for gift hits by scorekeepers. This what you get when you have first basemen playing the outfield or playing Eloy Jimenez in left. The only players above average are Luis Robert in center, Josh Harrison at second and Yoan Moncada at third.

The Sox at the top of the league in runners thrown out on the bases. Third base coach Joel McEwing sends runners home with no chance of scoring. Tony LaRussa likes his aggressiveness I like aggressiveness but these are this just stupid decisions. Sox runners also never seem to look at defensive positioning affecting their decision making on the base paths.

Sox come out flat and with no fire. This is a direct reflection on curmudgeon manager Tony LaRussa. He   continues to make mistakes. The only time his seems to have fire is in confrontations with reporters in post-game press conferences.

The Chicago Cubs (55-73) have been out of contention since April. However, there is reason for optimism on the North Siders. Since August 5^th   the Cubs are 13-10. Playing well the rest of the year should build confidence heading into next year.

Cub starting pitching has been very good in this stretch. Justin Steele has become one the best left-handers in baseball and should anchor this rotation for yours to come. He will be joined by Keegan Thompson and both can be better next year. Drew Smyly has been surprisingly outstanding and may be pitching himself to be in next year’s rotation. Free agent signee, Marcus Stroman has been a major disappointment and Kyle Hendricks is out for the year. Many pitchers are getting the chance to audition for jobs in 2023. President Jed Hoyer promised the Cubs would be signing free agents. However, the pitching is slim pickings.

The Cubs have to lock up All-Star Ian Happ and shortstop Nico Hoerner and dip into free agency. There is one free agent player who could make your team an instant contender. However, I don’t the Cubs will be in the Aaron Judge sweepstakes. The more intriguing possibility is getting Boston shortstop Xander. Boggaerts and moving Hoerner to second base. The Cubs have many other needs but I don’t think there is very good crop of free agents. The Cubs have a stacked farm system with many players auditioning to see if they can make the team next year Don’t be surprised if the Cubs resign Willson Contreras. This may make fans happy but doesn’t make the team better.

Chicago Baseball Blues

 

July 9, 2022

The White Sox (39-42) are in third place and trail first place Minnesota by six games. I haven’t seen anything to convince me they will win the division. The Sox were supposed to run away and easily win the division. So what happened?

The Sox didn’t start hitting until June. They then started putting up runs in bunches, but this didn’t translate into wins. The problem is they have no power. Home runs exponentially increase the chance of winning games. Jose Abreu leads the team with a mere 10 home runs. One nice thing is Josh Harrison has started hitting, which keeps Leury Garcia out of the line-up. Catchers, Reese McGuire and Seby Zavala, are much better than Yasmani Grandal. Knowing Tony LaRussa, Grandal will be in the line-up when he comes off the IL. They should trade Grandal. As P.T. Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute. 

Dylan Cease has become an elite starter and is worth the price of admission. The other starters have been woefully inconsistent. However, Johnny Cueto is a big upgrade from Dallas Keuchel.

The Sox have also had major injuries but none have hurt as much as injuries in the bullpen. Things seemed to be going smoothly until Aaron Bummer went on the disabled list for the second time and they lost closer Liam Hendriks. The Sox lost two games scoring nine runs and coughed up late leads big and small.

The biggest problem is this is the worst defensive team in baseball. Physical errors, double plays not turned, miscommunication in the outfield and pop-ups dropping between three players. Players are often playing out of position, especially right with two first basemen and Garcia. Dylan Cease had a start where he gave up 6 runs, all unearned.

Tony LaRussa continues to make bad moves leading to Sox losses. The most egregious was his walking Trea Turner with 1-2 count. This move went national and not one person thought this was a good move. When a reporter asked about the move LaRussa’s arrogance came out. His response was, “Are you really asking me that question?” He then went on a rant spewing inaccuracies about what Turner hits with two strikes. The number he should have known is that lefties were hitting .364 against Bennett Sousa. Left handed Max Muncy followed with a three run homer. LaRussa should be fired but like his team, both are going nowhere.

The Cubs (34-48) are playing worse than their low expectations. Despite that, they are seventh in average attendance with the second highest ticket prices. It costs a family of four over $329.00 to attend a game. With the assets surrounding Wrigley, the Ricketts family is making tons of money. With all that money it’s time to loosen up the purse strings and let Jed Hoyer go to work on prime free agents.

Hoyer’s plans to flip players on one year contracts has flopped. Only closer David Robertson has any value to other teams. Because he is 37 years old he'll probably be traded. Also likely to be traded is their best offensive player, catcher, Willson Contreras. The Cubs offense has been crippled by injuries. Nico Hoerner came back and is hitting .304. Nick Madrigal was projected to be the second baseman but he has been on the IL most of the year and was bad when he did play. The Cubs called up Christopher Morel who can play multiple positions which helps when looking for free agents. The other key loss was key free-agent signee Seiya Suzuki.  He has shown some flashes but lost at bats could cripple his development. In the remaining games he can get invaluable experience and put it all together next year.

If there is a positive it is the future of a promising starting rotation. Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson as rookie starters have their ups and downs and should be even better next year.  Caleb Kilian had a couple of starts and showed he has major league stuff. Add a healthy Marcus Stroman and you have a nice starting four.  I also think it’s time to move on regarding Kyle Hendricks. You can probably get a nice return. Then you get a quality free-agent starter.

The Rebuild Begins Despite Jed Hoyer's Rebuild Denial

 

May 24, 2022

The Chicago Cubs (17-24) are playing as expected. There are a lot of holes that need to be filled. It may take some time, but President Jed Hoyer has done a good job stocking the minors. In the coming months, you may be seeing the future Cubs. Inconsistency has been a major problem.

Hoyer’s biggest free agent signing was Japanese superstar Seiya Suzuki. He lit the world on fire at the start of season and was April’s rookie of the month. He has since fallen on hard times. Pitchers make adjustments and word spread on how to get him out. He is also seeing pitches he’s never encountered. A good example is the ease in which White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito got him out with his deadly change-up. Good hitters adjust and figure out how pitchers are trying to get them out. Being a rookie, it sometimes takes till the end of this or the next season to become acclimated to major league pitching. One thing he has that many rookies don’t, is a great knowledge of the strike zone.  I hate to be a downer but I can only think of two players, Ichiro Suzuki and currently Shohei Ohtani who have had success after playing in Japan.

What was unexpected was the Cubs relievers having more success than the starters. Kyle Hendricks is no longer an elite starter. Although he can be good at times, he has had as many awful starts. He has struggled and put the Cubs behind the eight ball. Hoyer should deal him before you can’t get a big return. Hoyer’s other free agent was pitcher Marcus Stroman who is battling illnesses and his starts have been inconsistent. Drew Smyly had a couple of good starts before coming off the rails, while the jury is still out on Wade Miley. The future lies with Justin Steele. He keeps getting better in his first year as starter and should be the ace of the staff next year. The Cubs do have some reinforcements in Iowa. It shouldn’t be long before the Cubs call up 25 year old Caleb Kilian, who is 2-1 with a 1.31 era.  Next year Keegan Thompson needs to be stretched to join the rotation. 

The Cubs bullpen has been outstanding. They have excellent set-up men for rejuvenated closer David Robertson, who has 6 saves and 1.78 era. Set-up men Keegan Thompson, Rowan Wick and Scott Effross have a combined 1.58 era. Chris Martin, Jesse Chavez are two more reliable set-up men.

The Cubs scored 21 runs against the Pirates, otherwise the offense has been as pathetic as the White Sox. The best hitter on the team is catcher Willson Contreras. Right now he is a little banged up and Yan Gomes is catching. Gomes is not part of the future so I’m wondering why recently called up Brandon Hughes is not catching. The Yankees are looking for catching and could land Contreras at the trade deadline. It may not end up being the Yankees, but he’s almost certain to be gone.  The Cubs have much of the season without their double play combination most of the year. Shortstop Nico Hoerner and second baseman Nick Madrigal were expected to be table setters but have been out most of the season and David Bote’s career is in jeopardy. I didn’t expect first baseman Frank Schwindel to be the hitter he was last year but not as bad as .226. Only an injury kept him from being sent down. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom has nine homers in only 126 at-bats.  He also has struck out a whopping 56 times. Ian Happ in leftfield is having a typical Ian Happ season. His numbers are never overwhelming but he is one of the Cubs most consistent hitters.

One of the Cubs main objectives should be to get younger. Therefore, it was good to bring up Christopher Morel. Morel will turn 23 in June and is filling a hole at second base. When Nick Madrigal comes back, Manager David Ross has to realize that Morel is a better option in centerfield than Jason Heyward. It will be interesting to see if the players Hoyer got in last year’s blockbuster trades pan out.

The Underachieving White Sos

 

May 24, 2022

The labor strife between players and owners shortened spring training. Many early games were postponed or played in frigid temperatures. Despite this many teams have played ¼ of the season. This includes the White Sox and Cubs whose seasons can be described with one word, BRUTAL!

The White Sox (21-20) have not looked like a team capable of reaching the World Series. They trail Minnesota by four games. There is plenty of time left so it’s not time to panic. They are a tad over .500 despite a nine game losing streak. A double header sweep of the Yankees has cushioned the blow of a bad start.

Like last year, the Sox have been besieged by injuries. Before the season started Garrett Crochet needed Tommy John surgery and is out for the year. There number one starter from last year, Lance Lynn also came up with a sore arm and isn’t projected to back until June. Yoan Moncada missed the first 27 games and still is trying to get back to the player he was in 2019. The season started with pitcher Lucas Gioito got hurt after 4 innings in the opener and missed two starts. A. J. Pollock, Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez  all got hurt running to first. Pollock went the 10 day IL, Robert missed 7games and Jimenez is out until sometime in June.   Finally Andrew Vaugh was having a good year until he was hit by a pitch causing him to miss 12 games and is just getting back in the groove.

Like last year the White Sox are one of the worst defensive team. It’s not only errors but there are a lot plays that should be made that are ruled hits or not completing sure double plays. Winning becomes more difficult when your opponents are getting four outs per inning In a loss, Cleveland aided by two errors scored six runs to tie the game in the ninth and won the game in the tenth. Tony LaRussa said they didn’t lose because of the defense.

The Sox have had many managers including the confused Terry Bevington and the comatose Robin Ventura. No one has been worse than LaRussa. Managers don’t win or lose games however most know what to do to give their team the best chance at winning. LaRussa makes many bad decisions that figure into games. Now I could write a three page blog and it still wouldn’t cover his blunders. I will give you a couple and move on. When a team slumping at the plate managers like to shake up the line-up. However, anyone who would put Leury Garcia in the third spot has to have the head examined.  In a tie game the opposing pitcher is struggling. With runners on first and second, LaRussa calls for a bunt. Taking the bat out the hands of their best hitter the Guardians walk Tim Anderson.

The best thing the Sox have going for them is starting pitching. Dylan Cease has developed into an elite starter. He had one hiccup against the Yankees. He is 4-1 with a 3.09 era and leads the league in strikeouts. Michael Kopeck last pitched seven scoreless against the Yankees and his 1.24 era is the second best in the league. When healthy Giolito can be really good No one has a change up like his.GM Rick Hahn made a great move signing Johnny Cueto.  He’s had two starts of six innings and has not been scored upon. When Lynn comes the Sox don’t have to start Dallas Keuchel. The bullpen has been shaky but maybe turning the corner as they stronger and the weather gets warmer.

The biggest problem is the White Sox aren’t hitting. Three players in the line-up have averages below .100 . Tim Anderson. Robert and Vaughn are the only hitters having decent years. Jose Abreu is hitting .214 but has always been a warm weather hitter. Yasmani Grandal is hitting below.200.  without the walks.  LaRussa keeps him in the heart of the line-up. Can anyone explain the fascination with Garcia ?    

Exciting Bulls Relevant Again

 

April 29, 2022

In the first round of the playoffs, led by Demar DeRozan’s 41 points, the Bulls upset the Milwaukee Bucks in game two. The Bulls had wrestled home court advantage with this road win. Later it was learned that all-star Kris Middleton was injured and would not return. This actually helped the Bucks, as they inserted Bobby Portis to join Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounm up front. The Bulls were completely
outsized. This, combined with poor perimeter shooting gave the Bulls no chance. Giannis is going to dominate most games, but it was arch enemy Grayson Allen’s sharpshooting that doomed the Bulls as they were blown out in the last three games. However, gaining experience in the playoffs is a big positive.

The loss in the playoffs shouldn’t overshadow the fine season. The Bulls improved, posting 46 wins, compared to 31 wins last year, and were a 6 seed in the playoffs. If they don’t get beset by injuries, they win 50 games and they get a 1 or 2 seed. The future looks bright and I’m confident that President of Basketball Operations, Arturas Karnisovas, will fortify this team in the off season.

The Bulls immediately get better as forward Patrick Williams becomes a starter. Lonzo Bell should eventually heal from his injury to facilitate their offense. Rookie Ayo Dosunmu was better than expected and should improve. Alex Caruso will be the leader of a tenacious defense. Center Nicola Vucevic was inconsistent most of the year. He is a terrific post-up player, the problem is he spends the majority of
possessions on the outside where his shooting is dismal. You wouldn’t get much in a trade so he stays.

DeMar DeRozen posted the best scoring average in his career. Late game heroics and clutch fourth quarter scoring propelled the Bulls to many victories. However, I cringe every time he brings the ball up court. He is not very good and you know that the play call is for him to dribble to his deadly mid- range shot. The problem here is that he is not a three point shooter, so he can’t pull up or step back. He often gets double teamed because he doesn’t get rid of the ball. Add to that he turns the ball over multiple times. The Bulls desperately need a lights out 3 point shooter and I would trade DeRozen in a heartbeat for that type of player.

The biggest question is do you sign Zach LaVine to a max contract? LaVine is a prolific scorer and improved his defense. His ball handling still leaves much to be desired and he commits multiple turnovers. He, for the most part, disappeared in the playoffs. There are other issues surrounding LaVine. Due to injury, he sat out two games, but selfishly participated in the all-star game. He likely will be having surgery to repair his leg and knee injuries. It would prudent for Karnasovas to see who else is available to replace LaVine before giving him a max contract.