Baseball 2018

March 27, 2018

With the Blackhawks sinking further into their abyss and the Bulls trying to lose, thank you Loyola for giving Chicago and the fans something to root for.  The next best thing is the crack of the bat, ball hitting leather and the start of the baseball season.

Although Milwaukee and St. Louis may have improved, they can fight for the wild card as the Cubs once again will easily win this division. Along with the Astros, this team is the model everyone is trying to copy. Their window keeps getting wider thanks to Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. The questions marks from last season have been answered. You lose Jake Arrietta and Todd Lackey, and get better acquiring Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood to complete the best pitching staff in baseball. The leadoff hitter situation has been solved with Ian Happ. After Happ are Bryant, Rizzo and Contreras, all of whom are capable of hitting 30 home runs. I also predict a big year for Kyle Schwarber. In what was supposed to be a bad year, including a trip to the minors, he hit 30 home runs. Expect this number to go way up. Javier Baez may not know the strike zone yet still managed to hit 23 home runs. Whatever deficiencies Addison Russell may have at the plate, his defense makes up for it. Same goes for Heyward who is just keeping the seat warm for Bryce Harper. If there are any questions it will be in the bullpen. Barring a barrage of injuries they will make a run in the post season where hopefully Joe Madden doesn’t do his usual bad managing act in October. However, since teams don’t usually win 2 championships in a row, the Cubs may get their second this year.

It doesn't look like the White Sox will be very good, nor will they lose 95 games. There are just too many question marks to be overly optimistic. They only have three players coming off good years. Jose Abreu has been nothing short of spectacular, while Avi Garcia and newly acquired catcher Welington Castillo will try to repeat last year.  Where you’re hoping to see improvement is in the middle. Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson both have great upsides. You just never know how long the process reaching that will take.  One big difference is they finally have a good DH in Matt Davidson. With a year under his belt and playing every day he could be real good with 30 homer potential. He may end up being the third baseman. I don’t think you can rely on Sanchez. Nicky Delmonico can also play third. If not he will be displaced in left when they call up Eloy Jimenez. I can’t remember the last time the opening centerfielder was the same two years in a row.  Adam Engel does not instill confidence. It’s a shame when James Shields is your opening day starter. The hope is he pitches well enough to be traded for prospects. More likely, he’ll be replaced when they call up Michael Kopech. The rest of the starters, being young, are going to have their ups and downs but looked good last September. The biggest weakness is the bullpen. For closers, Sorria hasn’t been good in years. The other option, Nate Jones needs to come in with no one on base since he has control issues. All the returning relievers couldn’t even get me out. Things could get interesting and fun to watch.  Seventy five wins seems about right.

Sayonara Blackhawks

February 15, 2018

In what used to be an exciting time of the year, the Blackhawks have skated themselves into oblivion. They have looked bad, barely having a pulse. You can use the absence of goalie Corey Crawford as an excuse, however there is a myriad of other reasons why this season turned sour.

Last year after getting swept out the playoffs in the first round, General Manager Stan Bowman was pissed off. He vowed there would be changes. He fired an assistant coach and then hit the trade market.

Two time 30 goal scorer Artemi Panarin was traded for former Blackhawk Brandon Saad. No matter who has skated with Patrick Kane this year they haven’t been able to replace his scoring. Saad is not the same player he was in his when he left the Hawks. He has moved up and down in the line-up rotation once ending up on the fourth line.  The idea was he would make Jonathan Toews better. Well Toews hasn’t been good for three years. This was clearly evident by his disappearing act the last two times they made the playoffs. Teams don’t win many games with only two goals. The fact that Tommy Wingels is on the first line says it all.

The best defenseman on the team, Niklas Hjalmarsson, was traded for Connor Murphy. He is one of the many defenseman who has been a healthy scratch multiple times. Often when he plays he makes mistakes allowing opponents to score. As a whole, the defense has been terrible. The contract Bowman gave Seabrook makes him unmovable. Speed is a real problem, especially when he gets beat down the ice negating an icing infraction. It seems that logging too many minutes and age have caught up to Duncan Keith. He looks slower and continually gives up pucks in his own end. Trevor van Riemstyk is probably better than the majority of the defense but was left unprotected and drafted.

I’m afraid to see what Bowman is going to do. He must be really pissed at missing the playoffs. Bowman has made some good moves over the years. He has brought in rent-a-players that have helped the Hawks win Stanley Cups. However, it should be noted that the core group that won these cups was put together by Dale Tallon. Can Stan Bowman trade or fire himself?

Quick Hits – Great Super Bowl. I thought the Eagles had a chance. The key play, 4^th down option at the one yard line, was eerily similar to a Bears 2 point conversion. Given that chance in the Super Bowl, John Fox would have gone for the field goal. Baseball anyone?      

Winter Sports Bits and Pieces

For the most part, the NFL playoffs were fun to watch. The Philadelphia Eagles as underdogs won both of their games. They scored at random against the league’s best defense in mauling Minnesota.  Tom Brady showed he still has the magic touch, guiding his team from a fourth quarter 10 point deficit to victory. Although this may not be the match-up you wanted or you hate Brady and the Patriots, I believe the Eagles have a chance at another upset. Then again Tom Brady….

Two coaching candidates the Bears talked to were hired, Pat Shurmur to the Giants and Josh McDaniels to the Colts. They have much more experience calling offensive plays (more than five games). Either they didn’t want the Bears job or wanted to weigh their options. The impatient Bears hired the first guy who would say yes, Mike Nagy. They say that football causes serious injuries and concussions. Brain damage is found when you examine the Bears organization. 

I saw the Bulls introduce a starting line-up with Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine, the Bulls future. The Bulls went 2-1, the loss being competitive against the Golden State Warriors. With Dunn out with a concussion, the offense has sputtered. Aside from Makkanen’s double double games, too many quick shots and turnovers have become a big problem. Off the bench Mirotic went back to his normal inconsistency. Valentine hits shots, launches bad shots and can’t do much else. When the Bulls need a defensive stop, Hoiberg replaces Valentine with Nwaba.  As far as defense goes, the Bulls have been awful since Tom Thibodeau was replaced by Hoiberg.

The Blackhawks are in danger of not making the playoffs. Four points and four teams in front stand in the way of a wild card spot. Therefore, they have to start playing their asses off and hope the teams in front of them struggle. From what I’ve seen, this seems unlikely. What’s frustrating is aside from Crawford being out it’s hard to pin point the problem. Can Saad with Kane be like Panarin and Kane? Will the Toews line wake up? The Hawks have a few good young players but they don’t seem to be goal scorers. If they don’t make the playoffs will Stan Bowman start a rebuild? This has become the rage for Chicago teams.

Take heart, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a couple of weeks.

Blackhawk Blues

January 18, 2018

In the most recent past, the Chicago Bears have been really awful and the Bulls-bad. Chicago sports fans have always found winter solace in the Blackhawks. This year, not so much. The Hawks are just trying to make the playoffs. I know there are many games left, however the way they have been playing, it doesn’t look like good times are ahead. Although they have had two disappointing first round exits, the seasons had excitement and hope. This year there is just despair with little hope. They are in 11^th place 3 points out of a wild card spot.

It’s going to be extremely difficult if Corey Crawford doesn’t come back, which seems more likely with each passing day. He can be counted on to keep you in and win games. Without him the current goalies, Forsberg and Glass, are 5-4-1. They are not the only reason for this record but I believe with Crawford it would be better. Back in 2010 the goalie was Antti Niemi. He did an admiral job. What made him good was the Hawks puck possession and limiting shots on goal. It doesn’t look like they repeat that as puck possession has gone way down and they have problems keeping the puck in the opponents' end of the ice.

Another bad omen is the Hawks are terribly inconsistent. One night they beat first place Winnipeg and then in what was the lowlight of the year, losing 4-0 against a bad Detroit team. It’s always one step forward two steps back. If this continues and they don’t put together a winning streak, they will miss the playoffs. That winning streak scenario looks highly in doubt.

Another ailment is the Hawks run into scoring difficulties. Even the power play just sucks. They pass it around too much and usually end up with an errant Duncan Keith shot.  At one point I thought the offense was bad because they had to help out in their own zone.  Now I’m not so sure, but wouldn’t better fore checking and puck possession ease the defensive load and lead to less scoring opportunities for their opponents? The Toews and Saad combination isn’t clicking and they can’t find a third lineman. Only Kane keeps scoring while missing injured Anisimov. At this point Panarin or Saad?

With a plethora of defensemen Coach Q can’t seem to find the right pairings. What makes it difficult is there are a lot of young evenly talented players who tend to make mistakes. The biggest bugaboo is getting the puck out of their zone. Sometimes it’s an offensive player helping out or one of the young defensemen. What’s extremely maddening is Duncan Keith continues to lose the puck in his own zone.  As far as helping out the offense, the overpaid and slow Brent Seabrook has only 2 goals, Keith has zero. Not to get too down on Keith, he does have 22 assists and for the most part plays respectable defense.

So there you have it. When GM Bowman was pissed about getting bounced out in the first round of the playoffs he vowed changes. What will he do if they miss the playoffs?

Matt Nagy: Bears New Head Coach

January 9, 2018

The Chicago Bulls, though getting better, are basically a bad team. The Blackhawks, who usually provide Chicago with championship hopes are sputtering. With their most important player Corey Crawford out, making the playoffs is the one goal. Leave it to the Bears to grab the headlines and take our eyes off the winter warriors of the United Center.

The Bears search for the 16^th coach in history ended after one week of what was to be an extensive search. They did connect with 6 candidates, although only four were truly under consideration. They were all offensive coordinators whose main focus should be to develop Mitchell Trubisky.

Let’s look at the candidates. The Vikings' Pat Shurmur developed an unknown quarterback, Casey Keenum, to lead a very good offense. His hiring would also take something away from a division rival. Patriots' Josh McDaniels has previous coaching experience and oversaw the explosive Patriots offense. Eagles coordinator John DeFilippo developed second year quarterback Chris Wentz into one of the best in the NFL. He is in the picture when it comes to MVP voting.

If any of these three wanted the job, they were all better choices than Matt Nagy. Two of the other candidates developed a quarterback and the third grew with Tom Brady. There is no evidence to show Nagy can do this. His quarterback Alex Smith has been around since 2005, so no development was needed. His experience is limited to calling plays for a total of five games. Although they did average 28 points in those games, he was inept in his last game. He couldn’t put together any plays to score one point in the second half loss to Tennessee. Granted, he lost a key player, the team he is coming to loses multiple players.

In the long run, the coach doesn’t matter. In his introduction Nagy said he’s going to evaluate his players. What he’ll find is a lack of talent. They can’t catch passes or play on the offensive line, both of which are greatly needed for Trubisky to get better. However, you never know. The Bears might win six games next year.

Epitaph for John Fox

January 1, 2018

Na Na Na Na,  Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey good bye. After another bad loss which included 10 penalties for over 100 yards, John Fox was finally axed. Even for a lame organization like the Bears, this was a no-brainer. In three seasons under Fox the Bears underachieved. In his first two seasons he had trouble with clock management, play calling, multiple mishaps etc. The moves he made this year ensure his place in the Museum of Stupidity.

Challenging plays was never a strong suit, but Fox reached new heights when he challenged that Benny Cunnningham stayed in bounds. He won the challenge not noticing there was a fumble in the end zone that turned the ball over. My next favorite is not giving his team a chance of winning by not letting San Francisco score in the closing minutes of the game. The explanation is as laughable as it is sad. “I thought we would block the field goal attempt” which was with less yardage than an extra point. There were also numerous instances of fourth downs with a yard or less to go and he sends the punting on the field. He once sent the punting team in on third down and his team had delay of game penalty on an extra point.  I’m not quite sure that he can teach them to avoid penalties, however he should have made them a point of interest during the season to decrease the amount.

This is a team with few assets thanks to GM Ryan Pace. Remember his big free agent signing Mike Glennon proclaimed this was his year. Well that lasted all of four games. He went into the season letting Alshon Jeffries go, having Cam Meredith and the always injured Kevin Smith as his receivers. Both being lost to injuries, the backup corps was the worst in the league. Aside from Aikeem Hicks and Danny Trevathan his other free agents haven’t panned out. To save his job he drafted what is supposed to be a franchise quarterback. If that doesn’t pan out he too will be shown the exit door at Halas Hall.

Can this team get better? Not in the near future as there are too many holes and uncertainties. One thing paramount is to stay healthy. This has become a big problem the last few seasons. On the defensive side in the secondary, only Eddie Jackson is sure to come back.  Kyle Fuller, who had a great year and Prine Amukamara are free agents. They need a linebacker or two and an outside pass rusher as well.

The offense was in a state of confusion most of the year. With the minimal talent they were able to win a couple of games with a punt fake and halfback option. However, after those victories Coordinator Dowell Loggains would script the first 15-20 plays and get lost the rest of the game. The play calling became predictable and easy to defend. Injuries ravaged the offensive lie. With three starters out the strength of running the ball went south. They have to draft more depth to not only run the ball but protect the most important player, Mitch Trubisky. By the way, getting him someone to throw to would be a good idea.

There are many candidates for a new coach. The only thing I know is he must be the best choice in developing Trubisky and will be better than Fox. The problem is if they don't improve the talent no coach will be able to win with the current roster.   

Bulls: Fun to Watch Again

December 22, 2017

Last night the Bulls lost to Lebron James and his merry men. While I fully expected them to lose it was a thrilling game. Even when they went down 10 points and I thought they were going to lose big, they came back. This was when I realized the Bulls have been fun to watch. Before this game they had followed a 10 game losing streak with a 7 game winning streak. I’m not saying they will reach the playoffs, that’s not the plan. However, developing young talent is. Yet, there has to be a reason they are playing well.

When I last posted an article pertaining to the Bulls, I suggested they move Kris Dunn to starting point guard, which they did. He has directed the team extremely well, driving to the basket, dishing out assists and has a very good medium range jumper. He also plays great defense. You can see why he was the fourth overall pick last year. The main things he needs to work on is cutting down turnovers and developing a 3 point shot.

The seventh overall pick, 7-foot Lauri Markkanen started out like gangbusters hitting 3’s. I think that fatigue and back spasms have slowed him down. Plus the other teams are taking notice of what he does and how to defend him. That’s why it was nice to see him score 25 points last night with only one 3 pointer while attacking the basket. He rebounds and plays pretty good defense for a first year player.

Nikola Mirotic has been playing like the Bulls thought he would. Although most of his shots are 3 pointers, I’ve seen him score from close to the basket. His defense and rebounding have also greatly improved. He may be attractive to some teams come trading time. If they do, they will use an improved Bobby Portis off the bench. Please no more Paul Zipser.

As far as the rest of the team. Robin Lopez is serviceable, but probably not in the rebuilding plan. Denzel Valentine can be really good or really bad. His defense is more consistent as it’s always bad. Same goes for Justin Holiday.

The real hope for the future is the third player in the Butler trade, Zach LeVine, whose return is expected in January. You also get a lottery pick. I’m shocked to see how this team has bought into Hoiberg's system. Coaching (e.g Dunn’s shot) and good practices can go a long way.

Or not, last night the Bulls lost to the Boston Celtics 117-92.