Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jack

 March 26, 2021

Baseball’s opening day is less than a week away. I have never been more excited about a White Sox season. My optimism was tempered by the season ending injury to Eloy Jimenez. After appearing in 177 games, he was looking to become one of the game’s most prolific sluggers. I have always made predictions that have been wrong due to injuries, which are a part of the game. This is far worse than Kyle Schwarber missing the 2016 season. He came back and was a big contributor to the Cubs' post-season success.

Last year the White Sox led the league in home runs, slugging percentage and were second to the Yankees in runs scored. This will be hard to top without Jimenez in the middle of the
line-up. However, the Sox have many other hitters to score enough runs for their pitchers. Tim Anderson is the catalyst of this team.  Anderson, who missed time on the DL, finished second in batting average and led the league in runs scored. He is capable of showing more power. The Sox also have MVP Jose Abreu. There are two players to watch who can pick up the void left by Jimenez. Yoan Moncado was plagued with the virus last year. Sox fans hope he returns to 2019 form when he was the team’s best hitter, including 26 home runs. Phenom Luis Robert is just scratching the surface. He should get better and better as the season progresses and has massive power.

The White Sox traded for starting pitcher Lance Lynn, solidifying their starting rotation. He joins Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel, all of whom received votes for the Cy Young award. Fourth starter Dylan Cease has the stuff and just needs more command to become really good. Carlos Rodon is healthy and has had a nice camp. Projected future starters Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet have been added to one of baseball’s best bullpens. The Sox acquired the top closer, Liam Hendricks, who will be set up by Aaron Bummer, one of the best left-handed relievers around.

The White Sox’ new manager is Hall-of Famer Tony LaRussa. Some people were not happy with this choice.  However, I guarantee he will be much more strategically sound than previous manager Ricky Renteria. You can see this in exhibitions with Abreu batting third instead of fourth.  All they need to do is hire a personal chauffeur.

The best thing going for the Cubs is that they play in baseball’s worst division. The winner of this division will have a season where everything goes right. This being the case, the Cubs may wind up in the playoffs.

For the Cubs to be successful, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant have to hit much better than last year. The rest of the team looks more solid than at the start of last year. Centerfielder Ian Happ had a breakout season. He will give the Cubs the lead-off hitter they’ve been looking for since Dexter Fowler. Justin Heyward, although not the player the Cubs were envisioning, has put together his best seasons as a Cub. Catcher Wilson Contreras had an up and down year. The Cubs will need more consistency, especially now that they have lost back-up Victor Caratini. Free agent, Joc Pederson may have a little less power but will strike out less than Schwarber. Just like Schwarber, he hasn’t proven he can hit left-handed pitching, but he’ll get  a chance. Make no mistake about it, if the three core players don’t rebound, the Cubs won’t make it to the post-season.

The Cubs’ pitching staff always was the best in the division, now it is just mediocre. Number one starter Kyle Hendricks continues to be an elite pitcher. There is nothing flashy, he just gets outs. The Cubs traded for Zach Davies, who has been pretty good but not in the same category as Yu Darvish. After that it’s a crapshoot. Jake Arrieta will try to resurrect his career. Trevor Williams is a big question mark, as is Adbert Alzolay. If any of these falter, Alec Mills will step in. The Cubs once again will turn to Craig Kimbrel as their closer. He seemed to regain his fastball and was good in the second half of last year. Getting to him may be a problem. Brandon Workman, Rowan Wick are possible set-up men. They also brought back Pedro Strop.

Tom Ricketts believes he has a free pass with Cub fans after winning the 2016 World Series. Now it’s just about the money. He has a plethora of players on one year contracts. The Cubs traded away their best pitcher to cut costs. Ricketts talks about “biblical losses” and it’s been said that even if Rizzo, Baez and Bryant have career years, they would not be able to afford to resign all three. This is laughable as the Cubs are worth $3.2 BILLION. Even if the Cubs incur a luxury tax fine, this is pocket change for the Ricketts.

March Madness

 

March 15, 2021 

After being canceled last year the NCAA tournament is back with a whole different look than in previous years. There is no Duke, Kentucky or Louisville in the field. For me, this is the most exciting event in the world of sports. The buzzer beaters, drama and upsets; I can’t wait for this to start.  

I always make my picks in reverse. There are about eight teams that are far superior to the remaining teams. Therefore, a majority of my final eight picks are 1 and two seeds.  This is low risk prognostications. 1-4 seeds usually win their first round games. In previous years, there have been many upsets of 12 seeds beating number 5 seeds. In 2018 this happened 3 times. Here are some upsets you may want to consider in the first round:

UCSB (12) vs. Creighton (5)

Oregon St. (12) vs. Tennessee (5)

Georgetown (12) vs. Colorado (5)

Maryland (11) vs. UConn (7)

Rutgers (10) vs. Clemson (7)

There is a local flavor in this area with number one seed Illinois and Loyola. Loyola was the Cinderella team in 2018 making it to the final four. Loyola may have a tough time getting by Georgia Tech, winners of eight straight. If they do win, they’ll have the unenviable task of facing Illinois. Illinois and Gonzaga are the hottest teams. Illinois first big test will be their third opponent, Oklahoma St. The Cowboys have NBA’s number one pick Cade Cunningham and the team deserved better than a number 4 seed. Next up would be number 2 seed Houston, who was 24-3. Should Illinois survive they will probably get Baylor in the semi-finals.  

I haven’t seen much of Gonzaga and going 26-0 is nothing to sneeze at. However, they won’t be playing teams like St. Mary’s Pacific or Dixie State. The Western Conference they play in could be the worst in the NCAA. However, they have the easiest path to the final four. Iowa, whom they beat 99-88, is the number 2 seed and may get another chance if they get past Oregon.

In recent memory, all number 1 seeds don’t reach the final four.  Michigan has not been playing well as of late. They have lost three of their last four. They will also be without senior leader Isiah Livers. I predict they miss the final four, losing to Florida State or Alabama.

With easier paths, number one seed Baylor should face off against number 2 seed Ohio State for a birth in the final four. Ohio State has played pretty well in the rough and tough Big Ten Conference. Baylor is an excellent team and probably too much for the Buckeyes to handle.

 These predictions will probably go haywire. There are always teams that bust your bracket. That’s the fun of this tournament.

Hawks, Bulls Trending Upwards While Bears are a Mess

 

March 8. 2021

The Bears are still looking for a quarterback. I have been saying this for over 50 years. Reports have them all in on Seattle QB Russell Wilson. Problem is Seattle is not about to trade him. They are also reported to be all in on Houston’s Deshaun Watson. This would probably take three first round draft picks. The Bears have so many other needs this may not be prudent.  So what is the plan? Knowing Pace and Nagy, I don’t think they have one. The Jets’ Sam Darnold may be available. That doesn’t thrill me much. Alex Smith is available. Working with Nagy in Kansas City, he knows the system. How did Chase Daniel and Nick Foles? Having the 20^th pick in the draft, the General Manager would have to be very creative to move up to draft one of the top quarterbacks left in the draft. Don’t look now because they may bring back Mitch Trubisky.

The Blackhawks just finished a three game series against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.  The first two games were both extremely entertaining with each team winning in overtime. The hawks coughed up a three goal lead losing the last game 6-3. This is not the same team that lost 5-1 and 5-2 against the Lightning to start the season. The Hawks may be the biggest surprises in the league. Patrick Kane is still one of the top players and Alex DeBrincat is scoring goals in bunches. I like the development I’m seeing in the young players. I’m wondering how much better they would be with Kirby Dach and Jonathon Toews. Dach is out with an injury and there have been no updates on Toews’ mysterious ailment.

At the all-star break, the Bulls are 16-18. While this may not seem like much, this a major improvement from the past 5 years. They haven’t plated this well since Tom Thibodeau was their coach (2010-2015). The new regime led by Arturas Karnisovas hired Billy Donovan, a proven winner, to coach. He has the task of teaching this team how to win. Since stumbling out of the gate with two lopsided losses they have played .500 ball. They have been in most games but have had trouble in the closing moments. This is the sign of a very young team, and eventually they will get better.  The other problem is with Lauri Markkanen injured; they are looking for a third scoring option. Coby White and Wendell Carter Jr. have to become more consistent. They still need one star to join Zach LaVine to be more competitive. The Bulls have gotten a big lift from Thadeus Young off the bench. This should improve his trade value and maybe provide a combination of draft picks to move up to get an elite college player in the next draft

Blackhawks Rejuvination

 

February 19, 2021

The Blackhawks started the season 0-4. They had given up 5 goals in each game. They were getting no offensive production. I was sure this was going to be a lost season and I was ready to place the blame on President Stan Bowman, who is the top decision maker. Lo and behold, the rebuild seems to be working. The Hawks are now on a roll. They are tied for first place and the prospects Bowman acquired are young and improving.

The biggest turn around has come on defense. They had 4 returning defensemen from last year. Connor Murphy, Calvin de Hann, and Duncan Keith who at age 37 is still pretty good. They brought up Adam Boqvist, who is only 20 years old. They have added Ian Mitchell (age 22), Nicholas Beudin (age 21) and Nikiita Zadarov (age 25). This group not only plays good defense, they are capable of skating the puck up the ice and getting involved in the offense. They also settled on rookie Kevin Lankinen as their goalie. He has been nothing short of spectacular. 

The season ending injury to Kirby Dach and the mysterious ailment of Jonathon Toews has put a cramp in the Blackhawks’ offense.  For this team to have continued success they have to score more. One positive is that they have one of the topped ranked power plays. Patrick Kane is still one of the best players in the NHL. After a down year Alex DeBrincat, has regained his scoring touch, leading the team in goals. Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik are also capable of adding some offense.  The Hawks do have a group of young offensive players, who are starting to play really well. They should get even better as the season moves along. Players you should get to know are Brandon Hagel (age 22), Philipp Kurashev (age 21) Pius Suter (age 24) and Lucas Wallmark (age 25).

As you see, I am stressing the youth movement. All these young players have the potential to be stars or at the least be very good players. The future looks bright and if all continues to go well, the Blackhawks will be playing in the playoffs again.

A Not So Super Bowl

 

·         February 8, 2020

The NFL deserves a lot of credit for navigating through the coronavirus pandemic. Although there were some hiccups along the way, all teams completed a 16 game season. I’m not a proponent of expanding the playoffs. However, it was fun to have the opportunity to watch 6 playoff games in two days. It’s too bad the season ended with a thud. It what was supposed to be the game for the ages, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pummeled the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9.

Tom Brady may be the greatest quarterback of all time. Last year Tampa Bay didn’t make the playoffs. Brady led them to the Super Bowl, ending the season with 8 consecutive victories. Brady was named the game’s MVP. I thought the award should have been gone to the defense. They held the league’s most prolific offense to three measly field goals.  Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes probably had the worst game of his career, running for his life most of the game.

The Chiefs made tons of mistakes helping the Bucs win handily. Even Andy Reed, considered one the best coaches, contributed to the Chiefs woes. With a little under two minutes left in the first half, the Chiefs kicked a field goal to close the gap. With the Bucs being satisfied to run the clock out, Reed was calling time outs. The intent was to get the ball back and try to score again before halftime.  Even if they forced a punt, their struggling offense would have gotten the ball deep in their own territory with 42 seconds and no time outs. He compounded this mistake calling time out on third down with the Bucs needing two yards for a first down, which Brady easily converted. The Bucs moved the ball to the one yard line after consecutive pass interference penalties. They easily scored, putting the game out of reach. The Chiefs’ offense is predicated on taking shots downfield. With Mahomes being chased all over the field not getting the time he needed. Reed should have switched to getting passes out quickly and running the ball more often.

Brady was pretty good when he had to be. However, he was not as good as the Chiefs defense was bad. The Chiefs were committing penalties left and right prolonging Buccaneer drives. Aside from a stupid 15 yard penalty after the play, it seems the Chiefs were committed to several holding penalties in the secondary for automatic first downs, one negating an interception. On a third and five they lined up off-sides giving the Bucs a first down. After downing a punt at the Bucs 30 yard line, a holding penalty forced the Chiefs to punt again. The punt was shanked and the Bucs got the ball at the Chiefs’ 40 yard line. 

The only reason to watch until the end was for the commercials. Though none of these will make next year’s best Super Bowl commercials special, I must admit I liked the Jimmy Johns ads with Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame.

One more thing… 

Baseball owners made a proposal to the players to play 154 games, starting the season April 28. This is in hopes of fans returning to the park creating revenue. The players rejected the proposal wanting to play a whole season with training in February. Great, exhibition games in virus hot spots Florida and Arizona. What are they thinking?

New Regime Giving Bulls Fans Hope

 

January 27, 2021

New executive vice-president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisivas and his general manager Marc Eversley, have the Bulls trending in the right direction. It will take time for the Bulls to be competitive with interdivision rivals like the Bucks, Net 76ers and Celtics. Based on his track record, I believe Karnisovas will make moves to narrow the gap between the Bulls and upper echelon teams. By year three or four they could be competing for championships.  

Karnisovas immediately endeared himself to fans by ridding the team of cancer, Coach Jim Boylen.  He was replaced by the much more modern Billy Donnovan. He has won elsewhere and is a player’s coach. He is well respected and has his team better prepared. He is doing a really good job with the hand he was dealt.

The Bulls starters are all 25 or younger. Therefore, you can expect growing pains. Karnisovas first round pick, fourth overall was 19 year old Patrick Williams. He is already their best defensive player. As he becomes more adjusted he should up his scoring average and may become a future star. Zach LaVine is a prolific scorer. He has improved defensively and sometime facilitates the offense.  However, he has the ball too often and is a major contributor to the Bulls leading the league in turnovers. Center Wendell Carter improves every year, then gets shut down by injuries. He has missed the last three games and is out the next four more weeks. I see no upside to an injury prone player.  Forward Lauri Markkanen has not improved from his rookie season. The problem may be when his shot is off, he loses confidence. There were some thought that first round pick Coby White could develop into a point guard. That is not who he is a player. He makes too many bad decisions and is defensive liability. Sometimes he shoots well and may be more suited to coming off the bench to provide offense. Cater, Markkanen and White should all be trade bait this off season   Savvy veterans Otto Porter, Thadeus Young and free agent signee Garrett Temple give the Bulls one of benches in the league. There is a large possibility they will be traded to a contender before the deadline.

The Bulls will have some exciting wins and more often agonizing loses as the season progresses. They may win enough games to qualify for the watered down playoffs.  While this may prove be exciting I it might not be the best thing. The Bulls need to be in a position to wheel and to deal to obtain the point guard they desperately need.

Bad News Bears

 January 13, 2021

I do not know about you, but I am pissed off. The Bears are bringing back both Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy for next year. This is similar to what Jerry Reinsdorf's teams do, prioritize loyalty over winning. Probably a bigger reason they are bringing these two back is that Bears management doesn't want to admit their mistakes. It’s hard to believe that management thought beating teams like Houston, Minnesota and Jacksonville meant anything. There was no improvement on last year’s 8-8 season and an ugly performance in a playoff loss. This may sound like a broken record, however, it bears repeating.

General Manager Ryan Pace has only one first round pick signed for next year. Although he has had a modicum of success in later rounds, it’s the first round where you find game changing players. He did trade for Khalil Mack, giving up two first round draft picks. This made a good defense an elite one. After his first season he regressed and the former Defensive Player of the Year is no longer the best player on that side of the ball. Pace stunned the NFL, picking QB Mitch Trubisky second overall in 2017. This set the franchise back four years. I’m not going to chastise him for not picking Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, as there were question marks on all three. The problem was in college Trubisky was a back-up until his senior season. Good QBs usually start in their second or third year in college. Pace’s latest disaster is not extending the contract of their best offensive player, Allen Robinson. This has already left a sour taste in Robinson’s mouth. The Bears could use the franchise tag to re-sign him, but that’s why he wanted out at Jacksonville.

McCaskey, Phillips and Pace were all culprits in the hiring of Matt Nagy. He was put in charge to improve the offense and develop Trubisky. He failed miserably on both accounts. The Bears went 12-4 in his first year and he was voted Coach of the Year. However, without Vic Fangio’s defense that team finishes 8-8 at best.  Making the playoffs endeared him the Bears brass. The loss in that playoff game is usually attributed to Cody Parkey missing a game winning field goal.  The only reason he needed to kick was that Nagy’s offense only generated a whopping 15 points. His mystery play calling is baffling and he still doesn’t know how to install an effective running game.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they re-signed Trubisky. He hasn’t shown any improvement in four years. He still has lousy footwork and can’t read defenses. His accuracy is pretty good, unless you need a pass of more than 7 yards. Even on those rare occasions when he throws downfield, his receivers have to make great catches for completions. He is also prone to turnovers. Particularly frustrating are interceptions in the end zone.

You can probably bank on another losing season in 2021. The Bears will again entrust Pace to choose a quarterback in the first round. Getting into the playoffs this year was the worst thing that could have happened. Their first pick is 20^th overall, where it will be hard to find a quarterback of the future.