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Here’s Another Thing Pissing Off Cubs Fans

By
Aldo Soto
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Normally when I’m on here writing about the Chicago Cubs defense it’s because someone’s made an awesome play. That’s all great, but the defense has been garbage recently and that makes the offensive struggles that much more frustrating.

The Cubs offense has scored fewer than four runs nine games in a row, the longest such streak since the 2006 Cubs, who did it for 11 straight games. Well, the defense has been pissing off Cubs fans too.

We all love Javier Baez. Dude is a wizard out there, with the fastest hands anyone has ever seen. However, there’s no denying that while he still makes the great play there are also times when the routine play or a slightly tougher play is botched.

On Friday night, Baez’s error to begin the second inning led to the only runs scored by the St. Louis Cardinals. All of them were unearned, as Tommy Pham’s three-run homer off Jose Quintana came with two outs.

Those three unearned runs make it nine unearned runs in the past seven games for the Cubs.

Completely unacceptable. And this isn’t to pile on Baez either, as Kris Bryant’s decision-making at third base hasn’t been great either the last couple games.

After Baez’s error last night, Jedd Gyorko chopped a ball down the third base line and while Bryant’s throw to first base was in time, Anthony Rizzo couldn’t keep his toe on the bag. Gyorko was safe, but Bryant could have easily let the ball roll into foul territory. He didn’t.

There was also a play during the series-finale against the Colorado Rockies when Bryant either couldn’t get a grip of the ball, or simply made the wrong decision to not throw to home when the Cubs were already trailing.

That game was a complete mess all around.

It’s tough to say make a damn play when several players have been making plays on defense, including Kyle Schwarber saving a run last night, but make a damn play!

Anyway, the defense just has to get better overall. One of the main reasons the Cubs were so great in 2016 was because of their defense.

Also, it would help if Addison Russell could actually hit consistently so he could start every day at shortstop. He’s simply better there than Baez and him and Baez up the middle is the best duo the Cubs can trot out.

Both are in the lineup Saturday.

Tyler Chatwood pitching, so expect a lot of ground balls. How about ending the awful offensive and defensive streaks today.

REPORT: Cubs Sign Atlanta Braves Outfielder

By
Aldo Soto
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A few days ago Bruce Levine reported the Chicago Cubs were interested in adding some outfielder depth and late Friday night they did just that by signing Lane Adams to a minor-league deal.

Adams, 28, has played in 106 career MLB games, most recently with the Atlanta Braves.

He made his MLB debut in 2014, with the Kansas Royals, appearing in three games. Then, Adams spent a few years in the minors before coming back up to the Majors with the Braves in 2017.

Adams is a right-handed hitter, who has a career .264/.338/.450 slash line. He played in 15 games with Atlanta this season, going 4-for-17, with a home run, four strikeouts and four walks.

Originally drafted in 2009 by the Royals, Adams has also spent time in the New York Yankees minor-league system and was briefly in the Cubs minors in 2016, prior to joining the Braves.

Adams is exactly the type of player Levine described the Cubs wanted the other day, as he can run and play all three outfield positions. The team reportedly wanted to add some outfield depth in case Ian Happ’s struggles continued both at the plate and on defense.

The interest thing about Adams signing with the Cubs is that he could have signed with anyone after declining to take a minor-league assignment from the Braves. So, he has to at least think he has a good shot at eventually joining the Cubs at some point.

Right now, there’s no spot for Adams on the roster and Joe Maddon has said the team hasn’t discussed demoting Happ to Triple-A, so Adams will still have to wait if he wants a shot the show. However, he’ll be the first guy up if the Cubs have an injury, or ultimately decide to switch things up in the outfield.

Adams has 837 minor-league games under his belt, hitting .269, with a .343 OBP and .755 OPS, while racking up 223 stolen bases.

Time For White Sox To Fix Mistake With Yoan Moncada

By
Aldo Soto
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The Chicago White Sox had a pretty easy decision to make after Yoan Moncada left Wednesday’s game early. They only gave him one day off before returning to the lineup, but Moncada once again had a premature exit Friday night, departing in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins with the same hamstring issue.

Simply put, the White Sox have to save Moncada from himself. Of course he wants to be out on the field playing, but there should be no hurry to bring him back as long as there’s any discomfort in the hamstring. They should have been more cautious in the first place, but that’s in the past now. The White Sox can still fix their first mistake of not holding Moncada back by shutting him down until he feels 100%.

That doesn’t mean Moncada should immediately be placed on the disabled list, but what harm is keeping him out of action for a few more days. And it’s especially more concerning with a hamstring injury because as small as the issue may be it can be something that nags Moncada for a longer time frame than you can predict.

The White Sox lost 6-4 to the Twins on Friday, dropping their record to 9-21. It’s been a disappointing start to the 2018 season in year two of the rebuild, but Moncada has been one of the few bright spots. He currently has a .359 OBP, while showing off his power and speed.

There’s absolutely no reason Moncada should be back on the field until that hamstring is all good to go. The White Sox aren’t playing for much this season, so it doesn’t matter if Moncada has to miss games.

Get him healthy, so you don’t have to deal with more mid-game replacements for one of the most exciting players in the league.

Have Hawk massage Moncada’s hamstring. Just tell him it’s Todd Frazier and he’ll be bed-side in a second.

Cubs Fans Haven’t Seen This Bad Of An Offensive Stretch Since Dusty Baker Was Manager

By
Aldo Soto
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Thanks to an unbelievable week by the starting rotation, much of the struggles on offense were swept under the rug for the Chicago Cubs.

Well, there’s no more hiding how unbelievably bad the offense has been now. For the ninth straight game the Cubs failed to score more than three runs, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat them 3-2 Friday night. The current nine-game stretch in which the Cubs have scored no more than three runs is the longest since 2006.

Yup, going all the way back to the final year of Dusty Baker as the Cubs manager. That three runs or fewer streak lasted 11 games.

The Cubs didn’t score until the ninth inning on Friday, getting two runs off St. Louis closer Bud Norris. Tommy La Stella hit an RBI-single with one out and Ben Zobrist drove in the second with a fielder’s choice ground ball.

Kris Bryant was up with two outs, representing the go-ahead run, but he grounded to third and Zobrist was thrown out at second to end the game.

The Cubs have lost three in a row for the first time this season, but it truly is remarkable they’re 5-4 during this current streak of almost no offense. What’s more frustrating is the offense hasn’t been consistent at all this year.

It’s not just the last nine games. Overall, the Cubs haven’t scored more than three runs in 17 of their 29 games this season. Down right ugly.

Right now it’s even more maddening because it seems like every single player is in a slump.

But again, it’s obviously not time to panic. We’ve seen this group snap out of it and they have been a streaky offense even going back to the 2016 season. I mean, Anthony Rizzo isn’t going to hit below .200 all year and Willson Contreras is going to hit more home runs.

But shit has it been frustrating this week.

Hell Freezes Over as Bears Claim #1 Draft Grade

By
Erik Lambert
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bears trade roquan smith

The Chicago Bears 2018 draft looked like and felt like a success. Yes, we get it. The games must be played before it can be definitively stated whether a class is a success or not. Still, there was a general feeling they did well in 2016 too. Since then Leonard Floyd, Cody Whitehair, and Jordan Howard have all become productive starters for the team.

Given the knowledge available today, the likelihood of being completely wrong in such cases are rare. Thus the buzz around this latest group continues to build. Of course, most Bears fans believe that’s only the case in the immediate Chicago area. For years they’ve had to hear it from the national media. Those lukewarm responses and lack of respect.

To be fair having no winning record since 2012 can do that. Nonetheless, they’ve grown used to not expecting much from the national guys when it comes to any and all things Chicago. It appears that might be changing. Not only is the class being recognized as good, NFL.com even took it a step further.

Chicago Bears 2018 draft reigns supreme in NFL.com rankings

Gennaro Felicie and Nick Shook took on the task of ranking every draft class for all 32 teams this year. The usual populars were there. The Dallas Cowboys at #2, the Denver Broncos at #4, and the Baltimore Ravens at #7. Yet that wasn’t the big shock of the list. It was the Bears sitting there all by their lonesome at #1.

“The Bears maintained this game plan in the draft — well, after No. 8 overall, when they acquired their defensive Mitchell Trubisky, Roquan Smith. (The inside linebacker’s a perfect quarterback for Vic Fangio’s defense, boasting the versatile skill set and football IQ today’s NFL teams crave in second-level defenders.)

After that, Ryan Pace went back to pampering his 23-year-old signal-caller. Daniels, an interior O-lineman who spent much of the pre-draft process as a first-round mock mainstay, feels like a steal at No. 39. And Miller instantly becomes a favorite of anyone who popped in his tape, as a hyper-competitive playmaker who gets absolutely everything out of his 5-11, 201-pound frame.

Yeah, life is good these days for “The Pretty Boy Assassin,” who’s being put in prime position for a breakout sophomore campaign. One note on the Day 3 haul: Nichols was a small-school favorite of Draft Twitter, especially after his fine showing at the East-West Shrine Game. Sleeper potential.”

The true strength of this class comes with the first three picks of Smith, Daniels and Miller. All three are considered Day 1 starters who not only can play but play well. We’re talking Pro Bowl potential right off the bat. That’s exceedingly rare for a draft class and a testament to the job done by GM Ryan Pace.

If this group can live up to the hype, that winning drought will be over. Then the Bears can start thinking about bigger goals.

VIDEO: Kyle Schwarber Throws Matt Carpenter Out At Home

By
Aldo Soto
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Jose Quintana got into a little trouble in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, but Kyle Schwarber bailed him out by throwing out Matt Carpenter at the plate, saving a run.

Nice play by Willson Contreras too at the plate.

WATCH: Ben Zobrist’s Professional Career Began On A $50 Gamble

By
Gus
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Ben Zobrist has had himself quite the career thus far.

2018 marked his 13th big league season and he has built himself a pretty solid MLB resume — two-time World Series champion, World Series MVP, and a three-time All-Star playing for four big league clubs. His career slash line of .263/.355/.428 probably will not get him inducted into the Hall of Fame but the fact that the small town kid from Eureka, Illinois is still playing professional baseball at the age of 36 is nothing short of impressive.

Coming out of high school, Zobrist believed he played his last game of baseball after his senior season was over. He wasn’t drafted by any team and was recruited by nobody so the skinny shortstop was ready to hang his spikes up and go to Bible college. It wasn’t until his high school coach convinced him to pay $50 to go to a one day tryout that Zobrist realized that his career was just beginning.

Infield Chatter released a brief interview with Zobrist where he shares this incredible story.

Crazy to think about, but that $50 investment has resulted in one helluva big league career.

 

 

Adrian Amos Reveals His Personal Goals For 2018

By
Kyle Yates
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A highly debated topic going into the 2018 NFL Draft was whether or not the Chicago Bears were going to take Derwin James with the #8 overall selection if he was still on the board. The speculation was out there that the Bears needed to potentially make an upgrade to their already solid secondary.

However, as we now know, the Bears didn’t take James with their pick in the first round. Instead, they chose Roquan Smith and chose to focus their attention elsewhere. In fact, the Bears didn’t address their secondary at all throughout the draft…only adding a couple of corners as UDFA’s.

A large reason why they felt comfortable not addressing the position rests on the shoulders of #38.

Adrian Amos is entering his fourth season with the Bears in 2018 and has shown his ability to step up his game year after year, even in the face of adversity. He was benched at the beginning of last season, but after an injury to Quintin Demps, Amos stepped up to have the best year of his short career.

Amos recorded 2 forced fumbles, 67 tackles and an interception returned for a touchdown in 13 games. He stepped up to provide Chicago, alongside Eddie Jackson, solid safety play for the first time in years.

The national media took notice of Amos’ stellar play, as Pro Football Focus rated Amos as an elite safety in the league and deserving of an All-Pro honor. Bleacher Report, in their NFL1000 series, deemed Amos as the #1 Free Safety in all of football last year. Extremely high praise for such a young player, but Amos isn’t motivated by the accolades or recognition…

Amos appeared on Good Morning Football to discuss the Bears 2018 season outlook, but he also answered the question of what truly motivates him. His answer should excite Bears fans…

In his words, he “wants to be the best”. He’s motivated to achieve this personal goal through hard work, dedication and blocking out all the external noise. From what he says in the video above, it doesn’t sound like he feels he’s gotten there yet.

We might be just beginning to see all that Adrian can be in this Vic Fangio defense.

2018’s going to be a fun year to watch the Chicago Bears. With guys like Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller patrolling the secondary, alongside an up-and-coming safety like Amos, this might be the year that we see the Bears secondary take a massive leap forward.

Amos might not be the safety that has 5+ interceptions every year, but that’s not what they’ll ask him to do. They’ll ask him to come down and punish backs in the run game just like he did last year with Jerrick McKinnon. Bring on more highlights like this, Smash. Bring it on.

Bears In Uncharted Territory With Latest Power Rankings

By
Kyle Yates
-

Seemingly as far back as Bears fans can remember, the team has been disrespected in any sort of league-wide rankings or projections. It’s hard to argue against them though, as the Bears haven’t had a winning season since 2012 when they went 10-6. You can’t really blame the writers…

However, the Bears have had an amazing off-season and there’s finally reason for hope and optimism in this city. A new head coach, several new receivers for Mitchell Trubisky, a revamped offensive line, a stud new middle linebacker and many other factors are combining together to cause national writers to pay attention to this team they’ve neglected for so many years.

Chris Roling and Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report recently put out corresponding articles, Power Ranking the offenses and defenses of all 32 teams. Apparently, the buzz surrounding the Bears is catching on.

Defense

The Bears finished last year with a Top-10 defense in the NFL and retained the majority of the players that made that happen. Now add in the fact that the Bears added Roquan Smith, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, Bilal Nichols, Kylie Fitts, Aaron Lynch and others to this unit and this team looks ready to contend for that title again this year.

Maurice Moton seems to agree; putting the Chicago Bears defense at #9 overall.

“…We’re now among defenses that have slight concerns rather than glaring weaknesses. 

The Chicago Bears finished in the top 10 in points and yards allowed during the 2017 season. Head coach Matt Nagy re-signed defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, which bodes well for the on-field personnel.

The front office drafted linebacker Roquan Smith with the No. 8 pick. He’ll join Danny Trevathan to form a solid pair in the middle of a hard-nosed defense…”

The pieces are all there for another top-tier defense this year. Moton touches on the key to the Bears returning to the same standing next year though; Vic Fangio. Without Fangio returning as defensive coordinator, the Bears would most likely be much lower on this list.

Offense

Last year, the Bears offense couldn’t have been much worse. Running an archaic form of football under head coach John Fox, the Bears posted all-time lows for this historic franchise.

After the hire of Matt Nagy as head coach, an offensive mind from the Kansas City Chiefs, the arrow seems to be pointed in the completely opposite direction. (That’s a good thing)

Chris Roling likes what the Bears have put together this off-season and has them ranked at #11 overall.

“Trubisky is franchise-quarterback material and now gets to throw to Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and second-round wideout Anthony Miller, one of the 2018 draft’s steals. Jordan Howard not only returns as the primary runner and is coming off two 1,100-plus-yard seasons, but Tarik Cohen is also one of football’s most explosive weapons and should see a bigger role.

…Mark Helfrich’s arrival tops it all off. The former Chip Kelly understudy and Oregon head coach will know how to squeeze the most out of mismatch nightmares like Cohen.”

For years, the Bears have seen themselves at the bottom of offensive rankings. With the incredible off-season they’ve had, it’s not a stretch to think the offense might finish this high at the end of the year!

No games have been played yet, these players have no chemistry together right now and Trubisky has yet to prove himself in this league…but for the first time in a long time, there’s reason for Bears fans to hope.

How Javon Wims Got Drafted At All Is Baffling (In a Good Way)

By
Erik Lambert
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javon wims

Most people won’t pay too much thought to a seventh round draft pick. That’s just the nature of things. Through 2017, there were 910 players selected in the round dating back two decades. In that time only 15 of them managed to reach a Pro Bowl in their career. Expectations must be tempered with it. Yet to the men who hear their name called on that day, it means everything. Javon Wims understands better than most.

His road to the NFL should not have landed him anywhere near the draft. That much is clear by his personal history. Though Wims always loved football, he only played one year of it in high school. His primary focus had been on basketball. Unfortunately, he wasn’t good enough to attract major attention, averaging 9.2 points and 3.7 rebounds per game as a senior.

It was clear he needed to change his plans. So he decided to try the football route. Not ideal timing. He had one year of experience playing the game at a high school level and if that weren’t enough, he was dealing with asthma problems. It’s little surprise he got no offers from any notable schools.

So he had to bite the bullet and took the junior college route at Hinds Junior College out of Mississippi.

Javon Wims almost missed his chance but didn’t waste it

One scholarship. That’s all he got in terms of opportunities. This was going to be his only chance. If he blew it, the odds of reaching the NFL would be next to impossible. He took it and didn’t look back. In nine games over the course of 2015, Wims collected 779 yards and nine touchdowns including four games with two touchdown catches in each.

His head coach there said he’d only ever seen one other player with his mix of natural talent and intensity.

“He’s an intense guy,” Murphy said. “The only guy I’d compare him to in all my years here would be Fred Smoot.”

Smoot was a highly productive defensive back for the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings back in the early 2000s. He collected 21 career interceptions. Fairly good company to be associated with. It seems Wims did enough to get noticed. At the end of the year, representatives from Georgia came forth with an offer to join their program in 2016.

It was a dream come true, but also merely a step in the right direction. Though he’d made it to the big college stage, he faced a roster loaded with talent and not a lot of time to make a name for himself.

Picking the perfect time

His first year at Georgia passed by without much buzz. Wims caught 17 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown. The 2017 season would be his senior year. It was his last hope to get NFL scouts to notice him. He had to do something with it. After a strong opener against Appalachian State though, he sort of faded into the background. Over the next five weeks, he failed to muster more than 43 yards in a game.

Time was running out. He had to make his move. That came against Missouri where he put up five catches for 95 yards. A week later he made a big touchdown catch against Florida that helped break the game open. Things started to click and he became one of their primary playmakers through the air down the stretch. This culminated in a huge 73-yard, 1 TD performance against Oklahoma in the CFB playoffs.

When it was all over he had 720 yards, seven touchdowns and had helped his team reach the national championship. He’d done everything he could. It was up to the fates now.

Six rounds came and went. Then, early in the seventh round, Wims got the phone call. The Bears would be taking him with the 224th pick. A kid who had asthma, played one year of high school football, got one scholarship offer to play college and came in late to play in the SEC had gotten himself drafted. It was a story of perseverance that makes following sports so compelling. A story of a boy growing into a man and not letting stacked odds deter him from his dream.

Regardless of what happens now, it’s okay to cheer for this kid on Sundays. He earned it.

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