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White-Sox Slight Evolves Into Might: A Deep Look At Tanking And Rebuilding

By
Matt Enuco
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Finally! Finally, someone from the media gets what it means to be a White Sox fan. For years the South Siders have been forgotten and ignored by the media as the also-rans of Chicago. ESPN consistently snubs their 2005 world-series championship while the Cubs’ prodigious losing streak drove the narrative in America’s Second City.

Remember this one from last year?

…And this…

…hold my beer…

Many of these oversights were committed by ESPN but they are far from a solo-act in their grotesque ignorance. The Chicago Tribune just cut their White Sox and Hawks beat writers, something they would never, NEVER consider doing to the Cubs. The response from Cubs fans would be swift and damaging. I guess White Sox fans are less so…?

But Rany Jazayerli of The Ringer and Baseball Prospectus, a bona fide Royals fan, Cubs adopter and Sox-hater has sympathy for the Sox. His explanation is cloaked in an exhortation of how well the White Sox have “tanked” and rebuilt the organization, and qualifies his admiration for anything associated with the Sox with Royals-blue.

“As a dyed-in-the-wool Royals fan,” Jazayerli writes, “a healthy hatred of the White Sox had been my rightful inheritance, one forged in a division rivalry now in its 50th season and tempered in the 1980s when archaic television practices meant my team was rarely on TV. When they were, as often as not it was because they were playing the White Sox, whose WGN broadcasts played nationally, my venom hardening to the soundtrack of Hawk Harrelson’s voice shamelessly rooting for the Southsiders.”

Jazayerli swallows a bitter tonic in admitting the White Sox 2005 championship was every bit as historic as the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and the Cubs in 2016. The White Sox had endured 88 years of depression leading up to 2005 and part of what makes the Sox aught-championship easily snubbed is how they decimated their opponents. Only one other team – the Yankees – completed a postseason 10 games above .500.

“Not only did those White Sox win the franchise’s first title in 88 years, they did so in spectacular fashion, going 11-1 in the postseason, tied for the best playoff record in the wild-card era. (The 1999 Yankees are the only other team in history to finish 10 games above .500 in the playoffs.) They got four consecutive complete-game victories from their starting pitchers against the Angels in the ALCS, a feat more at home in 1905 than 2005, and followed that with the most exciting World Series sweep ever, beating the Astros by a combined six runs in four games. They ended a historic run of futility with a historic performance in the postseason.”

Finally, credit where credit is due.

Later, Jazayerli dives into a full-throated and dense comparison of the White Sox to the Cubs and Astros rebuild. He dips into the various trades that lead to success, many of them sage-like, but what hit me square in the mouth was his indictment of the White Sox farm-system as a heaping pile of garbage for decades.

“When players aged out of their jobs or left via free agency, GM Kenny Williams brought in veterans like Alex Rios and Adam Dunn to paper over the fact that the farm system was perennially one of the worst in baseball. They drafted poorly. They routinely traded their best prospects to stay competitive at the moment—including somehow trading Gio González twice before he reached the majors. And their ability to find talent in Latin America was crippled by scandal: In 2008, their senior director of player personnel, David Wilder, was fired (and eventually sentenced to prison) for skimming money off Latin American players’ signing bonuses.”

I was part of the farm system in that window and Dave Wilder was a name I knew well. Something else we all knew was that we were mostly placeholders with very little chance of making it to the big leagues. Gio Gonzalez, Chris Carter and Brandon Allen are a few names that reached the majors, none of them with the White Sox. Stefan Gartrell – a teammate of mine and part of the 2006 draft class – was a mid- and postseason all-star in 2011 for Charlotte after cranking 26 home runs and 94 runs batted in and still couldn’t persuade the White Sox brass for a cup of coffee.

Despite his big-league build and consistent production, Gartrell was blocked by Alex Rios and swapped back and forth to the Braves, eventually washing out of baseball with the understanding he just wasn’t going to get his shot. The last straw for Gartrell may have been when Alejandro De Aza was called up instead of him.

But that is in the past. Rick Hahn has tanked without tanking and the White Sox have skimmed an elite congress of prospects so close to the majors that optimism around Guaranteed Rate Field is already swelling. An incredible factoid Jazayerli noted is that the South Siders never had a prospect ranked in the top-3 by Baseball America since BA started publishing the rankings in 1990 – the first, Yoan Moncada. And one day later, after the Hahn flipped Adam Eaton for a quartet of elite pitchers from the Washington Nationals, the White Sox had three players in BA’s top-3. In a matter of 24 hours, the White Sox had vaulted from the cellar of minor-league systems to a top-5, gleaming prospect pool.

Cubs-Marlins Series Review

By
Patrick Mooney
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If I had to describe the Cubs season-opening four-game set in Miami in one word?

Meh.

Generally speaking, expecting a team to win three out of four games heading into a series is unrealistic. Split your fours, win two out of threes and you’ll be sitting pretty come September. Especially on the road.

However, the Marlins may be the worst team in baseball on paper and one would expect that playing down to the competition would be unlikely given the first weekend of the year adrenaline. So, all things considered, Cubs fans were expecting three or four wins this weekend, so coming away with only two was a bit underwhelming.

An opening day homer-fest, a 17 inning loss, a 10th inning win, and a shutout loss. Let’s get to the details.

THE GOOD:

Bullpen

23 innings. 2 earned runs. 1.08 WHIP. All without closer Brandon Morrow recording an out.

7 scoreless (until Morrow came in an allowed an inherited runner to score the winning run) frames in extras from Eddie Butler was the highlight of the weekend, but six other relievers pitched at least twice in the series and they all looked really, really good. Bullpen depth is key, so it was a great sign to see everyone firing on all cylinders on opening weekend.

Addison Russell

The 24-year-old shortstop is coming off of the worst season of his worst career. From off the field issues, to people calling for Baez to move over to shortstop full-time, to offseason trade rumors, this feels like a make-or-break season for Russell. He’ll likely be a Cub for the foreseeable future, but 2018 should be the year that tells us if he is a focal point of the core or just a set piece.

Having said that, hopefully opening weekend was a sign of things to come for Russell. He was all over the field defensively and reached base safely in 10 of his 19 at-bats, with four walks and two doubles. He only whiffed twice all weekend. More of those results please, Addison.

Kyle Schwarber 

I thought about keeping him off this list for his wretched fourth inning in the field on opening day. That thought lasted for half a second.

We already knew that Schwarber is one of the worst defenders in all of baseball. Losing weight wasn’t going to do much to change that, if you thought otherwise that’s your own fault. His job is to pummel baseballs and he did that his weekend.

He had 16 plate appearances, and he reached six times. That’s good for an excellent .375 OBP. He had one walk, one single, two doubles and two mammoth-sized home runs. That’s his job. If he keeps doing that, he’ll stick in the lineup.

Schwarber and Russell’s importance to the 2018 Cubs can’t be understated, at least in this man’s opinion. The following thread by fantastic Cubs twitterer Aaron Kennelly sums it up wonderfully.

THE BAD:

Starting Pitching

Kye Hendricks had a good debut but Lester, Darvish and Quintana did not put the team in good positions to win. They combined to give up 15 earned runs in just 13 2/3 innings. Yuck.

Each one of their starts followed a similar pattern. Outside of a two-run bomb Darvish allowed to the second batter he faced, all three pitchers were sharp through the first few innings. Q actually was tossing a no-hitter through four. Around the 70 pitch mark, each pitcher’s command started wavering and velocity started dipping. These guys will figure it out and build endurance as the season goes on, but a focal point of Spring Training for the staff was making sure it won’t take until the All-Star break for them to feel 100%. As long as these guys are up to full speed by the end of April, the Cubs will be fine. But it wasn’t a good start.

The Leadoff Guys

Ian Happ and Albert Almora made two starts each leading off, and after Happ’s homer on the first pitch of the season, the duo combined for next to nothing the rest of the weekend. After Happ’s homer he and Amora comined to go 2-24 with two singles, two walks and 10 strikeouts, eight of those from Happ.

I’m as excited as anybody about Happ getting first crack at leading off, and Almora getting looks at the top of the order vs LHP is more than fair. I’m still on the Happ train, but if his ridiculous K% rate doesn’t drop to, bare minimum, under 30 percent by the end of the month than a change should be made.

Monday’s game in Cincinnati didn’t look much different, I don’t think there is a more frustrating loss in baseball than a 1-0 loss. The Cubs kick off a four-game set in Milwaukee tonight and while the reactions, win or lose, will be overblown, we’ll get our first taste of division rivalry baseball. That’s something to be excited about.

 

WATCH: This One-Armed Catcher Is All The Motivation You’ll Need Today

By
Gus
-

With the 2018 MLB season fully underway, 99.9% of my baseball time is dedicated to the Chicago Cubs. The other .1% of my baseball time is dedicated to watching incredible plays, outstanding performances, and just overall great baseball stories.

So here’s that .1%.

I came across a video last night on Twitter dot com of a one-armed high school catcher named Luke Terry. Playing the game with one arm is very rare but any baseball fan will tell you they remember watching a MLB pitcher named Jim Abbott do it all throughout his career. Abbott was born without a right hand but he did not let that stop him from having a ten-year career in the MLB.

Hell, he even threw a no-hitter.

Although much younger and without the MLB experience (so far), what Luke Terry is doing is just as impressive. The high school freshman from Tennessee had his right arm amputated at 19 months due to complications from an infection but he has not let that slow him from being his team’s catcher as well as batting third in the lineup.

This is simply amazing.

If this doesn’t motivate you on this lovely Monday, then I don’t know what will.

Best of luck to Luke and his team this season.

 

Matt Nagy Quietly Dissected Both Super Bowl Teams Last Season

By
Erik Lambert
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matt nagy

Ryan Pace listed all the reasons he loved Matt Nagy as the new head coach for the Chicago Bears. He’s young, an offensive specialist with a background in quarterbacks, been groomed by one of the best in the NFL in Andy Reid and is renowned for his personable leadership capability. Those are all good qualities to have in a head coach.

However, for the more superficial fans out there it could be Pace had another reason. Nagy just so happened to have a direct hand in beating not one but both of the future Super Bowl participants during the 2017 season. Not only that but he did so in back-to-back weeks with his offense shining in both games. How can that not get a team excited about their hire?

It started opening night against the defending champion New England Patriots. Not only that but it was in Foxborough. The Patriots had not lost at home against Kansas City since 1990, winning six-straight games going into that meeting. That was about to change.

Matt Nagy dissected two of the best-coached defenses in football

After a rough start to the game, the Chiefs offense began to roll. In posting over 500 total yards, quarterback Alex Smith threw four touchdown passes. The big hero of the night though was rookie running back Kareem Hunt who gashed New England for 148 yards and a touchdown. It was a clinic the Patriots had seen happen to them in their building for years.

Nagy wasn’t done though. The next week Kansas City played hosts to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, a team that crushed the Bears 31-3 later that year. Nagy’s offense barely even broke stride from the week before. Philadelphia was a bigger challenge defensively though, but the Chiefs systematically picked them apart. They scored three touchdowns and most important didn’t turn the ball over.

It was a good demonstration of how Nagy was able to navigate the different styles of the defenses he played against, not to mention the different venues they played in. The results ended up being the same which was a lot of points and a victory. This is exactly what Pace knew his team needed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that his interest in Nagy started as early as those first two weeks of the season. Nobody would’ve blamed him for that. It was quite the impression for an up-and-coming young coach.

REPORT: Cubs Top Prospect Not Ready For Start Of 2018 Season

By
Aldo Soto
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Right-handed starting pitcher Adbert Alzolay is hoping for another big year in the minors, but the beginning of his 2018 season will be slightly delayed.

According to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, Alzolay won’t be ready for the start of the 2018 minor-league season that begins this week. Nothing to be worried about, though, as the 23-year-old is simply trying to build up arm strength.

Alzolay, who was one of the Cubs’ first cuts after not pitching in a spring training game, is about two weeks behind in building up arm strength, Jaron Madison, the Cubs’ director of player development, said. Alzolay, 23, who was 7-4 with a 2.99 ERA in 22 starts at high Class A Myrtle Beach and Double-A Tennessee last season, will be assigned to an affiliate once he’s ready.

Alzolay is the No. 1 prospect in the Cubs system that includes 21 pitchers ranked in the top-30 on MLB Pipeline’s list.

After posting a 2.98 ERA in 15 starts at Myrtle Beach in 2017, Alzolay went to Double-A Tennessee, where he kept his impressive year going. The righty made seven more starts at the Double-A level, recording a 3.03 ERA, in 32.2 innings, while striking out 30 and walking 12.

Theo Epstein praised the young pitcher during the offseason, saying he viewed Alzolay as a possible top-of-the-rotation starter down the road. There is a chance Alzolay could get called up when rosters expand in September.

As far as other top Cubs pitching prospects go, here’s where fans will see them at the start of 2018.

  • Oscar De La Cruz | RHP – Double-A Tennessee (ranked No. 3)
  • Jose Albertos | RHP – Low Class A South Bend (ranked No. 4)
  • Alex Lange | RHP – Myrtle Beach (ranked No. 5)
  • Brendon Little | LHP – Low Class A South Bend (ranked No. 6)
  • Thomas Hatch | RHP – Double-A Tennessee (ranked No. 7)

The minor-league season starts Thursday.

Check out the schedules below for all the Cubs affiliates.

Eugene Emeralds.

South Bend Cubs.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

Tennessee Smokies.

Iowa Cubs.

Bears Made a Strong Push To Grab Free Agent Pro Bowl Corner

By
Erik Lambert
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chicago bears brass

The retention of Kyle Fuller was a foregone conclusion for the Chicago Bears brass. He’d earned a new deal and there was no way Ryan Pace was letting him go to the Packers. However, the somewhat anticlimactic signing that shortly followed that move was the new three-year deal for fellow cornerback Prince Amukamara. People weren’t entirely upset with the decision. Amukamara had played solid throughout most of 2017. It’s just that handing $9 million a year to a 29-year old who didn’t have an interception?

It feels like the Bears could’ve done a little better had they tried. Well, as it turns out they did. A few weeks back the Tennessee Titans made a big free agency splash when they secured former Pro Bowl cornerback Malcolm Butler. It wasn’t a huge surprise. The team is run by a GM-coach combination with deep ties to the Patriots. That familiarity and $12.2 million per year made it an easy decision for him.

However, it’s not like they didn’t have competition for his services. The biggest threat according to Sports Illustrated was none other than the Bears.

Chicago Bears brass tried to swipe Malcolm Butler

This is quite the revelation and explains why it took longer than normal for the Bears to lock up Amukamara who insisted his desire was a return to Chicago and nowhere else. It’s clear now Pace wanted to see if he could land a guy with a Pro Bowl and two rings who is a year younger. Not bad thinking. Sadly, like previous attempts by Pace to get a top corner in free agency, he didn’t bring enough cash.

In 2016 he made a play for Janoris Jenkins but was outbid by the New York Giants. Last year he tried to get Stephon Gilmore but was undercut by the Patriots. To be fair he made the highest bid for A.J. Bouye that same year but Bouye preferred Jacksonville. Now he got outbid by the Titans for Butler. Some guys can’t even buy a break.

That said one must applaud Pace for his persistence. He made a strong effort to upgrade the Bears secondary. It didn’t quite work out but he still managed to keep it as strong as it was last year. That’s was a smart GM does. Maintain the status quo while always seeking upgrades when they’re available. Still, it would’ve been interesting to see what a Fuller-Butler combination could’ve done on the back end of that defense this year.

Evidence Bears May Have Scooped Rest of NFL on Trey Burton

By
Erik Lambert
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trey burton

The signing of tight end Trey Burton had plenty of Chicago Bears fans puzzled. Did the team not just spend a second round pick on Adam Shaheen? The big tight end had flashed a ton of promise as a rookie. What was the point of throwing so much money at Burton, while also keeping Dion Sims, if this was the case? The simple answer is an offense never has enough weapons.

Burton is a weapon, or at least that’s what the Bears want everyone to believe. Is he though? On the surface, he looks like little more than a reserve tight end with some versatility who just got paid starter money. This wouldn’t be the first time GM Ryan Pace has done something like this. He loves to pay younger, athletic players in hopes they blossom for Chicago.

Thankfully there may be overlooked evidence that Burton is indeed such a case. Not just because he’s coming into an offense that knows how to utilize his talents. Matt Nagy, after all, loves athletic tight ends. It’s also because he made the most of the opportunities he’s had the past couple years.

Trey Burton could blow up if used in a feature role by Bears

Since 2016, Burton has been targeted a total of 91 times in the passing game. All told he made 60 catches for 575 yards and six touchdowns. By contrast, Travis Kelce whom Nagy utilized in Kansas City was targeted 122 times last season. If one were to extrapolate those numbers and say Burton got targeted that many times? His numbers would average out to 770 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s rock solid production.

Pro Football Focus also confirms the Bears may have gotten a good one.

“In a season that ultimately ended with a Super Bowl victory, Burton caught 76.7 percent of the passes thrown his way, which was the sixth-best mark among tight ends with at least 30 targets. He was especially effective in the red zone, where he generated a passer rating of 147.3 – the best mark among tight ends with at least five red zone targets.”

Burton has always been a player who could be considered underutilized. It wasn’t just true in Philadelphia. It’s been true since his time at Florida where he played a bit of quarterback, running back and wide receiver. He’s never had a chance to be the focal point of an offense despite constantly making plays whenever he gets the chance. It’s hard to say if that will change in Chicago what with Shaheen, Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel all needing touches too.

Still, it’s fun to wonder if this might finally be his moment and to see if the Bears back their pledge to get him the football more.

Cardinals Player Has The Dumbest Excuse For His Bonehead Play

By
Gus
-

I know we’re only three games into the season but the Cardinals appear to be picking up right where they left of in 2017. The Red Birds lost seven of their last ten games in 2017 and have opened up 2018 losing the first two of three to the New York Mets which has triggered the best fans in baseball to begin to lose their shit on Twitter.

The team’s play on the field obviously can’t help but to trigger Cardinal nation into thinking their team will be battling for third place in the division this season. One play from yesterday’s 6-2 loss probably didn’t help fan’s confidence that their team actually had a clue as to what the fuck they were doing.

With the Cardinals trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh and runners on second and third, Mets third baseman Todd Frazier hit a routine fly ball to left field. In left field was the Cardinals big free agent signing, Marcel Ozuna, camped under the ball ready to make a throw to the plate in an attempt to throw the runner out.

Apparently, Cardinals center fielder Tommy Pham wasn’t having it. Pham raced over in front of Ozuna, caught the ball, and threw a wet noodle to home plate to allow the run to score.

Check this out.

What’s even better is the excuse Pham gave after the game as to why he cut off Ozuna (who historically has had a pretty good arm.)

“It’s a tough ball because it’s way over there, but I thought my arm had a better chance than Ozuna’s right now.”

Pham said because Ozuna had an “ailing arm”, he thought it’d be a good idea to race in front of his teammate to make a shitty throw. Can you imagine if players could do that when it was their turn to bat?

“Hey step aside man, I don’t think your bat has it right now. I’ll take the at-bat for you.”

Bigger picture here if I’m a Cardinals fan: if Ozuna’s arm is that bad, why is he playing?!

Nonetheless, it’s been a rough start for the Red Birds in 2018. I won’t rag on them too much yet because I’m still trying to talk certain Cubs fans off the ledge because the team has started 2-1.

To both fan bases — it’s still early. Relax.

Get To Know Dylan Sikura After His Noteworthy Debut

By
John Romando
-

As plenty of you have heard by now, highly touted prospect Dylan Sikura made his Chicago Blackhawks debut in Thursday night’s home game against the Winnipeg Jets. In a 6-2 win, Sikura was on a line with Victor Edjsall, the young forward we recently acquired from Nashville in exchange for Ryan Hartman, and Alex DeBrincat. He would go on to record two assists in that game. After such an exciting debut, here’s what you need to know about this potential All-Star:

His Last Two Years in College Were Stellar

Sikura was a sixth-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2014. At the time he was drafted, not a lot of people gave him a fair look because of his small stature (5’11, 174 lbs) and his limited production in his first two years of college hockey at Northeastern University (35 points in 64 games with a -6 rating). In his final two years in college though, Sikura took a massive step forward, scoring 111 points in 73 games with a plus/minus of +28.

Sikura Should Help The Blackhawks Power Play Woes

As Blackhawk fans know, one of the many reasons why the Blackhawks have failed to make the playoffs this year has to do with their lack of scoring with the man advantage. On the year, the Blackhawks have a power play percentage of 16%, which is ranked 28th in the entire NHL. In Sikura’s final year of college hockey, Sikura scored 14 power play goals, which led all NCAA players in that category and assisted on 12 more power play goals giving him a total of 26 power play points. If Sikura can bring just a touch of that power play prowess to the Blackhawks beleaguered power play, that will help them exponentially in their quest to get back to the playoffs next season.

Overall, Dylan is a great prospect who could have an incredible impact on the Blackhawks next season after signing a two-year entry-level contract with the team over the past weekend. With names like Alex DeBrincat, Nick Schmaltz, and now Dylan Sikura, the Blackhawks’ youth movement is alive and well and it is hard not to be excited about the Blackhawks, despite one down year. Alongside Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, a healthy Corey Crawford, and improved play from Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, these young stars could make next year be one of the more exciting years in recent memory for Chicago Blackhawks fans.

Kyle Schwarber Makes Security Guard Run For His Life

By
Aldo Soto
-

Although Kyle Schwarber lost weight and looks slimmer in 2018, he’s still a pretty big dude, so when you see him running full speed your way I don’t blame you for running away scared. That is exactly what a security guard did during Saturday night’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins.

On pop fly hit down the left-field line, Schwarber sprinted toward the wall and although he couldn’t make the catch he still provided us with this laugh out loud highlight.

Oh but don’t worry, Schwarber did give Cubs fans a highlight at the plate, hitting a home run halfway to Cuba.

Schwarber also doubled later in the game and if you’re wondering whether or not the skinny version of the slugger is actually making him faster, the answer is yes.

And he’s still hitting the crap out of the ball too.

Solid game for Schwarber and the Cubs, who won 10-6 in 10 innings. Definitely a night that security guard will remember.

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