On Friday, Theo Epstein told the media that manager Joe Maddon would have every coach back that he wanted and it’s now official that the pitching coach isn’t one of them.
With the Washington Nationals decision not to bring back Dusty Baker as manager, one intriguing option to replace Bosio is Mike Maddux.
The #Nats coaching staff now hits free agent market, and pitching coach Mike Maddux becomes hottest commodity on market
One of the biggest issues for the Cubs this year out of the bullpen was the walk rate, which Epstein mentioned during his session with the media on Friday. No doubt the Cubs will have a few new pitchers, but now they’ll have a new pitching coach as well.
Maddon could also go to his pitching coach from the Tampa Bay Rays, Jim Hickey.
The #Cubs have fired respected pitching coach Chris Bosio, and now could reach out to Jim Hickey,who's a top candidate for #STLCards opening
Hickey took over as Tampa Bay’s pitching coach after the 2006 season. Before his tenure with the Rays, Hickey was the Houston Astros pitching coach, taking over duties in July 2004. The next year, the Astros won the National League pennant.
The Chicago Bears are trying to pull themselves out of the hole dug by years of bad drafting between 2009 and 2012. A period that left the roster largely devoid of front line talent, leading to their collapse from playoff contender to bottom dweller. This was the reason GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox were brought in.
Both men had reputations. Each were considered to have an eye for talent. Together they might be able to rebuild the depleted Bears roster back into something formidable. Things didn’t start well. Their 2015 ventures were largely flops. First round pick Kevin White is an injury-riddled bust. Pernell McPhee, their top free agent signing has endured multiple knee surgeries.
Truth be told the only considerable success from that year is second round pick Eddie Goldman. Thankfully the two seem to have found their rhythm. From 2016 through 2017 they’ve made a number of quality additions and the Bears have slowly started to play better. This doesn’t mean they’ve found all the answers though. Even with their wealth of experience, Pace and Fox can still learn things.
Turns out they got a surprisingly good lesson from a future Hall of Famer. (continue to next page)
Last week Brian Urlacher professed that he believed the Chicago Bears finally have themselves a quarterback. He was impressed with the rookie after the narrow loss to Minnesota and continued to show his love on Twitter after the Bears knocked off the Ravens in Baltimore. A game in which Trubisky threw the critical pass that set up the winning field goal.
Urlacher may not be a QB specialist but he’s a future Hall of Fame linebacker. He knows what great ones look like from having to play against them his entire career. One thing he may not have a firm grasp on is what a great head coach looks like. Don’t forget this man spent the majority of his career under Dick Jauron and Lovie Smith.
Smith was a solid coach but nobody would call him top of the line. He took a good roster to the Super Bowl in 2006 and gave the Bears their best run of success since the 1980s. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have flaws. To Urlacher though he was one of the best. This might explain his somewhat baffling statement regarding the current Bears head man. (continue to next page)
I’ve been sitting here since last night trying to conjure up a narrative that paints the score of last night’s season opener for the Bulls in a positive light. I was hoping I could say, “Hey! At least the Cubs won. Half of Chicago wasn’t watching anyways.”
I was hoping we could all be distracted enough to prolong this realization that the Bulls have reverted back to the Tim Floyd era just a bit longer– but Kike Hernandez and his banana ruined that.
At least I sat through the entire Bulls dumpster fire of a game so you guys didn’t have to deal with two blowouts at the same time. And not only did I do that for you last night, I’ll be doing it for you all year! This is the silver lining I came up with.
Congratulations!
Last night at the Air Canada Centre, for the first time in about five or six years of knowing (without seeing irrefutable proof), the Bulls organization was exposed for being exactly what it is– GARBAGE.
The Chicago Bulls are the “process” without the excitement, enthusiasm, or promise a “process” brings.
They are the worst team in basketball, and will be for some time.
So what in the hell is really going on?
Why are they so bad? Well, let’s start with the fact the Bulls have an even worse bench than we thought. The Bulls’ second unit allowed 23 points while only scoring five in their first seven minutes on the floor together. And if you thought the bench was the only thing wrong with this team, think again. I watched this piece of shit for you remember?
TRUST ME.
And if you don’t trust me, perhaps you’ll trust our friendly neighbors up north writing for the Toronto Sun who had this to say about the Bulls starters–
Chicago’s starting five consisted of nine-year vet Robin Lopez and a bunch of guys who would either come off the bench for every other NBA team or, in some cases, occupying a seat on that same bench with garbage time likely the only hope to see the floor.
I’ll just leave that alone and let you guys digest it however you’d like.
Moving on to John Paxson and the bunch, let’s just say having someone like Jordan Bell would be nice right now wouldn’t it?
So the Bulls traded @1jordanbell for $2.50 and he's already putting up double/doubles for the Dubs. 10PTS/11REB in @warriors season opener
Especially considering that two of our power forwards are out due to a little practice squabble that escalated into Nikola Mirotic now walking around with a face that is possibly no longer a face, but ground taco meat.
Long story short, we really need depth, and something tells me the Jordan Bell deal will come back to haunt Gar/Pax in ways they never could have conceived when it was executed on day two of the draft. You’d think acquiring as much talent and future draft picks as possible would be paramount for a rebuilding team, but not to this one. Oh no. Equity is far more important.
What the fuck does “equity” have to do with anything you ask? Shit, I don’t even know, I’m just repeating what our dumb ass vice-president of basketball operations said on Thursday during an appearance on the Mully and Hanley Show on 670 The Score, via Cody Westerlund of CBS Chicago.
“We had our board up there, and we were sitting there with Jerry and Mike [Reinsdorf] and we said, ‘Here’s five players in the second round that we really value,'” Paxson said. “And when we got to that pick, those five players were gone. And you know, sometimes when you’re dealing in a situation with where you are looking ahead to the future, you have to build up some equity with decisions that you make.”
Go on…
“Sometimes you have to take a opportunity where you build equity within the organization for future decisions,”
Ahhh, there it is…
Welp, good luck with that John, appreciate’chya.
Hope that equity in the form of a fucking ham sammich tastes reeeaaaal good. Perhaps if the Bulls were properly staffed they would have known what they had in Bell. But no, this rebuilding team doesn’t have their house in order in that regard either. Yes, it’s even worse than you thought.
Pax confirmed on @670TheScore that the Bulls "have a relatively small scouting staff" but he and Gar will be out scouting a lot.
Welp, if nothing else, at least THAT makes sense, unlike anything this organization says or does. After watching last night’s game I was only able to say one thing with 100% certainty. This organization doesn’t deserve us.
Not long after realizing that, I found myself reminiscing back to 2008 when the Bulls took the Celtics to game 7 in the playoffs, which was possibly the most fun I’ve ever had watching playoff basketball. Even though we lost I remember thinking, “man, this team is different. I’m excited to be a Bulls fan.”
Okay look. It’s fair to say not everybody is a Mitch Trubisky lover. He wasn’t the unanimous best quarterback for experts going into the NFL draft. Many liked Deshaun Watson. Others liked Patrick Mahomes. That’s completely normal. A lot of drafts can have divides on who the best QB is. At the same time those people usually have logical reasons for their choices.
People liked Watson because he was a proven winner. The man who knocked off mighty Alabama in the national championship. They liked Patrick Mahomes because he was a certified gunslinger, a kid who could make throws maybe two or three other people on the planet are capable of. As for Trubisky, they loved his accuracy and his tireless drive to improve.
Conversely there were reasons to dislike those players as well. One beat writer coming out of Carolina announced himself as a Trubisky critic. That’s fine. He’s entitled to that opinion. However, the reasoning he gave for said opinion? Well let’s just say it’s awful. (continue to next page)
The Chicago Cubs must be so depressed after a crushing defeat in the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers…wait no, no they’re not.
I’m not sure why there have been so many articles written about how the Cubs are done and they won’t be the same, despite the actual facts that most of the position players on this team are between the ages of 22 and 28. Yeah, the Cubs need pitching help, but let’s not all of a sudden think the front office can’t come through on that.
How’s the morale with the Cubs? Still high. On Friday, Anthony Rizzo finally got his chance to strike out Pedro Strop and well, he should’ve known better.
Are we going to see new faces in the dugout next year? Yes, but the culture of winning has been established and I absolutely love that they can throw away the hideous series against the Dodgers in the trash and move on. That’s what they did after 2015 and you shouldn’t be surprised to see the Cubs kick ass again in 2018.
By the way, Rizzo should’ve known about Strop’s power. Poor job of sticking to the scouting report on his part.
Oct 10, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Luke Kuechly (59) before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports ORG XMIT: USATSI-268376 ORIG FILE ID: 20161010_bsd_sd2_437.JPG
The Chicago Bears 2017 season is at a tipping point. It genuinely feels like this team can go one of two ways. They’re coming off a big win in Baltimore against the Ravens. Not only that but news always came out that Aaron Rodgers is likely done for the year after breaking his collar bone. Suddenly the NFC North is up for grabs. At 2-4 the Bears aren’t sitting pretty but they’re only two games out of the race.
That makes the upcoming matchup with the Carolina Panthers all the more vital. Winning would push their record to 3-4 but also give them a key win over another NFC contender. That could play huge into tiebreakers later in the year. Presuming of course that the Bears are able to carry that momentum forward.
It’s a tall order. Carolina is back to being a good football team after a difficult 2016 season. They’re playing solid on both side of the ball. At the same time they’re also a team that is looking vulnerable. News out of Charlotte helps explain why. (continue to next page)
Jake Arrieta has most likely pitched his final game with the Chicago Cubs and that’s becoming more clear as he has already put his house for sale a day after the Cubs were eliminated from the NLCS by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
According to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, there’s a for sale sign in front of Arrieta’s Chicago house.
Arrieta, 31, is now a free agent and if his contract demands remain the same it seems that he will be pitching elsewhere in 2018. His agent, Scott Boras, has in more than one occasion brought up a Max Scherzer type deal for Arrieta.
The Cubs and Jake Arrieta’s agent Scott Boras spoke within the past few weeks, and there was said to be “no traction.” The expectation is that Arrieta will be a free agent at year’s end. Cubs people love Arrieta, and helped turn him into a big star. However, the belief is that they wouldn’t go more than four years, if that. Arrieta is looking for a mega deal along the lines of the Max Scherzer contract with the Nats
The Washington Nationals signed Scherzer to a seven-year contract worth $210 million.
Since the Cubs traded for Arrieta in 2013, the right-hander revolutionized his career and in 2015 he won the National League Cy Young Award after the best second half in MLB history.
If we take a step back and look at his tenure with the Cubs, it really is one of the most impressive short-term careers in the franchise’s history. Arrieta was 68-31, with a 2.73 ERA, in his 4.5 years in Chicago, while posting a 3.08 ERA in nine postseason starts. Of course that includes being a key for the 2016 club that won the World Series.
Incredible individual and team accomplishments, but after a regression, especially this season, Arrieta’s contract demands will most likely be too much for the Cubs to match. Already putting his house for sale points to that being the case.
However, Arrieta’s wife says they were selling the house no matter what happens in free agency.
🤔🤣moved out of there weeks ago, we were renting & moving out no matter what happens https://t.co/wmHDnBNmaq
The Chicago Cubs didn’t do many things right in the 2017 NLCS, but you can’t take credit away from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who got their revenge from 2016. Jose Quintana was out of the game by the third inning and the Dodgers destroyed the Cubs in Game 5 of the NLCS, winning 11-1 to win the National League pennant.
Plain and simple, the Cubs got their ass handed to them by a better team. If we take a step back, the Washington Nationals were better too, but it’s baseball and crazy shit happens in October, like Game 5 of that NLDS.
Anyway, after seeing the Cubs be the best team a year ago and win the World Series, it feels a little less worse losing? Don’t get me wrong, watching your favorite team get embarrassed is tough to witness, but unlike other seasons like 2007-08 and even 2003-04, you still have the confidence in the front office to get this team back to a superior level.
Absolutely nothing went right for the Cubs in this year’s NLCS and it points to questions that need to be addressed in the offseason. The bullpen was atrocious, especially Mike Montgomery and Carl Edwards Jr., who were supposed to be the men counted on to be the bridge for Wade Davis. The hitting was awful throughout the entire postseason and at times so was Joe Maddon’s decision-making. But again, I’ll always say, when you have a bad bullpen, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you’re perceived as a manager. Just look at Bruce Bochy last year.
Jake Arrieta was the lone bright spot for the Cubs against the Dodgers and he will most likely be pitching somewhere else in 2018. John Lackey is heading toward retirement, so that leaves two spots open in the Cubs starting rotation. Plus, the bullpen has to be improved as well. We can get into the possibilities some other time.
But again, it does suck right now, yet does anyone actually think this run of the Cubs is over? Think about the entire 2017 season. There were several things the team didn’t succeed in and they still ended up winning the division and making the NLCS.
From the start, Theo Epstein promised one thing, making the Cubs World Series contenders year in and year out by sustaining success. So far that plan has three trips to the NLCS and one World Series. You’re not going to win every championship, just ask the Atlanta Braves. The goal is to make the playoffs and hopefully by then you’re positioned to make a deep run.
It just didn’t work out this year. It blows. But save your fire Joe Maddon bitching because the Cubs will be back next year and they’ll get another spin at the wheel.
The Chicago Bears Super Bowl era is punctuated a remarkable roller coaster ride that spanned entire decades. For most of the 1970s they were terrible. One of the worst teams in football. Then in the 1980s they flipped the script and became one of the best. Again the switch came in the 1990s where they were perennially bad before bouncing back again in the 2000s. That might explain why the franchise is mired in the mud so far in the 2010s. Ron Rivera though thinks it didn’t have to be that way.
Chicago is set to face off with his Carolina Panthers this Sunday at Soldier Field. It marks the first time the two teams have met since 2014. Rivera is of course Bears royalty. He was on the iconic 1985 team as a backup linebacker and then was defensive coordinator for the 2006 team that reached the Super Bowl. He is the only Bears alum to hold that distinction.
Now he’s coming home to try and get his team another victory. Nonetheless this allowed the Bears media to catch up with him and get his thoughts about this need breed in Chicago. His most interesting comments though were saved for a forgotten part of team history. (continue to next page)
