John Sickels Releases Top 20 Prospects List for the Cubs

So, just like last year, I will be going over the top 20 prospects list that John Sickels just released. Like I've said before, there is no way to know for sure where these prospects will end up, but John Sickels has always seemed to be the most accurate of those who make these predictions. I won't copy and paste his article, but you can read it here. I will quote him on occasion and give his list and grade, then give my comments. The article is actually almost 2 weeks old (Dec. 7), but I was hoping he'd do the White Sox soon after and I could do it all at once. He didn't, and when he does the White Sox, I'll do one for them as well.

Jon Lester Is A Cub

There isn't a better way to say it, Cubs win! Jon Lester made his decision shortly after midnight this morning, about 17 1/2 hours ago. It was an interesting situation for me, as I had been following it on Bleacher Nation, and had all but given up on a decision before going to sleep. Right before laying my head down for the night, I decided to check one more time on my iPad, and lo and behold, less than a minute before I had checked he had made that decision. Needless to say, my bedtime went back about 2 hours and I enjoyed a beer to celebrate. So anyway, let's look at everything this says for the Cubs next year.

Winter Meetings Going Strong!

The winter meetings are nearing the end of their second day, and there has been a ton of news regarding the Chicago baseball teams. So far each team as acquired 2 key players, and neither seems to be letting up, as they're both still rumored to be feeling out other moves as well.

Is Jimmy Butler the Best Shooting Guard in the League?

After today's game against the New Jersey Nets I'm starting to think that Jimmy Butler may be the best shooting guard in the NBA right now. Well, at least so far this season, the sample size of him playing like he has been this year is only 15 games, but I'm going to look over the competition and tell you my final view on if he really is the best shooting guard in the league this season.

Getting Caught Up

Another week down in Chicago sports, and this one carried a little more positivity than some of the other past weeks. The Bears actually won, the Cubs made a trade and may very well sign a major free agent soon, and the Bulls and Blackhawks have, for the most part, been winning. Let's get going.

So Joe Maddon Now IS the Manager of the Cubs, and More

After the Jauron/McGinnis debacle over a decade ago, I never really believe that a new coach or manager signing is true until I see the press conference confirming it. Well, that's what happened today. It's beyond official now, Joe Maddon is the new manager of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are suddenly raising eyebrows and picking up interest around the league. Don't forget about the White Sox though, I'll go over some of their possible free agent targets, as well as the ones the Cubs will possibly be going after. We'll also get started on the eulogy for the Bears season, but will point out where life still exists. Of course, this being winter, I'll touch on the Bulls and Blackhawks as well. In other words, we'll have a full slate here.

Where Are We Now?

It's been over a month since my last post. I've come to realize that I'm just insanely busy around this time of the year. Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post. The baseball season is over in Chicago, but the football season is in full swing, and the Blackhawks just got started up as well with the Bulls in preseason right now. While the baseball season went out with a whimper, there's a lot of hope still around for the three teams that are currently active, and there's still a chance to keep up with your favorite Cubs prospects.

My Best Attempt at the Cubs Top 20 Positional and Top 20 Pitching Prospects

Remember, best is a relative term here. I'm excited to see what the Cubs are doing from here forward, as the kids are starting to arrive and the Cubs have been playing some of their best baseball in several years lately. What we've seen so far is still barely a dent in the system that the Cubs have built up, and I'm going to do my best to take a suggestion that I made around mid season and do a top 20 list for both the positional and the top 20 pitching prospects. I'll allow the September callups to remain on the list, but guys like Soler, Baez, Hendricks, Wada, and Alcantara, who may still have rookie eligibility (not sure on Alcantara) will be off since I'm under the impression that they're up to stay up right now.

An Early Look at Jorge Soler and Starlin Castro

Jorge Soler has now played 2 games, so we'll take a look at those, and Starlin Castro is feeling the heat after a mental error may have cost the Cubs a run during last night's game. I'll give my opinion on that as well as those whose view differs from mine on that issue. I won't draw this out or anything, so let's go.

What Could This Be About?

Could I be writing about the current scores of today's games? No, why would I write about 1-0 or 2-4 scores? Could I be writing about something that happened overseas? Nope, although this does have something to do with someone who here from over some sort of sea. Okay, I'll quit with the stupidity, this is obviously about the Jorge Soler promotion. I can't wait until he makes a lot of the prospect rankers eat their words. However, since that happened, a couple of other things have come up that I will also mention.

This Week In Chicago Sports

I did my whole catching up post a couple of days ago, and now it's time for me to be going back to somewhat of a regular schedule. It was an interesting week in Chicago sports. Kevin Hayes signed elsewhere, light rumors circulated about the Bulls' 13th roster spot, the White Sox made a trade and got swept twice, and the Cubs had some controversy early, but finished the week with a sweep. There's also going to be some news from the farm, as a lot has been going on down there recently for the Cubs, and there's even some to talk about for the White Sox as well.

Getting Caught Up On Everything

It's not that a whole lot has happened over the last almost 2 weeks since my last post, as far as Chicago sports go, but it's that I've been very busy myself. I had a busy work week last week that ate up almost all of my energy, followed by going out of town on Friday to visit family (with 3 kids there, it wasn't exactly relaxing either, but I love them all still), then a frustrating flight back out here while taking the week off of work. I've finally be able to catch up on everything, as I made sure to catch our Chicago teams when they were in action, and I've just generally been able to keep up on everything as far as that goes, so let's go!

This Week in Chicago Sports

It's been a busy weekend for me, so I haven't been able to really say much about the Bears preseason game against the Eagles. There is a lot for me to go over there, and I'll make sure to hit that. Also, Baez-Mania hit Chicago this week, and more is likely on the way with Jorge Soler expected to be called up any week now. This has also brought up the question (well, it's actually been up, but reignited it) over Kris Bryant and when he should be up. Things have been pretty quiet on the Bulls and Blackhawks front, but the White Sox have also been playing, although it hasn't been any prettier on the south side than it has been on the north side.

Guessing On Next Year for Prospects

This is where I'll be making my guesses as to where the top Cubs prospects will be starting next season. With the Baez promotion, things are getting fun, especially with how well some of the rest of the top prospects have been playing lately. I'm going to take a bunch of current Cubs prospects, ones that I'm the highest on, and predict where they start next season. Why do I do this? Not because I think it's something super important, I mean, sports in general are pretty trivial in the big picture of life, at least for 99% of us, I'm doing it because it's fun to speculate and then see how you did later. I'll probably be doing an updated version later, but I won't make any promises. Also, I will include a couple of guys with some big league experience, one with 3 games and another that's back in AAA.

Reviewing Javier Baez After 1 Series

So Javier Baez has now played one full series as a player in the MLB. I don't know if I've ever seen a player show both so much good and so much bad in their debut series, but then again, this is the first Cubs debut series from a top prospect that I've seen since Felix Pie, and Pie never was ranked above #27 as a prospect, so Baez is still an entirely new territory that Cubs fans haven't seen since the Patterson and Prior debuts. This was a very interesting series for the Cubs.

Cubs Call Up Baez

Let's not get too excited, I mean, it's just one more guy for the starting lineup, and there's a strong chance that he will struggle making the big step from AAA to the big leagues, but yes, Javier Baez has been called up. There are a lot of things to take into account here, but at the same time it's just another small step in this rebuild that will hopefully eventually add up to make the Cubs perennial contenders.

Trade Deadline has Come and Gone

Another trade deadline has come and gone, and a lot of deals were made, just not a whole lot in Chicago. If you go back to the Samardzija and Hammels deal, the Cubs have made 4 trades that involved them trading away 6 guys, and saw them receive 7 guys. There's a player to be named later involved in each of those totals. As for the White Sox, unfortunately they did nothing, which I call unfortunate because it really would have been in their best interest to have traded away some guys, but I guess they somehow feel like they have a chance at going all the way this year. However, the worst thing they could have done was stand pat, because Garcia and Lindstrom won't put a sub .500 team over the top. Anyway, I'll go further into that and go over the trades that were made.

Darwin Barney Traded, More Training Camp, and Derrick Rose Practices

Busy Monday today in the Chicago sports scene. The Cubs traded away Darwin Barney after DFAing him less than a week ago. Also, I'll share some more thoughts on the Cubs presence on mlb.com's top prospects list. On top of that, the Bears continued training camp, and speaking of practice, Derrick Rose has practiced with the US team, and the reports coming through are not bad at all.

Another Prospect List and Bears Training Camp

Fun weekend, so instead of going over the whole week in sports, I'll just cover what has happened since Friday. The big news in Chicago baseball is that a new list, this one by mlb.com, has been put out ranking the top 100 prospects in all of baseball and the top 20 in each organization as well as the top 10 at each position. Of course I have my issues with some of it, but there are 10 Chicago players on the top 100 list, 8 Cubs and 2 White Sox prospects. Also, Bears training camp has started. I'll go over some of the notes that have come out from there and give my thoughts. There hasn't really been any Bulls or Blackhawks news outside of an interview with Joakim Noah that some reporters tried to blow out of proportion.

Catching Up With the Cubs System Shuffle

Many Cubs fans are probably confused at this point as to where everyone should be. Sure, it's easy to tell where the big names are, but there's a whole lot more to it than that. Players were shipped up, down, and all around over this past week, and it's time to take a look at where they are and what it means for them and the organization, of course there will be a ton of speculating as well. I'm going to include a lot of content, and I'm sure there will still be things that I miss.

Worst Chicago Prospect Busts of the Last 15 Years

With all of the Cubs prospects nearing the big leagues and the White Sox working on their "retooling" at the current time, I thought it would be a great time to dash everyone's hopes of any of them being successful baseball players by naming all of the worst busts for each team over the last 15 years. Now, understand, these are guys that the Cubs or White Sox actually gave at least a good season worth to. If the player was given up to bring someone to the Cubs or White Sox, then that forgives them and keeps them off the list. So someone like Hee-Seop Choi gets off since he was what brought Derrick Lee to the Cubs (also, his bat might actually play well today with the steroids era over). So here we go.

This Week in Chicago Sports

Well, it was a little bit quieter this week, largely due to the All Star break. Still, there was news on the farm for both the Cubs and White Sox. Also, the Bulls introduced Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic. The Bears inch closer and closer to the start of training camp, and the Blackhawks had their convention this week, but I guess there's not a lot of news for that.

Great Night on the Farm, Bulls Close to a Championship

Things have been fairly uneventful for the most part over the last few days, but things are going to be shaken up a bit in the near future. First off, the Bulls summer league team is now playing in a tournament to try to become the champion of the Vegas league. They need to win this game as well as 3 more to win the tournament, but they've been the best team in the Vegas league so far. Also, a rarity tonight in the Cubs system, and great performances outside of that. I'll also talk about the double cycle from the other night too.

The Bulls Train Keeps Going

Didn't expect to make another post today, but here we go. The Bulls continued to make things happen today, and they're looking pretty good in a Summer League game right now too. Anyway, the two big things as far as personnel goes is that they have made it official that Mirotic is coming over, and they have brought Kirk Hinrich back for another 2 years.

At the All-Star Break, 3 Positives and 3 Negatives

We're getting to the All-Star break in this Major League Baseball season. While it's not exactly the midpoint of the season, it's the symbolic midpoint of the season. So what's something that a lot of sites do? They review the season up to that point. Often you'll see a website grade every player on the team, or something like that. What I'll do is, for each team I will mention 3 positives and 3 negatives. While it would seem that with how poorly each team has played that there wouldn't be too many positives, there really are plenty.

NBA Going Crazy, Bulls Offseason Now Seems More Clear

The last couple of days has seen the NBA turned upside down. There was LeBron going back to Cleveland yesterday morning. Since then, Carmelo has also decided to stay in New York. This really makes the situation for the Bulls much more clear. Of course we still don't know the exact players who will be involved, but we at least have a good idea. On top of that, Bulls Summer League action is now underway with the Bulls going against the Clippers in Las Vegas. I'll go over that game (which is currently in the 3rd quarter) as well.

Late to Mid Week Chicago Sports Update

I would wait until the end of the week for this, but there's just so much going on right now with 4 of the 5 major Chicago sports teams, and I think all of this needs to be addressed now, because this has been such an exciting week. We have a couple of huge Blackhawks signings, what looks like what will be the Bulls moving forward with their offseason plans finally, and in both the Cubs and White Sox camps there's great All Star news and some more as well.

Midseason Prospect Rankings Coming Out

With convenient timing, the midseason prospect rankings are starting to be pumped out. I was made aware of this by this article on Bleacher Nation. Anyway, today I'm going to focus on the negative, which is rare for me and look at the guys who have seen a reasonable drop in their value over the last few months. The players in question will be Albert Almora, Jorge Soler, and CJ Edwards. The lists in mind are from Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America. I will not totally forget the guys that have moved up, and I will be using the Bleacher Nation article linked above as my main reference, at least with where the players are ranked, especially since you need a subscription to view the Baseball Prospectus list anyway. The opinions and views will be my own.

This Week In Chicago Sports: Trades and More

Does anybody know if much happened this week in Chicago sports? It seems like it was a pretty uneventful week. Now, that can be taken as sarcasm, but I'm sure for some fans they would actually agree. By that, I'm talking real White Sox fans (not the ones that really just hate the Cubs more than they like the White Sox), but even then, if you look deeper into the moves made, there is something there for the White Sox fans to take interest in. I'll get into everything with the trade in the article. The Bulls are also have had a few things happen this week. As for the Bears, not much, but I'll throw something in there.

My Thoughts On The Huge Cubs Trade

This is honestly the biggest trade I can ever remember the Cubs making. In case you didn't hear the news, the Cubs traded Jeff Samardzija AND Jason Hammel to the Oakland A's for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily, and a PTBNL. I'm going to go over the pieces the Cubs got in return and look at what it means for the Cubs system now and in the future. This may be a bit of a mind bending type of post, as it will go in many directions, but the bottom line is that this trade was huge, and the return for the Cubs was even more massive.

Cubs Minor League Players Who May Still Get Promoted

The Cubs minor league system has been going absolutely crazy lately. Not to say that the White Sox system has been bad, but the Cubs system has seen a ton of players outplaying their current levels. I will bring up the White Sox minor league system in this post, but the majority of the guys who were looking good for them were guys who I feel like are the type that you move up after the season, and I will bring some of them up. The Cubs, however, have many players who are very likely to move up a level before the end of the season, and I will be covering those players first.

Random Chicago Sports Thoughts

So another week has come and gone in Chicago sports, and there's a few thoughts on my mind for this past week as well as what's to come. I'll cover the NHL, NBA, NFL, and baseball (not just MLB) here. While there's not a ton going on right now, I still have plenty of thoughts to annoy any of the tens of people who read this blog.

Looking at the Addition of Doug McDermott

I was as shocked as anyone to see the Bulls wind up with Doug McDermott. So that begs the question, who is Doug McDermott? Well, if you're a sports fan at any level, you should already know after the season he had last year for Creighton, and him going to Creighton is no excuse for not noticing, because he was the NCAA National Player of the Year last year. The Bulls got a very good player in McDermott.

NBA Draft Pick By Pick Analysis

The draft is going on as we speak, and as the picks come in, I'll be giving my thoughts. The first 9 picks are already in, but at the same time I'll probably be giving my thoughts faster than the picks come in. I'll only be doing the first round, as I really don't know enough about the second round guys this year (for the most part) to really go over those picks. I'll also make in between pick observations on ESPN's coverage, which should be hilarious, no thanks to me, but thanks to ESPN and their amazing ability to make stories out of nothing and just shoot themselves in the foot over and over (lucky for them, they wear a bulletproof shoe).

NBA Draft Post

Okay, here it is. Over the last couple of weeks I've gotten myself caught up on what's going on with the NBA Draft this year. I'm going to mainly talk about the Bulls and what I expect out of them, but I'll also have some general draft opinions that I'll throw out there. I'll go over different guys the Bulls might wind up with, and give my thoughts for who some of the top guys will be.

It Doesn't Stop At Schwarber

Everyone's heard the news on at least one of these guys, but today we saw 3 more Cubs players promoted. All three of them were promoted to AAA. Oh, those guys? Kris Bryant, Arodys Vizcaino, and Armando Rivero. I'll go over what I know of each of those guys and give some other thoughts.

Kyle Schwarber Moves On Up and Bears Notes

I don't know who reported it first, but on Bleachernation there is a short article on it, and Len Kasper reported it during tonight's Cubs telecast just a few minutes ago, Kyle Schwarber's dominance, punctuated by another outstanding performance earlier today, has gotten him a quick call up to Kane County. In other Chicago based news, Bears mini-camp started up today, and I'll go over some notes from Windy City Gridiron and give my useless thoughts on them.

This Week In Chicago Sports

This is going to be similar to last week's. There isn't much on the winter sports end of things, there's very little from the Bears, and the Cubs and White Sox have had some things go on, but as a whole there wasn't anything as far as movement in the standings go. Still though, I'll make it worth it still with some extra content in there.

Some Minor Notes From The Day

There were a few things that went down today in Chicago sports worth mentioning. One of them is only worth mentioning because I'm such a sucker for drafts and how things turn out, and the other is more of just a progress report from the Bears OTA's (which I had thought were over already, I was wrong). The first is the Cubs signing of Kyle Schwarber, which carries some other good implications due to what they paid him.

This Week In Chicago Sports

Another week has come and gone in Chicago sports. Here's a recap in case you were out of town, including every major Chicago sports teams.

Draft's Now Over, Full Draft Thoughts

So after 30 more rounds today, the draft is finally over. Both teams have made their picks, and I have some thoughts on both. They went different routes. The Cubs, for the most part, went after high upside projectable guys while the White Sox had fewer of those types (although they still had plenty), but went for more experienced players.

MLB Draft Day 2

Day 1 was obviously the biggest day of the draft for both Chicago teams, but there are a ton of great players who have been drafted after the first two rounds. The third round alone has seen Eddie Murray, Bert Blyleven, Dennis Eckersly, Gary Carter, and Tony Gwynn, among, I'm sure, others. Other hall of fame players drafted in rounds 3-10 include guys like Goose Gossage, Ricky Henderson, Wade Boggs, and Ozzie Smith (who was overrated thanks to flashy plays and being unbelievably likable (one of my all time favorite players), but still deserved to be in the Hall). Guys drafted on what today would be the third day of the draft include Nolan Ryan, Andre Dawson, and Ryne Sandberg. Ladies and Gentlemen, these are all Hall of Fame players here, not just guys who were pretty good, or even very good, but Hall of Famers. Other players who will soon be in or are still active (depending on who you talk to) taken from the third round on include Albert Pujols (13th round), Mike Piazza (62nd round), Jim Thome (13th round), and Jeff Bagwell (4th round). There is a lot that can be had in these middle to late rounds. Today it was rounds 3-10. I'll go over who was picked, then make a few comments about some of the picks.

Day 1 Draft Thoughts for the Cubs and White Sox

As everyone should have known, the first two rounds of the MLB draft are (since it's not over yet) taking place right now. Both the Cubs and White Sox have made their picks, and since there is no Jeff Samardzija trade in yet, I'm coming to the conclusion that day 1 is over for both teams (I'm kidding on the Jeff Samardzija part, that's been all but proven to be nothing more than a joke that a nameless source just made up). Anyway, going in order, here are my thoughts on the picks.

MLB Draft, Bears, and Bulls

The majority of this post is going to be focused around the MLB Draft, which comes tomorrow. Since the Cubs and White Sox are picking back to back, with the White Sox picking at #3 and the Cubs picking at #4, this should make things easy since I won't have to look into possible draft picks for each team. I'm not going to bother much past the first round since there's 40 rounds in the MLB Draft, but I'll go over possible scenarios if they do come up. Beyond that, some thoughts on the OTA's for the Bears, and I'll give my thoughts on what Horace Grant said this week.

Kris Bryant Needs Competition

Before reading this article, I will direct you here. That link is an article from bleachernation.com that was written this morning. The line for Bryant there was .349/.452/.667. For those who are new to baseball or who are not baseball fans, let me put that in simple terms. Kris Bryant is absolutely mutilating AA pitching right now, and that's an understatement. There's a lot that can be taken from this though, in a bonus 2 posts in 1 day from me.

Grading the Bears 2013 Offseason Moves

As much as we can speculate over what this offseason's moves will mean to the team and how good they'll be, but the bottom line is that we can't get a real idea of how good the offseason moves were until the team has had a chance to actually play with those new additions. So here we're going to go over last season's offseason moves. To be honest, we still really don't know the full scope of how good or bad these moves were, but at least we have a real idea at this point. I'm not going over all of the moves, but will cover the ones that were intended to make a real difference to the team (more than just a futures contract). I also won't bother with them bringing guys back unless there was something more to it.

Cubs Thoughts From Recent Events and a Short Bears Thought

So the Cubs have made some waves recently with their Manny Ramirez signing. It's a signing that has really brought out plenty of people in support and in opposition. Not only that, but there is rising excitement in the minor league system as well. Also, OTA's are underway from the Bears, and I have some opinions on different things from that as well.

Random Chicago Sports Notes

The majority of this post will go back to the Bears, but a few things are actually happening in Chicago sports right now. There's good and bad. The best being the Blackhawks taking a 1 game lead in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings, which I just finished watching. Another good thing is that the Cubs just took another series, their second in the last 5, which doesn't sound good until you realize that they went through 9 to start the year without a win. In the middle of that is 3 upcoming drafts. On the bad side would be the White Sox in a bit of a funk lately as well as losing Jose Abreu for a couple of weeks.

Where do the Bears Stand Now?

The Cubs are playing the Cardinals right now, but I still can't get myself enough into baseball this year, despite the Cubs quick 7 run lead in the first of the 3 game set. The White Sox have Jose Abreu and his quick start, but they're under .500 and just lost 3 out of 4 to possibly the worst team in baseball (yes, possibly even worse than the Cubs). The Blackhawks have been doing great, but I admit to not being as hockey savvy as I am with the other 3 major sports, even though I've followed it for just as long as everything except for baseball. The Bulls are done, and I just couldn't get into the season at all once Rose went back down. However, with football there is some hope. Sure, I even gave up on the football season pretty quickly, as the injuries piled up for the Bears at a furious pace, and they seemingly never really had a chance, although they did come too close to the playoffs.

Well, we are just coming off one of the most hopeful times of the year. The draft always brings a new hope. That on top of an excellent free agency and plenty of injured players returning healthy, and there is a lot of hope that the Bears are moving forward from with this point. The entire NFC North had their drafts praised. Then again, Ted Thompson could draft all longsnappers for the Packers and the media would call him a genius. Anyway, I'm going to go over all of the drafts for all of the teams, compare them to what the Bears did, and from there go into who the Bears have and what their depth charts may possibly look like (or may look like further into the offseason or even once the season gets underway).

How Did the Bears Do In the Draft?

So the draft is now over. The Bears wound up making 8 picks and signing 9 undrafted free agents. I already went over what I thought about the first round pick, but I'll go back over that and everyone else they added to the team in this post. There's 17 guys to go over, so I'm not wasting any more time, let's go.

Thoughts On The Kyle Fuller Pick

Spoiler alert!!! Oh wait, it's already in the subject. So anyway, the Bears made their pick around an hour ago, and it was the Cornerback out of Virginia Tech. Fuller's got a lot of football in his blood. However, there was a roller coaster of emotions. I hadn't even mentioned him earlier today, but I did consider it. I just felt that he was too close to the middle in between the Bears picks where they wouldn't draft him, and he wouldn't fall to them in the 2nd round. Well, I was wrong on that I guess, and the Bears made him the 14th overall pick.

My Final Bears Draft

Okay, the draft starts in 20 minutes from when I am typing this very sentence. With that being said, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail over what this is or type some exciting opening paragraph (sorry, no firsts tonight). I'm saying who I think the Bears wind up with, not trying to do any sort of novelty, but who I think they really do wind up with.

My Attempt At Emery Picks

I know, I know, there's the crosstown series going on and I'm not saying anything about it. Well, personally, I've never gotten too into the series. First off, while I am a Cubs fan first, I've never held any hatred for the White Sox, and I even grew up watching the Cubs during the day and the Sox during the night. They represent the same city that I love, and they play in different leagues. It was minor enough when they played a whopping 6 games against each other, now it's down to 4. It's not a real rivalry, at best it's a novelty rivalry, and I really don't care too much about it. So with that to the side, what I'm going to try to do tonight is pull off the impossible and figure out who is going to be drafted by Emery in this upcoming draft. The toughest part of doing this is getting that guy the Bears will draft. Emery tends to draft a position that everyone knows he'll draft, but the player he drafts is always the surprise. So what I'm going to try to do is take guys that fit that Emery mold. A bit of a reach, but not a huge reach, and athletic or otherwise physically gifted. So here it goes!

Why You Should Be Rooting For Fendi Onobun

Fendi Onobun is a tight end that played during the preseason for the Bears last year, but spent the regular season on the practice squad. While there's a lot of guys that are in that boat, Onobun is a very interesting case. The 27 year old was initially a basketball player, but made the switch to football. Guys like Tony Gonzalez (who I believe did always play football as well as basketball, so it's not too different) and Antonio Gates have had a similar path. It's not just this with Onobun though, it's where he is now, where he can be in the future, and the attitude he brings. Throughout last preseason there was just one thing he couldn't do, and that was hold on to the ball. If he could do this, he could be a stud with the Bears. Now it's time to go a bit deeper though.

My Bears Draft Top 64 List

With the draft approaching fast, I feel like it's time I gave my initial list of what I feel should be the top 64 guys the Bears should go for in the draft. I feel like positional rankings are important in a draft, but the ultimate goal should be a list of guys that you want your team (or just your favorite team, in the case of fans like us) to draft. Of course this is going to be far off, because Emery seems to be a guy who likes to surprise fans with his picks, but these are the guys, in order, that I feel like the Bears should have on their list. I took both position and the quality of the player into account while making this list.

Baseball and Football Thoughts

I want to address a couple of things today. One of them is the Bears signing of Josh Morgan, a signing that has been fairly understated by most fans so far, but what is still not expected by me to be a huge signing. The second is a stupid trend in baseball that has to end now, that is the whole, "Playing the game the right way," trend. It was the cause for another stupid brawl the other day that has led to several suspensions, and what I'll call Brian McCann syndrome has become a well intentioned plague on the game.

Where Do the Bears Stand Now?

It's been a while since my last Bears post, so I'm going to go ahead and post about where they are now and a little bit about the draft. I wish I could make it sound more interesting, but a summary of what this will be really isn't. We'll look at the current depth of the team for the most part, some of the mock drafts out there, and then about what I think the Bears should do in the draft.

Terrible Stats To Judge By, Pt. 1

There's always that sports fan who will argue sports using nothing but stats. It becomes more and more obvious how little they actually know when you see the stats that this person starts using. This is where I'm going to bring up horrible stats that people will use to try to tell you that one player in a sport is better than another. Of course this list is only going to include team sports, as it's too obvious with individual sports, and even the dumbest fans know not to argue against who wins the most (unless comparing eras by saying one guy had to play against tougher competition, but even that isn't as easy as it would seem to figure out).

Bears Signing Allen Opens Up Even More Options

I'm not breaking any news here, but yes, the Chicago Bears have signed a serious pass rusher in Jared Allen. Sure, Allen is a bit older than he was a couple years ago when he got 22 sacks, but he's still only 31 right now, 32 next month (and next season). He's a couple of years younger than Peppers is, and was much more productive last season. Not only that, but there are other major implications with this signing when put alongside other offseason signings. It has become absolutely clear where the Bears are going early in the draft. Of course from there, there are plenty of places they may go, but that's what the rest of this will be for, looking at where they stand now, and where they're probably going for the rest of the offseason.

Who Do the Bears Draft?

The NFL draft is still over a month away. However, one of my favorite things to do in all of sports is speculate on prospects. This is pretty obvious with how much I talk about the Cubs and White Sox prospects, and with how much I talk about the NBA draft as well once it comes around. Based on interests, I think I was meant to be a scout, it's just that I don't know if I would actually be any good at it. Anyway, what I am going to do is look at the draft for the Bears and at each pick and let you know what I think the Bears will do. In the first few rounds I'll actually put a name in there for who I think the Bears draft, but past that I'll just bring up position.

Keeping An Eye on the Prospects

It has actually been over 2 weeks since I have said anything about the Cubs or White Sox prospects. Well, since we're getting to the home stretch of Spring Training, why not take a look at how some of the prospects have looked? Given, a lot of these guys have very small sample sizes that we're working with, but we'll look further than just into the stats into how they've actually looked (if I've actually seen them play) and to implications of what that could mean. That being said, the sacrifice is that I'm really only going to be looking at guys who are near the very top for each organization (around top 10) and have actually played in Spring Training games. There's a ton of prospects who have been in the minor league camp the whole time. Guys like Dan Vogelbach, who had a nice game the other day, won't get any more attention than what he just got there, because he's been in the minor league camp the whole time. Anyway, here we go.

Bears Keep Making Moves!

I was going to take it easy on the Bears offseason talk, but it's hard to do that when the Bears have made moves every day. Even better is that the moves are being made in the right areas. Over the last couple of days the Bears have added a starting quality defensive end in in Willie Young, someone to compete for the kick returner job at a sub $1 million price tag in Domenik Hixon, and of course I'm sure everyone heard today's news, the Bears are bringing Charles Tillman back at a very good price for the team. So it's not like they were just making moves to make moves, they were filling in areas of concern for the team.

Bears Update Post

Since there was the Ratliff blunder on my part yesterday and since there have been a couple more Bears related moves today, I'll go ahead and do another offseason update post to get everything up to date. Of course, I forgot about Jeremiah Ratliff all together yesterday. I was fact checking on the Bears official website, and they didn't have him on there either, so I blew it. Also, the two moves I made mention of above are the Bears signing away a rival's starter by signing the defense's second Jennings, former Packers safety M.D. Jennings. The other news, not as happy news, is that Josh McCown is now a Buccaneer. I'm no fashion expert, but those new uniforms alone would keep me away from there, but I'm also a bit biased.

Thoughts On the Start of Free Agency for the Bears

Free agency started about 4 hours ago from the start of this post. Already a ton has happened. The Bears have made several moves, boosting their defense at both the line and behind it. The biggest splash was when they signed Lamarr Houston almost right away. That was followed by signing safety Ryan Mundy. Also signed was Jordan Senn, a special teams specialist from Carolina. The moves made on guys on the roster last season were also noteworthy. They're bringing back linebacker DJ Williams, a very good move, as Bostic just didn't quite look ready last season, although in a year or two he should start to shine. They also cut Julius Peppers in a huge cap room move. Now, with the basics out of the way it's time to take a bigger look at things.

Evaluating The Bears Offseason Before Free Agency

Free agency starts on Tuesday, March 11. That's only 5 days from this post. The Bears have been re-signing a lot of their players before this starts, to make sure that they don't lose those guys, and they've also made it clear that there are other guys who they will not attempt to hold on to. I will go over what the Bears have done so far and give my thoughts on that. So far there isn't a whole lot to go over, but the main goal here is to see where the team stands going into free agency, and after that, the draft.

John Sickels Rates White Sox Prospects

Like I said for the Cubs prospects, John Sickels' list is one of the lists that I respect the very most. He's very logical and explains why he rates everyone the way he does. Even if I don't agree with him on everything (moreso on things like player effort (take Jorge Soler for instance, Sickels probably hadn't heard that the Cubs had told him to take it easy on grounders in the AFL, but he went along with everyone who has dogged Soler's effort), and less on actual player abilities, since he's actually had a chance to see players), he's logical and really knows his stuff. If I were you, I would take his word over mine. However, I'm still going to share my opinions on his grades and where he ranks all of the White Sox prospects. I will not be sharing too much of what he actually says though. If you want to know (and you should), you can click here to read the article. The White Sox system was in horrible shape just a year ago, but has moved up some over the last year. It's still not a great system by any means, but it's getting closer to the middle of the pack (11-20 range), although still probably a few spots away.

Why You Can't Compare Today's Cubs to the Cubs of 2009.

The exact date would be the Cubs of October 26, 2009 and before. October 27, 2009 is when the Ricketts family took over the Cubs. At that point it had only been 101 years since the Cubs last won a World Series. After this season, barring divine intervention (not the Slayer album), it's going to be 106 years. Fear not though Cubs fans, at very least, we can say that Ricketts (I'll just refer to Tom from here on out, since he's the figurehead) isn't doing things the way the Tribune did, and that's a very good thing.

Ricketts is someone who has been beaten relentlessly in the media over the last year or so. The rebuild that the Cubs are going through has really tested the patience of the fans, and unfortunately many of the fans don't have the mental toughness to go through with a rebuild. However, Ricketts has not wavered and has, along with the rest of the front office, stuck with the plan. However, despite this never happening before in the history of the team, people still seem to pull the old "It's still the Cubs" line. Well, it's not.

Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects

Baseball America just released their list of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball. Chicago was, to say the least, well represented on this list. For most lists I really wouldn't bother, but Baseball America is one of the bigger places to go for anything baseball, and their team usually does a very good job in ranking prospects. Therefore I will go over each of the Chicago players or future players and my thoughts on their inclusion among other things. The full article from Baseball America can be found by clicking here.

Spring Training Is Here And Optimism Is All Around

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Neither the Cubs or White Sox are mathematically eliminated, and for once the sports media is actually mostly positive, of course not totally positive, but mostly positive. Right now what we're hearing are arguments as to why we shouldn't totally count either team out yet. While it's tough to really make a case for either team doing anything spectacular this year, at the same time there are reasons, at this point, to believe that each team might actually be worth watching this season, and yes, even despite their poor record last year and marginal, at best, improvement on the big league squad, that includes the Cubs. Also yes, even though they have Hawk Harrelson calling games, that includes the White Sox.

Why I Love the Noah Fine

So Joakim Noah had a meltdown last night in Sacramento after being ejected from the game between the Bulls and Kings. After the second technical foul was called Noah looked at each of the referees, pointed at them and dropped the f bomb on each of them. Clearly this was an overreaction on Noah's part, but at the same time it works right into the emotion that Noah plays with each and every night. Still, it was something that Noah should not have done. I knew he would be penalized for it. I was thinking anywhere from a $25,000 to $50,000 fine for it. Some people were even talking a suspension for him because of it. However, the great Adam Silver, the new commissioner of the NBA made a great move in fining him $15,000 for it. Now I'll explain why this was the perfect punishment for Noah.

How The Cubs and White Sox Should/Should Have Sold Themselves to Tanaka

So the Masahiro Tanaka battle will be drawing to a close over the next week, and really could wind up ending over the next few days. The Cubs and White Sox, along with the Dodgers, Yankees, and the Diamondbacks. The Angels are supposedly in, but haven't made any sort of formal offer. Just being in Chicago gives the Cubs a very strong negotiating point, but the Dodgers and Yankees are in even larger cities. However, not all hope is lost. Both Chicago teams have their chance. If I were to weigh it, I'd say the Cubs have a better shot than the White Sox, but neither team is out of it at all, and the White Sox could very well be the team to land him. The chances are that the money will be very similar among all of the offers, so a sales pitch is going to be very important. Here is what I bring up for each team.

Stupid Things Sports Fans And Journalists Say, Part 1

Here it is, this is my venting on the stupidity of sports fans and journalists. This is what drove me to take my much needed hiatus from reading anything outside of scores and really just watching the games, and nothing else. I'm really not an arrogant person, but there is just so much stupidity, some that is just accepted without anyone really thinking about what they're saying, like they're just repeating points that ESPN tells them to make. Here is where I say what is stupid, and from there explain why it is stupid.

John Sickels Rates Cubs Prospects

I went on a bit of a hiatus again. This time for different reasons. I just pretty much became totally disenfranchised with sports journalists and sports fans in general it has nothing to do with fans that understand how things work and whatnot, but just people who either don't think before they say things, or just say things that are unbelievably stupid. I had to save my sanity and realize that being around it just wasn't worth it for me. I watched the games, even rewatched some, but ignored any analysis or comments from fans on articles. To be honest, it was a good decision on my part. I hate to sound arrogant or like I'm putting myself above others, but there are a lot of really stupid people out there, and the fact that some of the really stupid people I was escaping were people who were paid to write and talk about this stuff....well, it shows yet another thing wrong with the world. Anyway, I'll have an article on this and just general fan and sportswriter faux pas behavior before too long.

Now, to the matter at hand. One of my favorite times of the year is when John Sickels releases his lists of top prospects for organizations. He goes team by team and puts them out there. Today he released his Cubs list, and before too much longer his White Sox list will be out. It probably won't be very soon, but within the next couple of months, which in the grand scheme of things isn't a long time at all. The list can be viewed here.