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.
The Manny Ramirez signing is really a major headline. Of course it shouldn't be, as the media rarely gets their actual headlines right, but either way, everyone has an opinion on this signing either in support or opposition. It's understandable that Manny Ramirez is an interesting choice. He had a career that was largely marred by very questionable moves. From leaving the field to go to the bathroom in the middle of an inning, dogging it to try to force a trade, and even using female hormones to mask his steroid use (2 in 1 there), there are plenty of good reasons to not want Manny Ramirez around any Cubs players who they are trying to develop. However, that's exactly what the Cubs are doing, so why are they doing this?
Well, first off, we all have to accept that we don't know everything about everything. There is a lot about Manny Ramirez that we don't know, and there's a lot that I have learned over the past couple of days about him. The first thing is that he's actually a student of the game. I had heard from several places (mainly television, but also from articles) that he's someone who actually would watch tape. I'd heard that he goes everywhere with his bat. Despite using steroids, he was still a great hitter, and a player doesn't become a great hitter even with steroids without knowing certain things about hitting.
Going on from there, it looks like he might be the favorite player of Javier Baez, which only will be good for Baez, assuming all of the things that Epstein has said about him are true. This was a very interesting move by the front office, and while a lot of people are being rash in both directions with what they thing about it, rash decisions lead to wrong decisions. We need to wait until this thing really gets going before making a judgement on this move.
Speaking of Javier Baez, he was named the PCL player of the week last week, continuing on with his recent tear that he's been on. Bleachernation had some good information on it, along with some praise for Kris Bryant. Pretty much, in the last 10 days or so, Baez has gotten his average from the .140's to .225 and has his OPS reaching a reasonable level (especially considering his age and level). This is great news for Cubs fans, as it's showing that the early slump Baez had was nothing more than him just getting back into the swing of things at a new level. This also increases the chance that Baez comes up to the big leagues this season. Albert Almora has also broken out of his slump by this point, but he's doing it in a much more gradual way instead of just bursting forward like Baez. Soler is the only of the big 4 that is any sort of worry right now, and that's only because of his injuries. Now it's the other hamstring that's a problem. Soler has been very good when he's been in, so if he can get himself healthy, then the Cubs will have another good looking prospect.
Moving on to the Bears, OTAs are underway, and Michael C Wright wrote up some observations on what he saw. The first point he made was that it was obvious why the coaching staff is so high on Chris Williams as a return guy. I've been pulling for him the whole time, ever since I saw some highlight videos, which are normally a terrible way to judge a player, but the one thing I wanted to see was his speed, and he was very fast. With some decent blocking he can take a few back next season. Hopefully he continues to impress everyone. It looks like they have MD Jennings and Ryan Mundy as their top safeties right now while Conte is out. So they're not ready to put Vereen there yet. Hopefully he is able to impress enough during camp to overtake Conte and Jennings, because I really just don't trust either one of those guys as a starter at this point. One of the more interesting points that was made is that when the Bears go into a Nickel package they are going to have Tim Jennings be the Nickel CB and have Kyle Fuller play the outside. I thought that was a very interesting move by the coaches, and Jennings talked about it a bit in an interview I caught. He doesn't seem upset about it, but he admitted that he's going to have to relearn how to play nickel a bit. It's a move that makes sense, given Fuller and Jennings' size, so hopefully this is a move that pays off. Starters on the defensive line are Allen and Houston at the ends with Paea and Ratliff inside. The only way I can see that changing is if they decide to start Collins instead of Paea, but I think this makes sense, and they will change it up depending on situation throughout games, I'm sure. The only other two points of interest is that the receivers came into camp in great shape (as well as Bennett), which is great to see, it shows plenty of dedication to both their abilities and to their own work ethic. Also, according to Wright, Shea McClellin not only looked pretty good at linebacker, he says that McClellin looked natural.
Now, that's a huge thing right there. First off, what many had already written off as a wasted pick suddenly would have new life breathed into it if he indeed turns out to be a good linebacker. Sure, it's too early to say anything for sure, but just going over what it would mean here. The Bears would go from looking a little bit thin at linebacker to suddenly looking like they might have a solid group going into the future that just may need a couple of tweaks here and there. That would also free up future draft choices for other positions. In another article they even mentioned that McClellin took some snaps in the middle, but that Bostic was primarily in the middle (Williams was not there). We don't know where McClellin will wind up once the season starts, but to have him at linebacker will be great. He's got great size and athleticism for the position, so the possible reward is sky high here, and the risk is that the Bears have to finally give up on a first round draft pick while using an early pick in the 2015 draft on a linebacker.
Before anyone says anything about McClellin wearing #50, there was a huge outcry about it when Anderson wore it last year. The bottom line is that it's a number on a shirt that the players wear on the field. There is nothing more to it than that. Yes, Singletary is a Hall of Fame linebacker that wore that number, but I didn't hear the same outcry when Dan Hampton's #99 was worn by McClellin, Flanigan, or Tim Ryan, and he was more important to that Superbowl defense than Singletary was. Still, the bottom line is that getting worked up over whatever number someone is wearing is really stupid to me. I also think the Bears should just do a ring of honor type of thing and get rid of retiring numbers.
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