Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Cubs and Sox Look Almost as Bad as Julianna Zobrist

Good morning Chicago, I hope everyone that got the day off Friday or had a half day enjoyed their weekends,

If you missed Friday’s newsletter, go ahead and give that a read here before you read this one. I discussed my thoughts, in detail, on the Bears possibly moving to Arlington Heights.

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Around Chicago

Welcome back to the newsletter. I hope everyone, and their property and belongings, are safe after the storms that rolled through Monday night.

I was petrified of storms growing up, specifically tornadoes. I still am to a certain extent. But just as I realized why grown men next to me in the troughs at Wrigley were able to piss so much longer than I once I aged, I’ve also realized why you stop caring as much about storm systems as you age.

On Monday in particular, I got into bed and was pumped to be ready to snooze at a reasonable hour. As I scrolled through Twitter for the 46th time, just to make sure I wouldn’t miss any new useless information, I saw that a potential tornado was headed to the area I reside.

Seek shelter immediately!

Ultimately, I conducted a risk-reward analysis. Getting a shitty night’s sleep and having to drudge through a work day exhausted was far worse in my mind at that point than mitigating the chance of being hit by an airborne object flying through my bedroom window.

Thus, I went to bed. A tornado isn’t that scary when positioned next to a workday where answering a single email feels like summiting Mount Everest.

In other news, Ben Zobrist’s ex-wife alledgedly had an affair with their pastor, which makes her even more loathsome of a character than when she was just screaming BENNY! in her awful rendition of “Benny and the Jets” as Zobrist stepped to the plate during his days with the Cubs.

For a Christian singer, she’s quite an awful Christian and possibly a worse singer. To make matters worse, this scumbag pastor was consulting Zobrist at the same time over issues with his anxiety and depression, and at one point encouraged him to give his wife distance, all while he was engaging in an affair with her. The pastor was also married.

At the very least, Jon Lester’s name was cleared. I can imagine a lot of you heard the rumors that it was Lester who had been having an affair with Zobrist’s wife and that that was one of the reasons why Zobrist’s leave of absence lasted so long in 2019.

That is a good reason why you should never believe rumors that you hear from random people at work, who somehow know because of a friend of a friend, the details of Jonathan Toews personal health information or Julianna Zobrist’s infidelity.

I also was unable to come to grips with the fact that Jonny Lester, a family man and an all-time Cub, would do that to another man of the same ilk. Now I don’t have to.

Zobrist is one of the under-appreciated Cubs of this era. Not only was he the World Series MVP, slashing .357/.419/.500 over seven games, but he also was very productive and exactly what the Cubs needed in two of the four years he was with the team. He did it all on the wrong side of 35.

I had the pleasure of meeting him once, and he was as genuine of a professional athlete I’ve ever met. Just a gem of a guy. That was already evident from his interactions with fans and the media, but it’s always nice to confirm.

I really hope he’s able to find comfort and better people in his future and move on from the horrible, undeserved bullshit he’s dealt with here.

Elsewhere in Chicago, Zach LaVine may be on the outside looking in for the Olympic roster this summer after Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard, Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo, among others, have committed to playing for the team.

The key is to always start local and then get national and global, and this was just an entrance to say how much I love USA Basketball.

Whereas I enjoy parity in the NBA and a level playing field, I despise it in national contests. I love waking up at obscure hours of the morning to cheer for players I don’t usually cheer for and watch America alley oop all over a bunch of morons from lesser countries. At no point am I more patriotic than when the US of A is literally dropping their testicles on the top of confused European foreheads.

Oh yeah? You thought we did a bad job handling COVID? Don’t like our politicians?

Keep crying, the score is 146-54 and our second team — five All-Stars — is still hitting your nation’s best with hesitations that are knocking ‘em back to their economically inferior motherlands.

I care as much about USA Basketball dominance as the men on Twitter who have been responding to every post about NFL player Carl Nassib coming out as gay with “Who cares!” Meaning, I care a whole lot.

It means even more when there is a Bull on the roster, though. When Derrick Rose played in the World Championships and they came through the United Center for an exhibition, I’ve never seen a crowd go as nuts as they did for him when he took the mic before the tipoff against Brazil.

I would love to see LaVine get a chance, but given all the dudes that have committed, it may be tough. Playing for Team USA helps players form relationships with others, and often leads to alliances down the line (ideally in Chicago). Plus, it undeniably elevates their games by the time they come home.

I don’t care if you’re a Bernie Bro still wearing a mask when you take the garbage out, even though Trader Joe’s employees don’t even wear them anymore; don’t care if you’re a Trump guy and think he’ll eventually be President again somehow in the coming months; don’t care if you’re a libertarian who doesn’t think driver’s licenses are necessary; and don’t care if you don’t care about politics.

When USA hits the chests of America’s best players, you better be taking the -35 spreads and be teetering the xenophobic line as you watch America assert its dominance.

Tokyo can’t come soon enough.

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The NBA Draft lottery is tonight at 7:30 p.m., and the Bulls will be represented by General Manager Marc Eversely.

As you may know, the Bulls theoretically traded their draft pick this year to the Orlando Magic in the deal for Nikola Vucevic. But the pick is top-4 protected, meaning if they were able to get lucky and move into a top-4 slot, they’d be able to keep their pick for this year’s loaded class.

They have a 20.3% of doing so, and a 4.5% chance of landing the no. 1 pick. Landing in the top-4 would mean that they lose next year’s pick, which would likely a lower pick and thus less important.

It would also mean they could round out their roster with another young, talented player. Cade Cunningham — if available — would be a no-brainer. He’s a 6’8 guard/wing out of Oklahoma State who is the consensus no. 1 pick. So even if the Bulls get in top 4, it’s unlikely they get him. But he’s good enough that the Bulls would take the best available if they got the chance, despite his position contradiction with LaVine.

It’s more likely the Bulls would land on one of the Jalen’s. Jalen Suggs, Gonzaga’s point guard last year, would be a tremendous fit with the Bulls and the kind of player that could take them to the next level, perhaps immediately. Trading for Vuc and then getting Suggs anyway would be the kind of luck that the Bulls have been waiting for since they traded away Jimmy Butler.

If he gets taken prior to their pick (again, if they have one), Jalen Green — a guard who elected to play in the G-League this year — would probably make the most sense.

The goal of tonight for the Bulls, though, is to launch into the top-4 and position themselves to get Suggs.

That would solve their point guard problems, and leave them room to get free agents elsewhere to round out the roster, ones that aren’t as expensive as Lonzo Ball. It would allow them to keep Thaddeus Young and focus on adding depth to be a playoff contender, and also allow Coby White to be the player he truly is — a 6th man scorer type, not a traditional point guard.

If they don’t get into the top-4, however, it will give the Bulls more room in cap space heading into the offseason. Without a hefty rookie salary to pay, they’ll be more flexible in what they can do.

There comes the Lonzo Ball option, which I wrote about in detail the last couple of weeks.

There’s also another potential, but unlikely, option. If you pay attention to basketball at all, you’ve seen Ben Simmons — the 76ers point guard — getting dragged for his putrid playoff performances of late.

Most people think he’s played his last game in Philly. His stock has never been lower, which means it’s the best time to trade for him.

He makes a lot ($30 million+) for a guy that can’t shoot a jump shot, and sometimes refuses to shoot at all, but the fact of the matter is, he’d be perfect on the Bulls.

He wouldn’t have to be a second fiddle, because he could be the third offensive fiddle behind Vuc and LaVine. He’s also a wonderful defender and passer, two things the Bulls absolutely need next to LaVine.

It could not be a more perfect fit. Bulls fans that don’t want Ben Simmons are prisoners of the moment and also probably a little delusional in terms of where the Bulls are.

He’s 24 years old, a first-team All Defense player, and a three-time NBA All-Star. Those accolades would immediately put him above every current Bull, whether he’s better than them or not.

The issues only lie in what we’d have to get up to make the salaries match, and what Philly’s Daryl Morey would be willing to give him up for. Morey is smart and undoubtedly recognizes the immense value he still has.

The fact is, he probably just hit his low-point. His undeniable skills as a defender and passer are still impressive enough, and I think his offensive game will improve — it has to. Most of it is mental anyway, which can be fixed, especially with a change of scenery.

I’d take him in a heartbeat. But to be clear, I would not be for giving away LaVine for him, which of course the worst fanbase in all of America — Philadelphia — thinks is a reasonable return.

At the very least, the Bulls should explore this avenue aggressively this offseason. A Simmons-LaVine-Vuc-Young-(plug in shooter here) lineup would be legitimately potent, immediately a top-5 team in the East.

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Tommy Nance, the 30-year old rookie right hander that the Cubs have relied on somewhat significantly this year, was the subject of concern as the MLB began enforcing strict rules on pitchers using foreign substances to enhance grip and spin in recent weeks.

His spin rate began dropping a bit, but as he faced the first couple batters in Monday’s loss to the Indians, he looked quite good. I thought about how him not using spider tack, or sunscreen and rosin, or whatever, may not have as big of an effect on him as expected.

Promptly, he gave up a double, and then threw two insanely wild pitches in which he seemed to not have any grip at all, to allow a run.

That was a bit of a microcosm of the Cubs recent stretch as a whole, a glimpse of hope and then some really, really bad moments.

They lost three of four to the Mets, then came home on short rest to get pummeled by the Marlins two games in a row before avoiding a sweep in the finale.

Then on Monday, instead of rebounding, they lost 4-0 while trotting out a real downtrodden lineup. That was thanks to:

— David Ross’ strange affinity for Eric Sogard, who struck out in a high-leverage situation in which the Cubs had two men on and had a chance to get back in the game.

RushingBaseball @RushingBaseball

Eric Sogard ranks 45th of 46 second basemen by wRC+ (min 130 PA)

Injuries haven’t helped, but the fact that Sogard has 144 at-bats for a team that is competing for a division is, frankly, unacceptable.

— The Cubs gave Jason Heyward a massive deal six years ago and are still paying the price for it, both monetarily and in wins. Heyward has sunk back to his pre-2020 days, and is one of the worst hitters in all of baseball. At this point, Sogard-Heyward coming up in the order may as well be two pitchers, hellbent on stopping anything resembling a rally.

Heyward “doubled,” but Cubs fans are way past the point of not recognizing that the only way Heyward gets on base half the time is by hitting a soft ground ball where the infielders aren’t, likely accidentally.

— Finally, Javier Baez was pulled by Ross for an awful baserunning error, in which he failed to recognize how many outs there were on a fly ball and was doubled off like a little leaguer. After the game, he took the blame and did not fault Ross for pulling him. But right after he was pulled, Sergio Alcantara — his replacement — failed to make a play that Baez probably would have easily.

I don’t have a problem with Ross pulling Baez, especially because he has been prone to these mistakes much more recently, it seems. And that one was an unforgivable one.

But at the same time, both Anthony Rizzo and Eric Sogard have been picked off second base in the past two weeks (Rizzo Sunday), and were not disciplined at all. Sure, Baez’s was more blatant, but Rizzo and Sogard’s mistakes were as costly.

Consistency is nice, especially if you’re going to pull one of your best players. For the love of God, at least discipline Sogard for something.

Uncle Jeff @ebsoftball

I understand benching Javy for losing track of the outs but has Manager David considered benching Sogard for just being a really shitty player?

The Cubs losses would be worrisome if it wasn’t for the Brewers equally awful play of late. After they lost to the worst team in baseball tonight, the Cubs are still tied with them at the top of the division, as the Reds slowly surge up the standings behind both of them.

Kris Bryant has quietly also not had an extra-base hit in nearly 50 at-bats, meaning the immunity that only one Cub player had against slumping is finally wearing off.

Adbert Alzolay also made his return Monday night, throwing just 4.2 innings and giving up 3 earned runs, with 5 Ks and one walk. It wasn’t a horrible start, and wasn’t a great one. Either way, having him back is — unfortunately — is pretty vital to the Cubs success.

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The Sox have reportedly shown interest in Arizona’s Eduardo Escobar, who would potentially be a fill-in for Nick Madrigal if the Jake Burger-to-second pipe dream does not come to fruition.

Escobar is a nice player. Overall, he’s very average, which is not necessarily a bad thing. He wouldn’t be a sexy pick-up, but would be a logical one.

Some Sox fans were likely hoping a bigger splash would be made to capitalize off of a first-place roster that has a chance of winning the World Series. Those gripes are well received, and understandable considering that the Sox still do not even have an above-average payroll.

At the same time, it makes some sense that the Sox wouldn’t want to give up a lot considering all that they’re getting back in the latter half of the season: Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert, two of their top position players.

The Sox suffered an ugly comedown after taking over the league’s top-record spot and beating the Rays in a series, losing four straight to the Astros in Houston.

It’s just one series. And the best remedy for a tough series is a date with the Tigers, who the Sox won’t be playing. But the second-best remedy is a date with the Pirates, and the Sox will be playing them over these next two days, and then getting another off day before two other manageable series against the Mariners and Twins.

Steve Stone is out of the booth again on a little midseason vacation, and thus, we were introduced to Gordon Beckham in the booth these past couple of days. He wasn’t terrible. Now we’ll have the pleasure of listening to Frank Thomas in the booth with Jason Benetti, which should be fun, as I’m sure Benetti will bring the best out of the Big Hurt.

If you haven’t been listening to Benetti and Len Kasper’s podcast, they had Rick Hahn and Bob Odenkirk on in the first two episodes.

Hahn is great and always a joy to listen to. Bob Odenkirk, who is a Cubs fan and plays Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, was fantastic.

A Chicago native, Odenkirk unveiled something that I had not known before: when working on SNL, he wrote the wildly famous “Van Down By the River” skit that Chris Farley carried out with David Spade.

I recommend that podcast — Episode 3 is with the Twitter-famous “Pitching Ninja.”

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Thanks so much for reading, as always. Thanks so much for telling others to subscribe as well. Have a great rest of the week and remember that you STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGO.