Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Our Teams Don't Deserve Us

Happy Friday Chicago…

Cubs deadline, Sox-induced nausea, Roquan, Let’s go.

There are two scenarios that happened last week that have culminated into a great ‘Would you rather?’ for all of us — and each is a greater reflection of the teams we root for.

Willson Contreras visibly cried tears on the field and in press conferences for basically a two-week period. He also deleted all mentions of the Cubs on his social media. The most direct comparison would be a college-aged girl who just got broken up with and went on a bit of a downward spiral, and it’s even more fitting that, in the end, the parties got back together after all.

Alas, it was all much to do about nothing.

That’s certainly not Willson’s fault. And on this newsletter, we are generally pro-crying. I just watched Rocky and Ivan Drago fight for the 3,642nd time on YouTube as I procrastinated writing this newsletter, and I almost cried when the Russian was cut for the first time, yet again.

There is no shame in a man crying. I knew guys who would get too drunk and cry in college — that was a bit much, if we’re being honest — but if every man let out a couple healthy streams down the cheeks a few times per year, there would probably be a lot less crime in this country.

For now, most men save their tears for a College GameDay special about a kid with cancer who wants Purdue to beat Illinois that Saturday or something. The male holds them back at every logical point — a relationship ending, a family member passing, the Bulls losing Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, losing a job — and instead waits to decant his tears into his coffee mug as an ESPN narrator explains the beauty of college football during a 10-minute segment.

But if you are going to cry, you want it to feel fully justified, so you can really lean into it. (Not all people believe Adam Sandler’s “Click” meets that threshold, unfortunately).

You don’t realize sleep is a performance-enhancing drug until you get a full night of it, and likewise, you don’t realize why your mother sobs at Criminal Minds episodes until you give it a shot. You give into that cry throat and let that lava come to the surface, and afterwards, you feel like smiling again.

Contreras may have realized this in the month leading up to the trade deadline. For all we know, the Cubs told him he would not be traded weeks ago, and the guy just wanted to keep receiving stand ovations and sobbing his eyes out anyway.

Imagine you were crying at a College GameDay segment and then immediately after you were told the subject struggling with pediatric cancer was actually a child actor, and the whole desk started laughing in your face on national television. That, more or less, is what happened to Willson Contreras two weeks ago.

If you were to tell me last Tuesday that you’d give me $5 by the end of the day if Contreras was not traded, and I’d have to pay you $200 if he wasn’t traded, I’d already have been plotting what kind of donut I was going to shove in my face to accompany my Dunkin’ coffee the next morning.

And yet, the next day, we had Jed Hoyer’s face on the TV feed of Cubs-Cardinals telling us the Cubs valued him too much to give him away for the offers they got.

So, again, I don’t want to shame crying.

But if I was a bumbling son of a bitch for three weeks straight — crying on national television, editing my social media, hugging my bros like there was no tomorrow in the dugout — only to find out that was all for literally no reason, I would be pretty mortified.

Yeah, he got a standing ovation again the next day in St. Louis, but if you search “Willson Contreras Crying” on Google, you get a page populated with nearly 300,000 results in less than .37 seconds. The damage is done.

He said after the game that a “weight was lifted off his shoulders,” but he may have set back the concept of males crying another decade. You can’t cry because you’ve purposely gotten yourself too drunk to speak and you can’t cry for no reason. Those are my two bugaboos with crying.

But for all intents and purposes, he was crying for a reason. He, like all of us, genuinely believed he was going to be traded.

Instead, the Cubs dangled their players for a half of a calendar year and then stood pat at the deadline. And still, with no return to point to, they have not signed either of the players — Ian Happ or Contreras — that they held onto. If they don’t, they’ll have made their players look really dumb, and themselves really, really dumb, during this whole process.

What the hell was the point of this past two months?

Like a city expecting a bomb to go off, Batman came to sweep it away at the last second, leaving all of us to go outside and see sunshine at 5:30 p.m. for the first time since April and think “what the fuck just happened?”

All the while, the team that really should have been doing something at the trade deadline was the White Sox, and yet their GM came out afterward and said “we’re disappointed too,” like a politician who cries to his or her constituents over the problems in their district without realizing they are the one with the power to actually do something.

For the Chef’s kiss, our boy took a micro-nap during the first inning of a mid-season, central time zone game (not that west coast time zone, late in the game would make it acceptable, but perhaps understandable).

This sort of doze off is acceptable in only a few cases:

1. In any high school class. If you go to a college class and fall asleep, you’re a moron — you don’t need to be there.

2. If you’re a 58-year-old man up drinking with your son and his friends because they convinced you to do so, and then after 15 beers, at 2 a.m., one of them is explaining why Mike Tyson is a better boxer than Muhammad Ali for some reason. This is just an example, of course, and is not at all an exact recall of a situation in the not-so-distant past.

3. If at any point anyone is explaining to you the intricate details of their work situation. We don’t care, brotha. I asked how work was because you didn’t leave after I asked “How’s it going.”

At an MLB baseball game, though? That has to be unprecedented for a manager. Of course, it’s also damn near unprecedented to be a 77-year-old running your baseball team day in and day out.

Every guy having a mid- or three quarter-life crisis that was invigorated by the White Sox belief in an older guy in Tony La Russa is fucking pissed right now.

Some poor bastard is trying to get into a new industry after a divorce to find himself right now, and the hiring manager just nixed his name from a list because they saw Tony falling asleep in the dugout the night prior.

Ageism and the stigma against men crying all were bolstered by our favorite ball clubs this past month, and yet, neither of our teams were really bolstered, which is all we asked for. A crazy thing to ask for out of a team that has thrown up the White Flag — certainly not the one with a W on it — for two years now and another team that had the 4th best odds to win the World Series at the beginning of the season.

Last Tuesday was, no hyperbole, one of the most bizarre news days in Chicago sports during my lifetime.

The idea that Happ and Contreras were not traded is just embarrassing. Not because they kept them, but the way in which they did. And the idea that the White Sox could not improve a struggling roster one iota, despite a dozen other teams doing so, is indefensible.

It’s not Contreras’ fault for crying and it’s not La Russa’s fault for having a biological tendency to dose off at his advanced age.

But… would you rather be caught falling asleep during a major league baseball game you’re intimately involved in, or cry during multiple games, retrospectively, for no reason?

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It would become boring to read paragraph after paragraph about just how stunned I was at the Cubs lack of movement at the trade deadline, so I will try to abstain from that.

I am glad Willson Contreras is a Cub. It appears the Cubs played a game of chicken and lost in the end. I think they were fully planning on trading Contreras, and I believe Jed that they just didn’t receive what they thought was a fair offer.

In that case, if the Cubs do not extend Contreras — and let him walk for nothing, or just a compensatory pick — that is an utter failure.

It sure seems like Contreras wants to be with the Cubs, as I detailed above. I assume he also wants to be paid like the best hitting catcher in baseball, which you certainly cannot blame him for.

Contreras has made about $20 million in his career.

Take a deep breath. Let out your “$20 MILLION? I THINK HE’LL BE OKAY.” comment now. That’s not the point, nor is it ever the point.

After all, I am okay as well, but I still think I deserve to be compensated properly for the quality work I do and the effort I put in — just like you all do. It doesn’t change based on what each profession pays.

He just turned 30, and therefore, this is his one and only chance to cash in. The DH in the NL has certainly helped his cause, but still, catchers do not age well. He’s made three All Star games over six full years. He’s hit better than league average — generally way above league average — in all but one of those years, when he tailed off at the end of the season. He’s hit far better than his catching peers.

As he ages, he’s a serviceable catcher with a great arm. He can also play first base when need be, and also DH.

If people care about this stuff anymore, he’s also the spirit of the team. I still believe that’s a compelling reason to keep someone around, but most front offices at this point do not. His relationship with Christopher Morel is enough evidence.

I find it completely reasonable that Contreras wants a big deal after his best season, and I understand — really — why the Cubs thought of trading him. But it’s the way they went about it. And if they don’t extend him, that will be a significant black eye on Jed Hoyer’s legacy.

I thought keeping Ian Happ was fine. I thought trading him was fine. Admittedly, I am biased when it comes to guys who clearly love being Cubs, so I was happy he was not traded.

If you look at the Cubs best six players just based on OPS+ — my favorite hitting metric, OPS (SLUGGING + ON-BASE PERCENTAGE) weighted against everyone else in the league, for an average — you find six position players worth keeping.

Take or leave Wisdom, he’s fine and cheap.

It’s safe to say 95% of Cubs fans did not know who Morel was prior to the season. He’s been an ahead-of-schedule prospect surprise.

Happ has had his best year. He’s a good player, and can play multiple outfield positions.

Nico Hoerner has been nothing short of fantastic. He has, in my opinion, made himself a shoo-in for the Cubs infield for the next five years. He will be an integral part of the next playoff Cubs team. He’s batting .300 and one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball.

Seiya Suzuki, sans the injury period, has been good. I think he’s going to be a great piece for the Cubs in the coming years.

On the pitching side, you have Marcus Stroman — a good pitcher on a reasonable deal who has been great since he returned from injury. You have Justin Steele, who has been fantastic of late and will for sure be a part of the Cubs staff the next time they’re in the playoffs. The same goes for Keegan Thompson.

If you pair that with the terrific farm system that they have admittedly built up over the past two years, especially including guys like Pete Crowe-Armstrong and Brennan Davis, and you are one or two big-name signings away from being a really, really good baseball team in two years and a competitive one next year.

I also think Nick Madrigal — who was dreadful at the outset of the year, but has been great since returning from the deadline at the beginning of the month — is going to be a good player in the long run, so long as he can stay healthy.

Here’s what the Cubs did net at the deadline:

— The Cubs traded a great reliever in Scott Effross to the Yankees for Hayden Wesneski, a 24-year old pitching prospect. Effross is not only good, he has five years left of team control, which left some people scratching their heads. But they also, in a vacuum, got four years younger. Furthermore, the Cubs have proven to be very good at identifying talent for their bullpen in the past few years. Wesneski has good numbers this year — mid 3s ERA and a WHIP hovering over 1 — but you have to watch him pitch, and strike people out, to really understand the Cubs’ intrigue. He’ll likely contribute soon, and bring a level of swing-and-miss prowess to the Cubs that they had notoriously lacked in recent years.

— The Cubs traded 36-year-old Chris Martin to the Dodgers for Zack McKinstry. McKinstry is a utility man who may end up not contributing to the Cubs much at all. But trading Martin was a no brainer.

— The Cubs traded Mychal Givens — another reliever they struck gold on — to the Mets for Saul Gonzalez, a 6’7!, 235-lb! pitcher from Puerto Rico. He’s 22 years old and in A-ball. He’s been pitching well this year and, again, has proven to have the ability to strike people out.

What’s obviously more significant is 1. What the Cubs did not trade at this deadline and 2. What they did trade at the last deadline.

Tom Ricketts hasn’t been saying much of late. At least he’s finally said something, and the right thing, for now.

“I'll be the first to acknowledge this is not the type of baseball Cubs fans deserve," Ricketts told ESPN. "Our decision last year to move away from Cubs players who brought us a World Series title was tough, but we have a plan to return to championship contention by building the next great Cubs team around a young core of players augmented by free agent signings -- and we're making progress."

Free agent signings are the next step. And this offseason, with the class that’s out there, it’s time to put his money where his mouth is.

Despite all the ire the Cubs have evoked, and how frustrated I have been with their incompetencies from a fan-facing perspective, I will admit I am happy with where things are headed. But this should not be a slow process.

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When football is more than a month out, it feels like it’s too soon to start hyping yourself up. Especially if you’re in Chicago, it’s a slippery slope to start wishing that July would pass by quickly. Soon enough, we’ll be in February slipping on ice and hating our lives.

Three weeks out, and it’s on. I’m on college football team season win totals, I’m listening to 2-3 podcasts per day, I’m booking travel to the great states of Iowa and Tennessee and I’m ready to do nothing but watch football when the time comes. And I really mean that: do nothing but watch football. I am going to have fucking eye black on for the Northwestern-Nebraska game in Week 0.

But when you’re three weeks out, you’re generally excited for college football and you just want it. It’s lust.

Not right now. I need college football, and even NFL football, now. (I love the NFL too, but the Bears make things more dreary). NOW.

The reason why? The Cubs are god awful, as we all know. You can only get excited about Nico Hoerner’s shortstop play in losses for so many months.

But even worse are the god forsaken White Sox. I cannot stand this team, and I can only imagine how lifelong White Sox fans feel. They’re watching a wide open window closing without resistance right in front of their eyes.

Johnny Cueto is a league veteran, one of the more respected guys in baseball, and has been throwing his ass off this year.

He says after yet another loss to the Royals that the Sox lack “fire” — something literally every Chicagoan could tell you — and La Russa pushes back.

“I think it’s a curious statement,” La Russa said. “It’s better to be discussed within the family. If there’s a problem, we’ll straighten it out … I heard that he said that and I was surprised he said that. His opinion is welcome and it also carries weight; the guy is experienced. I’ll ask him about it.”

What?

How is that even something you push back on? And furthermore, how can you say “that stays within the family?” The audacity from this guy.

Besides being both obvious and true, that is the most throw away comment I’ve ever read. And La Russa takes objection to it?

If this guy isn’t gone at the end of the season, all hell should break loose among the fan base.

With Tim Anderson out for six week, the Sox are 3.5 games out of the division and, I think, on the verge of one of the most embarrassing non-playoff-qualifying seasons of the 21st century.

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On Tuesday morning, Roquan Smith called out the new regime — and even named the McCaskeys — in a message to the media over the lack of a new, agreed-upon contract.

Basically, if you haven’t read it, he claimed the front office was not negotiating in good faith, and said he wanted a trade, unless the McCaskeys could come over the top and salvage the situation.

There are so many angles to this story.

— First and foremost, I do not believe Roquan is going anywhere.

— The Bears put him on the PUP list (physically unable to perform) so that he could sit at practice during negotiations and not be bothered with fines or too many questions from the media.

— There’s no chance the front office OR the McCaskeys were anything but seething that Roquan put that message out at all, but especially in the way in which he did.

— It may not be Ryan Poles fault, but in a short tenure, he’s now had two pretty embarrassing moments with this and Larry Ogunjobi losing his contract after failing a physical.

— Roquan does not have an agent. He probably was too tepid with his approach by holding in and hanging out at practice while trying to get a massive deal. Now he went too far over the top with this leak to the media. This is what happens when you don’t have an agent, and just have advisors who may or may not know what they’re doing.

— Roquan being the best Bears player is not exactly the argument you think it is. The Bears don’t have a lot of good players. He also plays a non-premium position in today’s NFL, even if it is supposedly an important one in Matt Eberflus’ defense. The Bears were never going to just hand him the biggest deal by far in LB history and move on. That’s their job.

— But their job is also to avoid these sorts of situations, and they’ve failed at that. It’s clear they were seething because they now removed him from the PUP list, meaning he can be fined. Who knows yet if he will be. He was still at practice with all of his Bears attire yesterday. It’s now a stand off.

— Adam Schefter has reported that the Bears offers have been “competitive” and fair. We don’t know exactly what that means. Again, like Contreras, Roquan has the right to try to get the biggest contract he can.

— When it’s all said and done, I think he will be a Bear. But I don’t think either side looks good in this, and I think that on a team without much talent, it’s pretty awful to have your best player in this position a day before the first preseason game. That’s not exactly going out on a limb, though.

We’ll see what happens. Thank you for reading, as always! Have a great weekend… STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGO. Football, we’ll see you soon.

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