Welcome back to Still Gotta Come Through Chicago.
If you missed Tuesday’s newsletter, which featured a recap of the city rebounding, thoughts on the precarious position the Cubs are in, and a breakdown of why the Sox are well suited to make a deep run, read that here first.
Then come back here.
Because I’m planning on writing a lot more beginning this week, I’d love for you to hop back on the newsletter train and make sure all of your friends who enjoy Chicago sports subscribe. Direct them here. Much appreciated.
Today we got:
— Justin Fields hype
— Madrigal injury and Sox fielding woes
— Cubs West Coast trip and vaccine troubles
— Bulls offseason plans, laid out
— And a lot more
Let’s go!
My unconditional disdain for LeBron James used to occupy a lot more of my writing time. Then I grew up and realized… nah, I didn’t realize sheeetttt.
Just wanted to pop in with a quick reminder for the thousands of people up in disarray over their realization during The Last Dance that Michael Jordan went to Atlantic City to gamble before a game against the Knicks in a playoff series (in which his team won).
For one, if you just learned about that story in 2020, you should probably not have a lot of opinions on NBA basketball, and should definitely not be having historical arguments on which players are better or worse from different eras.
But nonetheless, the ‘See, Jordan wasn’t all about winning!’ cheers came from all angles, despite the Bulls going on to beat the Knicks in that series like they always did. It’s still funny to me that anyone gave a shit if a grown man gambled in his spare time anyway, but I digress.
We didn’t hear much of that a couple of weeks ago when LeBron James attended a tequila party not long before a play-in game against the Warriors in which the Lakers almost lost despite being heavy favorites.
For one, and I know this from personal experience (two months off the stuff), tequila ain’t a great thing to be drinking on the week of do-or-die playoff games. Does LeBron James not care about winning?
Secondly, it was a clear and total violation of NBA’s COVID protocols.
“It’s a violation of the agreed upon protocols,” a league spokesman told ESPN, “and, as we have in other comparable instances around the league, it has been addressed with the team.”
The NBA later changed their tune because, obviously, they were not going to suspend LeBron James for an important playoff game. If it was, say, Tomas Satoransky (mentioned more in SGCTC than any other publication, ever), you bet your ass he would have been suspended.
Zach LaVine missed 11! games because he had COVID, which is of course different, but he was also reportedly fine and recovered for the latter half of those games. That likely kept the Bulls from the play-in game, and in that way, it’s frustrating that protocols are enforced for some teams and players but not others.
I’m not mad that LeBron didn’t get suspended though. Was he insanely dumb for 1. going to this party 2. posting for non-ironic no-smile pictures like an ass hole 3. gunning tequila on the eve of the playoffs? Yes. But I don’t think the NBA should have kept him out of a playoff game just for violating very clear protocols.
That also brings me back to an obvious point: the league will always look after their best and most popular players, and make sure they’re available for as many games as possible to satisfy their television partners.
And they did again here. This is just another way to call back to another ridiculously dumb Jordan conspiracy, that the NBA suspended the most famous basketball player of all time because of his gambling habits.
The point is, LeBron knew he was violating protocols. He could have been suspended for a week or more and effectively ended the Lakers series there. He also could have affected his play by ripping tequila, but I’ll assume LeBron is too big of a softie to rip hard alcohol anyway. Probably was taking shots of water all night.
Nonetheless, LeBron’s act is far more egregious than the Atlantic City event, but the sports media and the rest of his Stans and minions obviously didn’t treat is as such.
All worked out though, because his team lost to the Suns with an ineffective Chris Paul in six games, a series in which he walked off the court with five minutes left in a loss, refused to play defense for the latter half of an elimination game, and immediately plugged his unoriginal remake of Space Jam immediately after.
Less than a week after being eliminated, starved for the spotlight, he also announced that he would once again be changing his number, this time to no. 6 — for a second time. The guy changes his number like he’s a 6th grader who thinks changing from the DeMarini bat to the Stealth is going to keep him from hitting slow rollers to the pitcher.
The Justin Fields hype is so real in Chicago that I’ve officially chosen not to take part, indefinitely.
I think Fields could be the long-term answer at quarterback in Chicago, as I’ve written over and over here. It’s clear the majority of the city feels the same way.
But I am long past my days of getting excited over coaches’ comments after an OTA practice, or a teammate telling me how good the quarterback throwing to him looks.
Darnell Mooney raved over Fields the other day, which is good, but Cordarrelle Patterson also told us Mitch Trubisky looked like “a whole different QB” back there before last year, and as it turns out, he was the exact same QB back there.
Reporters will tweet out meaningless Fields clips to capitalize off the engagement, as they should, and coaches will talk about this kid being special, as they should, but I’m kind of done with the show.
It’s setting an unhealthy expectation for a rookie, and despite more rookie success in recent years, we should still allow Fields to be treated as such — just a rookie QB with potential.
I have an opinion on Fields, and it’s a good one. But I won’t be retweeting that he threw a goddamn touchdown in OTAs against some random cornerback trying his best to stay on an NFL roster this summer.
Trubisky was “a leader” and “commanding the offense” heading into 2019. Then we heard Patterson’s comments, among others, heading into last season. These aren’t the type of reports that should excite or discourage you.
Just as a report that Fields dropped two snaps during practice the other day didn’t ruin my day, a deep ball to Mooney did not make it.
I mean, the internet went ballistic when he signed his deal today. That is not news, ladies and gentlemen. What would be news, however, would be if he did not sign his deal.
Let’s just all calm down and not anoint him before he even gets a chance to develop into a serviceable pro-level quarterback first.
The White Sox rebounded with a good win over the Blue Jays Thursday night, but it was Wednesday night’s contest against the Blue Jays that will likely occupy the front office and fan base’s headspace this weekend.
The Sox got seven great innings from Lance Lynn, who has the 4th best odds to win the AL Cy Young. Then the White Sox infield, both literally and figuratively, fell apart.
Nick Madrigal tore his hamstring running a ball out to first base on the same day he hit a crucial double and improved his slash line to .305/.349/.425. His injury looked just like Luis Robert’s, who also hurt his hip flexor running out a ball to first base.
Both players hurt themselves in the process of routine baseball plays, just as Michael Kopech hurt his hamstring landing on a follow through. Just as Eloy Jimenez, ah, no, he tore his pec reaching over the fence for a ball 10 feet over it.
I convinced myself last night that the White Sox needed to uproot their entire athletic training staff until I heard Steve Stone talking about the issue Thursday night.
Yes, the Sox have lost four of their most important players to major injuries suffered during routine baseball plays.
At the same time, it’s a trend around all of baseball.
Total players on the injury list in the MLB entering June 10, the past four years (not including 2020):
2017 — 325
2018 — 348
2019 — 357
2021 — 501
Source: NBC Sports Chicago
So while the breaks seem to be especially tough for the White Sox in a year where they have a chance to win the World Series, it’s not a problem specific to them.
In fact, the Cubs have had as bad injury luck, albeit with shorter stints on the IL to less important players. So I guess not as bad, now that I think of it, but you get the point.
Madrigal will likely need season-ending surgery, which is a total bummer. But the Sox are still set to get the rest of them back (Kopech, Jimenez, Robert) by year’s end — and Kopech much earlier.
The Sox have done themselves a favor and built in enough of a cushion so that these injuries aren’t the end of the world. The AL Central is also currently not competitive — at all, really — and so if Rick Hahn can pull off even a modest move to improve the Sox’ depth, they should be fine.
Still, the question is, when do the injuries accumulate to a point where a threshold is crossed and the Sox sink closer back to just a good team? We’ll likely get a look into that soon, as they play the Rays and Astros in back-to-back series after the Tigers.
Just when you thought you could get rid of Leury Garcia. Long Live Adam Engel and Danny Mendick.
As for Wednesday’s game, a lot of mistakes were made, but I don’t think Tony La Russa made one of them by taking Lynn out after 95 pitches through seven innings.
First of all, if you don’t love Lance Lynn you don’t have a pulse. As a general rule, any guy that is 1. good and 2. heads back to the dug out screaming things like “mother fucker” and “fuck you” to absolutely no one, for absolutely no reason, is a guy I badly want on my team.
But Lynn was running the risk of facing the line-up for the 4th time through and was 100% going over 100 pitches if he stayed in for the 8th. Lynn’s been fantastic, but he also isn’t that far off from an injury, and it’s June. If this game was in September it may be a different story.
Or it may not be.
Marcus Semien admittedly had not gotten to Lynn — yet — in the game. But he has a .935 OPS this year against right-handed pitchers and a .714 ERA against left-handers. Similarly, Vlad Guerrero Jr. has a 1.089 OPS against right-handers and a .889 OPS against left-handers.
So, the Sox went with a generally reliable bullpen arm in Aaron Bummer, who happens to be a lefty.
That’s when things fell apart, but it was far from just Bummer’s fault. A ball got past Yasmani Grandal that probably shouldn’t have and Tim Anderson made an error on a double play ball. Frankly, he ran into bad luck, as he has a lot this season.
His BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is an insanely high .364, which is likely a product of bad luck. His fielding-independent pitching (FIP) is over a full run less than his actual ERA.
Bummer hasn’t been as good as he was last year, but he also hasn’t been nearly as bad as box scores would show.
I think La Russa made the right move going to him in the 8th.
It also may not just be bad luck. The Sox fielding just needs to get better. The Sox have the second-worst error-per-game rate in the MLB. Sometimes it seems like Sox errors beget more errors, as if the team falls apart after one mistake is made.
Regardless, the 60-game mark, the Sox were 37-23, outpacing their 2020 win total (35-25) by two games, despite the injuries.
A lot of that has to do with the starting pitching, which has been incredible. That is arguably in part due to first-year pitching coach Ethan Katz.
The Athletic wrote a really good article on Katz’s journey to where he is now. It’s a great story, and you can read that here.
If you want to read more about why the Sox are one of the most well-rounded teams in baseball, read Tuesday’s newsletter here.
The Cubs headed to the West Coast in sole possession of first place of the NL Central, and promptly lost three games in a row to the Giants, who are surprisingly atop the NL West.
But they then rebounded and beat the Giants in the finale and then took two out of three from the Padres, who may as well call the Cubs their daddies from here on out. That makes the Cubs 9-4 against the best division in baseball, having taken 5 of 6 from the Pads and 3 of 3 from the Dodgers earlier on.
There’s been lots of talk about the Cubs taking vaccines recently, which is just the kind of water-cooler chatter that sports fans live for.
The Cubs haven’t — and apparently will not — reach the 85% threshold that allows protocols to be relaxed for an MLB team. That’s why David Ross is one of 10 or so managers that still has to wear a mask in the sweltering heat, because Ryan Tepera, Jake Arrieta, and Eric Sogard, among others, refuse to get the vaccine.
Jed Hoyer recently said that hitting the threshold is undoubtedly a competitive advantage, and that’s the reason it’s noteworthy for this newsletter.
The Cubs are still subject to more intense testing. They have less of an ability to interact with their teammates, as well as their friends outside of their job without breaking protocols. Plus, there’s the chance that someone could contract COVID, which could leave them out for multiple weeks as well as others who are still subject to contract tracing.
Some of you will read this and blame the MLB, and not the individuals. And that’s fine. It is just frustrating that a few players who are unwilling to receive a vaccine are holding others back who want to move on without stringent protocols.
I wrote some about what the Cubs may do at the deadline on Tuesday, so again, check that out here. I am more convinced by the day, however, that the Cubs will be sellers at the deadline, and not buyers, despite being tied for the NL Central lead.
Patrick Wisdom is inconceivably good.
Around the same time that the news dropped that Nick Madrigal would be out for the season, an unexpected report that Coby White had shoulder surgery and would be out for four months surfaced.
The summer between a player’s second and third year — especially if they came in at 19 — is arguably the most important one. Coby made serious strides this season and will now spend the entire offseason rehabbing a shoulder that he injured playing basketball away from the team.
That could just be the story, but 1. I don’t see Coby White as a guy up to nefarious things that would get him hurt in the offseason and 2. North Carolina alums regularly return to Chapel Hill to play pick up games in the summer.
I’d imagine that is where he got hurt. I have not yet heard what exactly the injury was, but if it was his shoulder and he needed surgery, it had to have been serious.
Now, for some free agent talk.
The Bulls will have a first-round pick if and only if the lottery balls bounce their way and they land in the top-4 of the drafting order. That would be extremely welcomed, because this year’s draft class looks top heavy. It would also give the Bulls another young piece, which they desperately need.
If the pick does not convey, the one advantage is that a first-round pick salary will not be on their books next year, which gives them a little more flexibility to sign free agents.
The Bulls picked a bad season to be in on the free agent market.
LaVine is not due for an extension yet, but could get one soon, which will make things harder in the coming years with an inflated salary.
That makes this offseason especially important. Problem is, there’s not all that much talent to choose from.
The top five free agents are broken into two tiers, essentially:
Tier 1: Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard
Tier 2: Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, and DeMar DeRozan
Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard both have hefty player options and, either way, will not be signing with the Bulls.
Conley is more interesting. Point guard is the Bulls biggest need, but I assume the Jazz — who are a contender and will be next year as well — will try to keep him. Lowry is an interesting option, but all signs point to him landing with Philly (his hometown) or the Miami Heat. Both may be too expensive for the Bulls anyhow.
DeMar DeRozan doesn’t make sense considering he plays the same position as LaVine and would not complement him well. Victor Oladipo, who is coming off a rough season, is sort of in the same boat.
Given their current resources and cap space, and assuming their pick does not convey, here is what I’d like the Bulls to do this offseason.
Re-sign Daniel Theis. He was a great pick up for the Bulls and a perfect back-up center to offset some of the things that Nikola Vucevic lacks, especially on the defensive end.
Bring in a point guard. The best options are Lonzo Ball, Dennis Schroeder, Derrick Rose and Evan Fournier. Bulls fans will likely want a reunion, but I don’t think it will happen with Rose. With Thibs at the helm and after his playoff run, I’d imagine he’d stay with the Knicks. Plus, the Bulls could use a plus defender at the position and a guy that will be reliable for years to come. I think Ball is the best option here. It all depends on the money, of course, but the Bulls could feasibly pay him just under $20 million per year. He is a restricted free agent, but the Pelicans haven’t shown that they’re in love with him. Ball is a good defender and facilitator, which would be perfect next to LaVine. Schroeder, I would not hate. He struggled in a system built around LeBron, but as a drive and kick guy, he could work well in Chicago. Evan Fournier will likely re-sign with the Celtics, but he could also be okay in the role, I guess.
As for shooting, the Bulls will no longer trot Denzel Valentine out for 25 minutes to shoot 35% from the field. Praise the lord. There are good shooters on the market. Tim Hardaway Jr. will likely remain with the Mavs, but his sharpshooting would be fantastic for the Bulls. It’s unlikely that the Bulls could get him and Ball, and Ball would be the priority. But if they did swing and miss on Ball, they could offer a hefty contract to Hardaway Jr. Both Danny Green and J.J. Redick are older, but their shooting would also be welcomed. Green isn’t the defender he used to be, but he’s still a good team defender, which would also bolster the Bulls bench or starting 5.
Outside of the larger names, both T.J. McConnell and Alex Caruso are available as unrestricted free agents. Caruso would have a more pronounced role with the Bulls, and probably get offered more here than he could be in Los Angeles. He’s become a good shooter and an all-defense-type defender. I’d love to have him. McConnell is ideally a back-up guard, but he likewise is a good defender and facilitator. He’s not exactly the starting point guard we’re looking for, however.
Re-signing Theis, signing Lonzo Ball, and getting a top-4 pick would be ideal, but also force the Bulls to juggle their roster a bit. Despite losing some bad contracts this offseason (Felicio, for one), the Bulls still have to pay Al-Farouq Aminu $10 million this year.
With a good point guard and some stronger perimeter defenders, the Bulls will be a top-6 seed next year. In Arturas (AK47) we trust.
Leave a comment below, on the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, LeBron, or anything else. Happy Friday:
Thanks for reading, as always. Enjoy your Chicago weekend and spread the word!
The sox, plain and simple not having enough depth. Every team needs 5 studs to be able to play any and all outfield positions. They should've gotten more. haha. Im just kidding. The sox are still going to win the division, I'd assume they grab another player at the deadline, maybe two. Only thing is that to get an impact 2B or outfielder, they might have to sacrifice an arm from the pen...which im sure Rick Hahn has thought about more than the guy who sucks at his 9-5 job and reads a few articles and doesn't fully understand some words in the article. What can I say, I'm growing. Grow or Die. Thats how I see it.
Sox have the best pitching in the MLB IMO. From starters to bullpen, they have 8 Elite arms which is why they will still be good the rest of the season. Run differential will start to balance itself out as these injuries will start catching up with their play after the All-Star break. The injuries havent affected them thus far. Their bench players are doing what they need to do...but they are bench players, they cant sustain it. TA, Moncada, Abreu , Grandal & progressing Vaughn is still a solid 5 bats in the line up for the pitching they have. They need to acquire some sort of bat for the second half as I think Eloy or Luis will get injured again if they try and come back too quickly.
All around awesome few takes by me. Go sox! go Bears!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR2AXVkIIgU love the subtle shoutout to Pedro.
The Fields piece is interesting because with all the praise he's getting, he's still not going to start week 1? Would think that players would try to facilitate some excitement around Dalton as well even if they don't mean it.
I think Conley or Lonzo would be a nice fit. I think a lot of readers would like to see Lonzo, but I actually would be more excited about the Conley fit. With a healthy Zach I think the Bulls would benefit from a better shooter and someone who can be reliable taking care of the ball late in the game- which was a struggle this past season.