Happy Friday Chicago!
If you see a White Sox fan this weekend, give them a hug, rub their shoulder ever so slightly and then jump right into a, “How about those Bears though, huh?”
Or, better yet, convince one to jump ship.
The summer is growing old, and we’re getting olderrrrr, too.
Life’s too short and baseball on the North Side is too fun right now to be sulking over Jerry, Kenny, and Rick. We don’t even have to tell your Dad.
Come down Clark Street with me, hold my hand. We’ll buy some KISS MY DITKA shirts, and as we’re laughing and frolicking down the street to see the Cubbies in a pennant race. I’ll slowly slip that blue hat on top of your head and whisper in your ear, “it’s not your fault” as I hand you your ticket.
You’ll grip all of those dumb, homophobic Cubs jokes you learned as a kid in your right hand and release them into the air. We’ll walk into the stadium together. You can even still refuse to drink Bud Light in the stadium, we’ll take things one step at a time. They’ve got Old Style, too.
Before you know it you’ll have Go Cubs Go stuck in your head as we walk out together. You’ll have a reason to watch baseball through September, and, more importantly, a new outlook on life.
Here I am, welcoming you with open arms.
Let’s get into it.
Have you seen Wrigley Field over the last week?
If nothing else, that’s why you don’t punt on season after season, no matter the risk-reward proposition.
That place is rocking.
Last week, I admitted I was falling for this Cubs team. This week, we’re on the way to the altar.
I get overwhelmed talking about these guys. When I mention one player, I feel the need to mention another. And another.
After an all-important series win against the Reds — one that included two absolute boat races — the Cubs are now hilariously 5th in the entire league in run differential. They’re 2.5 out of the division and just 2 games out of a wild card spot. But I smell blood, and I want that division.
(I just remembered that the one-game Wild Card postseason format was eliminated. I still want the division, and we’re still getting ahead of ourselves here, but those games each took years off of my life, and I’m glad that’s behind us.)
The Cubs have now won 13 of 16. They had already been hot enough where I expected they wouldn’t — or couldn’t, with a straight face — sell, but I wasn’t sure they’d be buyers. Frankly, I was fine moving ahead with the status quo and I thought that would be where the front office went.
I’m glad I was wrong. Logically, if you’re going for it, there’s no point in not trying to improve around the edges. And that’s exactly what the Cubs did.
I was pleasantly surprised by the whole trade deadline, and I also don’t think the front office did anything to jeopardize the future, which is tough and delicate balance.
The Biggest Trade: The Cubs traded the lefty pitcher DJ Herz and shortstop Kevin Made for Jeimer Candelario, a former Cub and a guy that, in part, fills the Cubs most desperate needs at both third and first base. The Cubs are confident they can play him regularly at first from here on out, which means an immediate upgrade from the innings that used to go to Trey Mancini.
The Cubs also released Mancini, which was maybe the most surprising move given the financial implications. The Cubs had signed him to a 2-year, $14 million contract.
I think Jed Hoyer said it best: Mancini is a great guy, and has historically been a good player, but it “just didn’t work out.” Winning ball clubs move on when things don’t work out, and the Cubs reaffirmed they want to be one this week.
Since the trade, Candelario has 9 hits in three games. His most important one led to an insurance run in the 8th last night. He seems happy to be back.
As for the outgoing players, I’ve heard good and bad things about Herz and Made, two mid-tier prospects. The key there is that both of them are about to be Rule 5 eligible, meaning if they don’t get elevated to the 40-man roster, they’re up for grabs.
The 40-man roster, the 26-man active roster, and the 28-man active roster from September on were all clearly part of the calculus during this deadline. Hoyer wanted to get better, and honestly evaluated the guys that may not ever find an everyday spot in the near-term future.
That leads us to the trade with the Royals, where Nelson Velázquez was shipped out for the reliever Jose Cuas.
That one stung a little bit, especially given Velázquez’s heroic, go-ahead grand slam in April against the Mariners. He can hit, but you just can’t hold onto every guy you “kind of like” when you’re trying to compete.
The Cubs needed another bullpen arm, even if that group has been rock solid of late. Cuas has an intriguing delivery, but hasn’t had a great year. It’s clear the Cubs liked him enough, though, and liked the idea of having him under club control for the foreseeable future.
They also traded Adrian Sampson and Manuel Rodríguez to the Rays, which is only notable because I feel like Sampson was such a bad team guy. Can’t explain why — and he actually pitched well— but I’m glad he’s outta here, sorry Adrian.
Everyone imaginable is hot right now, outside of Marcus Stroman, who is a huge reason this Cubs team was able to buy in the first place. He’s on the IL now with a hip, which he said has been bothering him for a while. Whether it’s the hip, mental, or both, it’s best he gets some time off to reset.
Cody Bellinger was the NL player of the month in July, and Hoyer seems oddly optimistic about the Cubs chances of re-signing him. He’s struck a different tone with this situation, far different than any extension conversation in the past. I’m starting to believe he’ll be here for a long time.
Virtually everyone homered over the last couple of games. Dansby Swanson is all of a sudden Jim Thome, Christopher Morel is on a tear. Nick Madrigal is also back and again feeling like an ancillary but integral part of the team.
I am checking the standings obsessively. I can’t stop thinking about a chilly must-win ball game being played at Wrigley Field in the coming months. I’m so happy, and I don’t know what else to say.
How about, STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGO!
Moving on from the Cubs to the Sox section feels like jamming out on the highway to some rock n’ roll with your buddies, then getting a flat tire, spinning out, and landing in a ditch on the side of the road.
Worse yet, when someone comes to help, they just come to your window, tell you everything is actually okay, and then they turn back around and walk away before you can ask a question.
The White Sox fanbase paid the front office an advance to break ground on an entire new house. They knocked down the old one, built up a beautiful foundation, then told you they used the wrong bricks, and knocked the whole thing down while you, your wife and your kids sat there crying. They then called it a re-tool. It’ll be ready next year.
Don’t get me wrong, the Sox needed to do this. A selloff was in order. There was no other way out.
They’re in a far better situation than they were two weeks ago, but that doesn’t take away from how depressing it all is.
Imagine after the Athletics series in 2020 hearing that the Sox were the biggest sellers at the 2023 deadline.
For me, the Jake Burger trade was sort of the nail in the coffin, at least symbolically. The guy goes through the gamut to get to the big leagues. He gets brought up, sent down, brought up, sent down. Even when he performs well, the Sox refuse to make him an everyday guy. When he finally forces himself into being an everyday guy, he’s down in the order. When all of that nonsense is finally over during the best season of his career, they ship him.
Burger leaving won’t change the Sox long-term outlook. But he is one of the few players White Sox fans seemed to actually enjoy watching, so his departure is a good enough reason on its own to go into hibernation as a fan until someone knocks on the door in 2026 or whatever.
We talked about the return for Giolito and Lopez last week. Burger’s return — ex-Vandy pitcher Jake Eder — seems to be reasonable.
Like the Giolito trade, the Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly deal to the Dodgers was a no-brainer. Whether Nick Nastrani, the prize of the deal, pans out or not, there was no reason to not go ahead with it.
The Sox jumped up in all the farm system rankings — modestly in some, and by a wider margin in others. Their farm system is still far from fantastic, though. And that’s after trading everyone worth anything besides Dylan Cease, Luis Robert, and maybe Andrew Benintendi (if you’re into that sort of thing).
In a vacuum, I think you can justify every move the Sox did and didn’t make at the deadline. Robert was obviously off the table, but I also think getting rid of Cease may have been short-sighted. Best-case scenario, he’s at the top of your rotation next time you’re decent. Worst-case scenario, he continues to be meh and you flip him a year from now.
Between the Giolito deal and the Kendall Graveman one (in which the Sox got catcher Kory Lee in return), the Sox doubled up on a couple positions. I cannot stress how little that matters when it comes to MLB prospects.
Worrying about that would be like the 17-65 Houston Rockets passing on a generational point guard because they really needed a power forward. Get the best players you can, duck, and move on.
The idea that this is a retool, though, and not a rebuild, is of course complete nonsense. The Sox have a zero percent shot of being good next year, and probably won’t be good the year after that, either — even if all the prospects trend in the right direction.
Keeping “the core” and “retooling” are just creative ways to avoid calling the Sox recent stretch anything besides what it is: a complete and utter failure.
At least we can all stop watching the games now. If you all need calendars to mark the days until football season, I got a few extra. We’re right around the corner.
Or, you could meet me at Yak-Zies for some wings before a ballgame on the North Side, our little secret — pinky promise.
The Bears finally got the free-agent edge rusher we all were waiting on.
They signed defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to 1-year, $10.5 million deal last night. He had 9.5 sacks last year, which is mostly noteworthy because it’s about half as many sacks as the Bears had all last year.
Jaquon Brisker won’t be leading the team in that category this year, I presume.
Last year with Indy, he had 29 tackles and eight TFLs in addition to those 9.5 sacks. He’s tied for the seventh-most sacks in the league since he entered the NFL in 2016.
More than anything, I’m happy for the Bears defensive backs. They hopefully won’t have to cover for 12 seconds at a time in 2023-2024.
Overall, I think the biggest takeaway is just how much more talent the Bears are going to have this year compared to last year. If you go by position, it’s unbelievable.
It’ll be fun to see what this defensive coaching staff can do with a far more talented roster.
The first preseason game is a week from tomorrow.
Thank you for coming back and reading another newsletter. Share it with a friend today — I’d appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend!
Checking in here. Long time reader, long time commenter, long time Cubs fan (with a few timely breaks).
Can confirm Wrigley was rocking last night. Actual playoff atmosphere. The city of Chicago is more fun when its teams are good.
When you started the Newsletter, Chicago sports were in a great place. The Bears were exciting- Nagy had everyone fooled, The White Sox had one of the most promising cores we've ever seen, the Cubs were a playoff team, the Blackhawks still had Kane and Toews, and GarPax was getting overhauled. Pretty tough run for just about every team since then.
All that to say, this is one of the most exciting points there has been as a Chicago Sports fan in recent memory. I'm not saying the Bears are a playoff team, but even the hope that they might be, and the excitement around it, is what makes sports so awesome. A playoff run from the Cubs, maybe a week 1 win from the Bears, College football starting up.... oooo baby! I can not wait to have a pumpkin spice latte in my hand on a crisp autumn morning
I think I predicted about a month ago that YOU were going to owe me an apology when David Ross turned this team around. Still waiting.
They are thoroughly enjoyable to watch especially because 1-9 in the order are coming through on different nights. The pitching isn't there to get us far but is it possible to outslug everyone?
I am also glad to see Ross has figured out that Suzuki needs a seat. If I have to sit and watch him start another at bat allowing the pitcher to throw a batting practice strike down the middle knowing he won't swing again, I might have a coronary.
Football is officially here. Switched over to the Hall of Fame Game during every Cubs break until I saw that smug little bitch Aaron Rodgers being interviewed. Back to the Cubs!