BigbadB

There is if the Bears don't draft him. I hope we take Odunze, but there are a number of directions Poles can go here, and I'm not sure any of them would be the wrong choice.

So have we determined that Happ is out for awhile, or will he be available today?

The Counsell Factor

I read there was an interview with Caleb and when asked who he felt the Bears should draft at 9, he apparently suggested Fashanu. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been more talk of teams trading up to 6-10 for OT's. But, if McShay is predicting 10 first round trades, maybe that's where the trades happen.

Arizona is saying they have 4 teams interested in trading up, but they won't pull the trigger until it's their turn to draft. I'm guessing it's Minny, NYG, DEN and LV. Of those, I'd say the only teams that have a chance to slide up to 4 are the Giants and Vikings. I'd give the Giants the upper hand, as I think the Chargers could still get the second best WR at 6. By holding out to draft night, you know the Cardinals GM will be upping the bids by playing the teams against each other for the rights to McCarthy. Minnesota has 2 first rounders, but that's it for this year, and I don't think they really want to use them both. Minny could offer up Jefferson though. That could move the needle back to Minnesota. It's going to be a fun draft.

Yeah. I'm having a small draft party. Most of my friends are daytime drinkers (we are all retired) and like to be in bed sleeping when it gets dark. I'm a homer every year, but I'm going to be an annoying homer this year.

I feel like Poles can't really go wrong if he stays put. He'll know he will need to be making impact picks given the shortage of picks. While I'm sold on getting a WR, I wouldn't hate it if he got Alt, Verse, Turner, Latu or Bowers. I don't think Allen is only here for one year. I think they work an extension for a total of 3 years here, where Poles can work the cap space to fill the remainder of holes with players that can help this team right now.

I'm all in on a Lavine trade. Not sure what they can expect to get in return for him, though. Everyone in the world saw the Bulls actually played at least as good, if not better, when Lavine wasn't in the lineup.

Minnesota or the Giants will be picking 4th, depending on who makes the best offer. MHJ is going to the Chargers.

Some argue Nabers is the better prospect. At the same time, I have found it interesting that Harrison seems to be attempting to tank his value to move down in the draft. No visits, no pro days. Just hanging out at home and wanting to go anywhere other than that top teams.

I'm sorry, but the Bears swapping picks with the Chargers has even less chance of happening than the Bears drafting JJ at 1. We already grabbed Keenan and Everett from the Chargers. They also lost Mike Williams. But the Chargers are also now going to trade the rights to MHJ to the Bears for what, future picks? Good luck with that. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chargers traded back. The Bears don't have anything to offer the Chargers to move up.

It's definitely Bellinger there. #1, you need Bellinger to continue in the game if it goes extra innings. #2. He's your best option on the bench, and absolutely no doubt a better option at the plate in that situation. It's mind boggling to me that in our time of 2 hour games, we have to baby the roster, even in times of trouble where you need to make some adjustments to try to win a game. Last year was littered with bad decisions like the one in game one yesterday, and is why the Cubs didn't make playoffs. They are a better team this year, but you still shouldn't just be giving away games. In the past two weeks, they've now had 3 of the worst ways to lose games. Winning 8-0 in one, scoring 11 runs in another and your closer giving up a 2 run jack in the 9th to take the lead and not doing everything possible to try to recover by bringing guys in with 2 on and no one out in the bottom of the 9th. It's a long season, but damn. I was so mad after the first game, I damn near didn't watch the second one. Luckily, I cooled off by game time. I'm not as down on the bullpen as most are. I think there will be times where they can't seem to get outs, but there will be times where they dominate. It's about time to start seeing the domination side of things. I like this team. They will get it together and Counsell will start looking like the manager the Cubs signed him to be.

There is a really nice baseball/football stadium in Oakland no one will be using.

I was pretty annoyed they brought in Smyly in the 9th. Wesneski was doing just fine and he was exactly what they needed to rest the ENTIRE remaining bullpen.

Coby was magical in that game. Sounds like Caruso will miss the next one.

No love for Wicks? I saw some suggestions in the game thread about a 6 man rotation. That won't work with starters only going 5 or 6 innings. Taking away a bullpen arm on an already taxed bullpen will only fuel further problems.

Fell asleep early again. Much happier about that today.

Damn. Fell asleep in the 8th.

I'd color this slightly shocking, because you have always been pretty passionate about improving the line. But at the same time, I get it. While this team doesn't have an Aaron Donald or similar on defense, what they do have is great balance. At the same time, with the improvement of the receivers and TE's and even at RB with Sweat, one could easily make the argument that the OLine is the weakest link as a unit. Well, QB might be the weakest until we know Caleb Williams is as advertised. But, point remains that there are no standouts on this OLine. I just believe Poles thinks more highly of Braxton Jones than the rest of the world. At the same time, this could be the last time the Bears have a top 20 pick for a long time, so where do you invest that #9 pick? It just seems like DL and WR to me. I believe Poles is lining up for a playoff push starting this year. 3 explosive receivers and two sure handed TE's will take the pressure off of the OLine. I don't think Poles trades back unless those 3 WR's are all gone and the top DE is also gone, which is highly unlikely.

I'm feeling pretty certain that one of the 3 WR's will be available at 9 and Poles will take one. Bringing back Ngakuoe on another one year deal could work to give an extra year to fix the DL entirely. He played better once Sweat was on the team. There could be other post June cuts, camp casualties that help fix the DL if you don't bring back Yannick. There are still other DE Free Agents to pick from, also. That Yannick is still available means he probably comes cheaper this year than he was last year. I do agree with Raw's concern about too many guys and only one ball, but a stable long term receiver growing with Williams will be a plus. Allen could be gone in a year, and Moore only has 2 years left on his deal. Imagining those 3 together on the field at the same time is hard to pass on. The defense was already improved. It's time to make a special offense and surround the QB with all the tools necessary to be great. With all of those receivers, the two TE's and a great pass catching back at your disposal, you should still be able to create a lot of points with a lousy OLine. And this line will be much better than lousy. I'm tired of vanilla offenses that rely heavily on a ground game. It seems Poles feels that way, too.

Ever since the LIV thing started, I haven't really paid any attention to golf, other than seeing the occasional quotes from players hating on other players because of whatever organization they chose to play for. I still peak into the Masters yearly, but I get bored with it pretty quickly seeing a bunch of names I don't know on the leaderboard.

I'm not so sure you are right about that, but I'm not a fan of craft beers. I like wheat's and hefeweizen's and a few lower by volume craft beers, but I definitely don't care to experiment. I'm a creature of habit. San Diego has craft beer stores all over the place.

Not sure how good it is at the ballpark, but Phil's barbeque around town is top notch. I think there is more than one Phil's in the park, but there is definitely one out in the right field area. Can't remember the name of the place that has rib tips, but it was somewhere between home and 3rd base. Spectacular.

Why is it a hostile crowd?

Got back from doing the path of totality thing yesterday and it was 8-0. Went to sleep after deciding not to start the game from scratch on the DVR. Woke up in the middle of the night and looked at my phone. Ugh. Fell right back to sleep. Now to delete the game from my DVR. Can't watch that.