BigbadB

Same thing for minor league ball. After the wife and I spent about $3000+ on one set of Bears tickets and one set of Cubs tickets last year along with a few other surprise costs, we told ourselves we needed to pull back the reins a bit. A buddy called from San Diego wanting us to do Cubs in Wrigley or Petco this year, and we told him it will have to be Peoria Chiefs this year. I googled tickets for a Peoria Chiefs game and the tickets start at $40 a seat. Holy crap.

This is probably going to continue to be the model when you have teams doing what the Dodgers are doing now. There are 30 teams and only one can win the World Series each year, and no matter how much you do to improve your team, it still won't be as much as what the Dodgers do. Hell, the Mets and Padres just went out there and tried to buy a World Series over the last handful of years and didn't do squat. Spending money doesn't guarantee you anything.

None of those first round trades are happening. Poles said he'd have to be overwhelmed, and those trades won't overwhelm anyone. I would do any of the Fields trades. I feel like Poles will want to get a 2nd back from someone for Fields, just to either further erase the Claypool trade or to make the Sweat deal even sweeter. I also think Washington will offer something more than that suggested offer simply because they want to make a splash with their fanbase with the new owners, and Caleb is from DC. It was possibly the big reason Kingsbury got the gig in the first place, which was to lure him in. Caleb is working without an agent and his dad is probably heavily involved. Maybe Washington thinks Caleb and is dad put pressure on Chicago to make a deal with Washington or else.... In the end, Poles likely won't like any deal Washington offers, because it still won't be enough to move off of drafting the best QB in the draft. I sense Poles' term "overwhelmed" is a higher place than Washington is willing to reach.

Is he out the entire year?

It kinda blows me away that Snell turned down 6 years 150m to pitch every 5 games for the Yankees. Okay, great. He has 2 Cy Young trophies. But, is he not the most flawed Cy Young winner of all time? You need a good 6th and 7th inning guy along with your good 8th and 9th inning guy nearly every time he pitches. And he wants 9 years 270m. Yikes. I'm sensing he may have to seek his fortune in Japan this year. Being a Boras client doesn't assure the signing team of anything. Kris Bryant was a Boras client. At the end of the day, long contracts and big money should be reserved for the best of the best. Anyone that is not the best of the best probably has no business having Boras as their agent. Because no one wants to pay best of the best contracts for not nearly the best production. I don't know if the ugliness that was this offseason will impact future offseasons, but it should. And by that, I mean guys who are not the best of the best can hire the second best agent out there and still do quite well for themselves by having an agent who can more easily work with owners for contracts that the player and the owners can be happy with. Boras has set such lofty goals for his not so great clients, that when they settle for way less, I wonder what that does to their overall psyche when they settle for half of what was expected. We always hear about players dogging it once they get their big contract, but how about the guy who didn't get the big contract he wanted? They are still making a ton of money, and you hope you still get 110%, but who wants to be the team that takes that risk? I think the world of Bellinger and it would be cool to see him back. But, absolutely no owner in this league thinks he's worth a long term deal at a high cost. Boras, Bellinger and Bellinger's mom are the only ones who think otherwise. The problem here isn't Boras as much as it is Bellinger for choosing Boras to represent him. The high bar that has been created here is hard to walk back. It's February 19th and it doesn't feel like anyone is even negotiating, and that's likely because Boras' is desperate to maintain his power over owners by holding out for the best deal possible, and there isn't willing to meet him even close to their lofty demands. Love or hate Jed, but I can't hate him for carrying on as if Bellinger won't be here. It's feeling more and more like he won't be. I almost feel like something crazy would need to happen at this point, like Bellinger firing his agent. I would hope that players looking for agents in the future are watching this closely. Maybe these four guys sign deals tomorrow. But maybe they won't be signed at all. If you are the best of the best, by all means, hire Boras. If you aren't, hire the guy who is well respected and gets fair deals for their clients. That fans will love you more for it, and it will be more healthy for the game in general.

I don't think there is an offer good enough, either. Poles words were that he'd have to be "blown away" with an offer, and 2 firsts and a 2nd isn't getting blown away. Blown away might be 2 firsts, both of their seconds this year and a player, or 3 firsts and at least one of their seconds. Whatever it is will likely be too expensive for Washington, so it may not matter.

That goal they took away was a thing of beauty. That goalie is still having bad dreams about those moves.

I wouldn't be disappointed if Poles' scout team valued Maye and/or Daniels equally or fairly equal, and then they took a tremendous haul to move down one spot. Washington has a new ownership group that wants to make a splash, and getting Caleb would be a splash. He's from DC, they already know what he looks like in their team colors, they hired his QB coach at USC and they still have plenty of capital to build the team around him even after giving up a haul. I'm guessing offers might already be getting exchanged. Washington has to be thinking that if the Bears had any interest in trading the first pick, they may not want to trade Fields too, so offers need to be coming in before Pittsburgh and Atlanta or a mystery team start coming in for Fields. Washington has their first rounders for the next 3 years, 2 second rounders this year and one next year among other capital that Poles might not be able to pass up. The question is how much Washington is willing to trade to move one spot, and how much Poles is willing to listen to offers that "blow him away" (his words), and if any other QB is a nice consolation prize with the haul.

No matter how many times Vuc tosses one up from beyond the arc, you can always count on him making ONE, which is probably all the confidence he needs to keep doing it.

Patrick Mahomes and 4 downs is a very scary proposition for opposing defenses.

He wasted 10 of those seconds standing near mid court. I hated that choice of last second shot.

This is setting up Hard Knocks with the Chicago Bears 2024 quite nicely.

My advice would be to attempt this on the edge of a swimming pool. Even if you don't stick the landing, it could be less painful and less likely end up in the hospital.

I agree. I think they need to sign at least one FA WR and C before the draft. There's no way you go into the draft with such gaping holes at those two positions. They obviously have more to address in free agency, but those are the gapingest of holes. I also believe they should already be working the phones for suitors for Fields, if they do intend to trade him. Just not enough interested teams and free agency will eliminate more teams.

I'm guessing they will sign guys they feel they can flip at the deadline moreso than a long term deal for a Boras client.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. But, the vision going into the offseason was a bidding war among a handful of teams that want to give you all the money you want to come and play for them. That's not happening here. Every team has balked at the money/years Boras and Bellinger want. Now it's about saving face. They may lose this battle of how much Bellinger gets, but if they are going to lose, they will lose at the last minute while Boras works diligently to find someone willing to jump out from a closet with a forgotten bag of cash that was just lying around. Hell, the Dodgers still have some years available to defer money to. Maybe they could find a nice platoon for him for the next 7 or 8 years. Don't think Boras hasn't thought of that, cuz that guy will do anything to get his client his money. He's got his own reputation to think about. Right now, he looks a bit like ass to the sports world with all of these unsigned players.

Now there's rumors of Getsy taking the OC job in LV. I'm kinda glad he's getting another OC job. It will give us some perspective on good/bad he was at doing the job in Chicago. It might remove LV as an option for Fields suitors, however. Can't imagine the higher ups in LV saw the Getsy/Fields show in Chicago and declared they "want some a dat".

Maybe this is a reference to Caleb and his father originally stating they didn't want to be drafted by any crappy teams that might end up being so bad they end up with the first pick in the draft? Even went as far to say he'd rather just stay in school than be drafted by a lousy team. Of course, same problem next year, and the year after that, etc... Seems to me someone has talked a bit of sense into him and told him to slow down on his narrative. I'd also imagine Chicago may not look nearly as bad of a destination as they were looking before the defense improved. Granted, they still have the history of poor QB development/play that will haunt them until someone changes that history. But, the Bears have some new coaches on the offensive side (with familiarity with some of those coaches), some talent to build on, cap space and draft picks to turn a struggling franchise back into a playoff team in shorter order than Washington and NE. Technically, the Bears were the 9th worst team, and the first pick in the draft was because of someone else being the worst team in the league. I don't know, just spitballing. He could still be just as passionate about wanting to be traded to a SoCal team or a team with tons of success and history. He does seem like a personality that will expect results in his first contract, or he'll be willing to go where he has a better chance at results on his second one.

Nearly every veteran player has been injured, still injured or released. Couple that with Bedard missing upwards of 8 weeks and yeah, I'm not even watching them right now. It's not fun to watch a team that is likely only going to score 1 goal if any. Especially when that goal or assist won't be coming from Bedard. I guess the good news is some of the youngsters are getting valuable playing time.

Yikes. Good thing I'm retired. I'd be late for work after reading that article. A lot of really good stuff there.

Coupled with KC not being all that great against the run.

I'm not so sure they can, either. But it's still the outcome I'm hoping for. The suitors don't seem to be all that enamored with meeting Boras' demands. So who knows how low it can go, or what kind of contract magic can be worked out to make it happen. Obviously, you aren't getting a buy one, get one half off deal. But, there are ways to make it work. I kinda doubt they even go down that road, TBH.

Oh, I'm not saying they didn't. I'm just saying those penalties factored in the outcome. The only penalty I questioned was the first in back to back holding calls on KC's RG. I didn't really see a hold there, although I can see how and why it was called. From a different angle, it could easily look like a hold.

While you are right about most, if not all, of everything here, Ross is no longer captaining this team. He is a play the vets manager, and Counsell isn't sold on the same idea. I'm not saying they will now hand the keys to a certain position to Mervis, but he should get a better opportunity to provide his ability to this team. I could see him start the year in Iowa, or as an extra bat off the bench/spot starter at the big league level. A lot of where he starts could depend entirely on how good of a Spring he has. I don't think they should be closing the door to Morel or Busch at 3rd base, since you could afford a bit of weaker defense at 3rd for 6 innings (Madrigal can be a defensive replacement) for the extra bat early in games. Morel is a righty bat at DH. Mervis is a lefty bat at DH. While a full on platoon might not make sense, you might want Morel to have 66% of the plate time at DH if that's the position he's destined, then 33% for Mervis vs. tough righties is still a nice amount of plate time. Then if you can get one of Busch or Morel to be a decent enough 3b for half a game or more, Mervis' ability to play 1b and provide another lefty bat could be quite valuable. I'd rather see them give Mervis a crack at the roster than Wisdom. But, I'm also still in the camp of sign Chapman and Bellinger. And yes, I know that blocks a lot of prospects. Trade some of those prospects at the deadline for pitching and a strong playoff run.

My wife thinks I should be a head coach. I told her on the first 4th and short, you gotta kick the field goal here. 3 scores is better than 2 scores. Once it's 3 scores, go for it on 4th and long if you want, I don't care. But, you need 3 scores and neutralize any chance at momentum. Not only did they go for it and didn't make it, momentum shifted in a way that I've only seen a few times. It was a tidal wave. Then he gets a reprieve. You take the tie here. You can't allow yourself to go two scores down. But they went for it and went down 2 scores. I feel bad for the Lions fanbase. You get do overs in regular season. You don't get do overs in playoffs. There are times when going for it on 4th makes sense. Those were two times that you just don't do it. I'll also add that Zay Flowers learned a valuable lesson in his game. One that people will look back at and laugh at over and over again, but he learned. I haven't gone back and looked at where each of the 5 personal fouls that were called on Baltimore happened and how many points were earned by KC by those penalties extending plays or killing drives for Baltimore, but it sure seemed like the difference in that game to me was those penalties. Hard way to lose.