UMFan83

If I counted correctly, 22 of the 53 players were on the Bears last year. 9 on offense, 11 on defense and 2 specialists

I was waiting for jersey to post this thread. Maybe he was waiting for game week, oh well. The Bears probably aren't that good but there's a lot to look forward to seeing this season. Definitely more than other years where we knew we'd be bad going into it (aka the John Fox years). The line opened in most places at Bears +6.5 and I've seen that line jump to +7 or +7.5. Playing at home against a west coast team with a less experienced QB, I'm tempted to take Bears but its close.

Did they really? Yikes. Zimmer didn't want Mond so he did him no favors but I never thought Kellen would be any more than backup QB in the league at best. To be fair it was mostly trolling twitter discourse. I don't think most normal Vikings fans thought so.

Vikings fans spent last year telling Bears fans that Kellen Mond was somehow better than Justin Fields. Kellen Mond just got cut after 1 season in Minnesota.

I didnt see the play but why was Reyes stretching his into a double with the go ahead run on 3rd and 0 outs?

Not that it matters at all but it’s probably cost us 3-4 games since the deadline

Starting your major league career with 9 scoreless innings is pretty sweet, especially with the 2 games being against the Cardinals and Blue Jays.

I have somehow Mandela Effected Sergio Mitre beating Roy Halladay into having occurred in Toronto. I would have put like $100 on the Cubs/Jays series from 2005 having been in Canada. I definitely remember it being at Wrigley. I actually drove by the park about 2 hours before the game and mulled parking and trying to find a ticket but thought there’s no need to waste money to see that scumbag Mitre try to beat Halladay. You might have gotten it mixed up with the Cubs beating Halladay in Toronto in that 2008 series. I remember also thinking “welp Halladay is going to shut us down” before they game (UMFan a pessimist? Shocker) and they got to him and won.

Since the last game thread was started after the game was over, here is today's game thread before the game starts. Assad makes his 2nd start going up against Berrios Cubs have played 3 previous series in Toronto: -Cubs were swept in 3 games back in September 2014 -Cubs won 2 of 3 from the Jays back in June 2008, including outdueling Roy Halladay -Cubs lost 2 of 3 back in June 2003, in a series I remember nothing about. Lineup:

Just wait a year and don't gut the farm system? I’m all about the minor league system, but I highly doubt Ohtani ever makes it to free agency if he’s traded. If a team makes the move, it’s with the plan to pony up and extend him. So if there really are plans to trade him, I’d prefer the Cubs make a significant offer. Also I’ve heard a couple times that the Angels really liked Horton so maybe he’s a guy you put in there and take out one of the other top guys. That was my 1st thought, but I've also heard people say that he will definitely test FA no matter what. But I don't know if that's based on assumption or something he's said. He seems like a guy that would be more than happy to sign an extension if the money and team was right. Rumors at the time were that the Cubs made a very strong impression on Ohtani when he originally came over and some even say we were his 2nd choice. Even though much has changed since then, I imagine he still has a favorable impression of the Cubs. But if he's for sure going to test FA, there's no sense in trading for him now, as some team who stands to benefit more from his ~8 wins of production next year will likely pay more. The concept of trading for a player and hoping he loves playing for your team enough to resign has been a hit and miss strategy for teams like the Cardinals, so I'd rather just let him to go FA and hope his positive impression of the Cubs pushes him to Chicago (assuming the money is right). If he's willing to sign an extension at the time of trading then absolutely lets give up some of that prospect depth. I think what I originally proposed is a little much, it was just a random first thought. But I would expect the Angels to ask for a top 100 prospect, another top 8 prospect, and a pre-arb major league player or near ready AAA player with upside.

I didn't catch Gameday but apparently Corso was like this throughout the show:

Paul Goldschmidt and Albert Pujols are actively aging as well. They've also managed to get positive value from the aging corpse of Molina until his age 39 season.

Sounds like Little and Estrada

Not that wins and losses matter right now but seems like he punted on one game to have a marginally better shot at another game. Who is all that compelling that the Cubs would want to use this weird exemption to call up? Kilian pitched today (and got shelled). Based on his tweeting history it doesn't sound like Wesneski will be able to go to Toronto (unless he's against vaccinations but ended up getting it for baseball reasons). Edit: Saw some discussion a couple of posts up. Sounds like it makes sense.

Would this help us win in 2023? I'm not even sure what a deal would look like. Obviously going to be way underpaid in 2023 but is then a UFA. Given that some reports suggested the Cubs were Ohtani's second choice after the Angels, I'm sure he'd be more than willing to sign an extension, but the Angels are clearly going to want a haul for him. Is Davis or PCA, Steele, C. Hernandez and Mervis for Ohtani too steep?

In case you were wondering who might take Steele’s start in Toronto:

Blah blah blah preseason. Fields had a 92.6 PFF grade yesterday and 90.4 for the preseason

Well for one its 49th out of 50 states in vaccination rate.

Not sure how that roster projects to average offense. They are below average this year (20th in wRC+) and are massively downgrading at catcher (offensively), and probably breaking even at CF (with the position shuffle you are basically trying to replace 1B production this year). You hope that Seiya and Madrigal improve and a full season of Reyes (who I'm not necessarily sold on yet). Overall I think it projects to be worse than this year, but I'd be open to arguments on the contrary.

Ross (or was it Jed) did say last week that 3-4 were likely to miss the series. That would make sense. Edit: making generalizations here but but Keegan is from Alabama too and was on the fence for going on the IL when that 3-4 comment was made and has now since gone on the IL

https://twitter.com/fieldspick6/status/1563930674133975040?s=21&t=tBQz1g7GXfQ6gIRDXN9WIQ Not sure if these are actual PFF grades so take with grain of salt

They seriously tanked for 3 seasons to get this. They still have the ability to salvage their core but it’s not gonna be easy.

And another TD pass. Fields has had time to throw the last 2 drives and he’s made the throws. Not sure if he’ll even end up playing the half at this point.

Hell yeah Fields! Perfect