UMFan83

Pulled away with a good stretch in the 3rd playing aggressive D and got points off turnovers. Toronto never really got it close after that. With tonight’s win the Bulls clinched at least a play-in game at minimum. Wouldn't quite say clinched but were 95% of the way there. Bulls still have the 7th hardest remaining schedule vs. 21st for Toronto and 16th for Cleveland. Next 5 are on the road where the Bulls are not nearly as good, but I'd say 2-3 on the road trip will make me feel pretty solid about finishing on the top 6. Definitely 2 or 3 very winnable games on the trip (which is @ Milwaukee, @ New Orleans, @ Cleveland, @ New York, @ Washington) After that 5 of the remaining 6 are at home, albeit against very strong opponents but If we're still 2-3 games up at that point I'll exhale lol

I don't blame you for feeling this way but there's a lot of interesting storylines to this season despite a likelihood of being a little worse than mediocre. 1. Is Suzuki actually a superstar? 2. Brennen Davis call up watch. 3. Is 2021 Schwindel a thing? What if he is? 4. To a lesser extent, same thing but Wisdom. 5. How good is Nick Madrigal? If he can sustain last year he's a valuable piece. 6. Killian call up watch. 7. Not about the big league squad but I'm really excited to see how all these prospects on the precipice of top 100 status do. 8. Nelson Velazquez watch. Maybe a thing? 9. Stroman doing his thing. I'm as disgusted as anybody with this payroll BS and the fact that they passed on a really good player at one of the biggest positions of need in the lineup, but there is a lot I'm looking forward to seeing this year. I’m with you. I’m very disillusioned but I’m still going to watch and follow the team. Don’t think I’ll go out of my way to go to any games but there enough interesting storylines to bring me a little excitement but I could change my tune quickly if the team looks terrible. Still storylines to follow but I’ll just read about them on here

This one is good too: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4067391/michael-weathers 4 years of college basketball, 4 teams. Would not be surprised if he transfers again. Dude changes teams more frequently than Reggie Sanders back in the day. Edit: he actually might not have any more eligibility because he did not play in the COVID season. I'm guessing that means he doesn't get the added year of eligability.

Ricketts playing the long game and taking the money saved from the 2012-2014 rebuilds, last years salary dump and rebuild this year, and combining it with the extra revenue from Marquee to having a ridiculous 1 year spending frenzy to win the world series. Gonna have a $500m payroll, book it! Or giving it to a Russian Oligarch, one or the other

Doesn't sound like they are even talking, and it seems like they have already signed his replacement so they can trade him at the deadline. It reads like they've already decided his fate, not as much a 'go test the market and see what you find out there before coming back to us' situation. And on the surface it makes sense. 29 year old catcher, not really a superstar or anything. And if you look at Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, Javy and Willson, individually they all make sense to not extend I guess. But collectively it suggests a emotionless way of building your baseball team. Like I said, this might not be a point everyone agrees with me on, but I think there is some value to doing your fanbase a solid and let the occasional player stick around. It might be the better baseball decision, but I think it hurts fan connection with the team. Yes all of those guys got worse deals than offered the Cubs, I recognize that but it seems really curious to me that we tried to extend all of them and none of them signed. Did the QO survive this iteration of the CBA? I can't remember. If so, I could see the Cubs holding onto Willy at the deadline and extending a QO if the circumstances justify it. Otherwise, yeah. It's seems more likely than not that he's traded. And I 100% agree, there's real value in having players stick around occasionally. This front office has definitely been concerned with things like clubhouse chemistry, and having some of the old vets on the team is a part of that. But as you said, Willson isn't exactly a superstar. He's an above-average catcher about to hit the ugly portion of the aging curve. Best to get value while the getting is good. There are other ways to get consistent presences in the clubhouse. We've still got Hendricks, and he seems a better bet to age reasonably well and sign relatively cheaply. Heck, Ross is the manager. And maybe in a couple years when we're competing again we might bring back Rizzo or whoever as the DH. It's not so much the overall concept that I think people will argue with you about. It's just trying to shoehorn Willson in as that guy that doesn't really work. Shoehorning Willson in there is because he's the only one left lol (besides Heyward and Kyle). Do we even know what Willson would accept? He's never really said much except: 1) the cubs arent talking to him and 2) he wants to be on a winning team. I'm sure there's been some discussions behind the scenes and maybe he's made it clear he's not taking a team friendly deal which is his right. Which is why I'm not limiting my angst to one situation, its more the collective inability to extend a single position player from a championship core COMBINED with the 4 years of tanking followed by the promised competitive window that was torpedoed mid-window by a payroll cap. I have a lot of angst, some of it is justified, some of it is probably not. Fair to call out the stuff that isn't but combined it just leaves me in a general state of malice regarding the organization. I'm ranting about Spring Training games not being broadcast now lol. If everything else was rosy would I care at all? No. But its just another sign of the organization doing horsefeathers things at every turn.

Doesn't sound like they are even talking, and it seems like they have already signed his replacement so they can trade him at the deadline. It reads like they've already decided his fate, not as much a 'go test the market and see what you find out there before coming back to us' situation. And on the surface it makes sense. 29 year old catcher, not really a superstar or anything. And if you look at Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, Javy and Willson, individually they all make sense to not extend I guess. But collectively it suggests a emotionless way of building your baseball team. Like I said, this might not be a point everyone agrees with me on, but I think there is some value to doing your fanbase a solid and let the occasional player stick around. It might be the better baseball decision, but I think it hurts fan connection with the team. Yes all of those guys got worse deals than offered the Cubs, I recognize that but it seems really curious to me that we tried to extend all of them and none of them signed.

More very favorable analysis of Seiya: https://community.fangraphs.com/how-does-seiya-suzuki-stack-up/

Possibly the biggest game of the year for the Bulls tonight. If they win, they will effectively be 3.5 games up on the Raptors for the play in spot with 11 to play. (3 games ahead and clinch the tiebreaker due to 3-1 H2H) If they lose they will be just 0.5 games ahead of the play in spot with 11 to play and the tiebreaker would be up in the air (Bulls hold a slight lead in the 2nd tiebreaker which is conference win %) Bulls still have the 5th hardest remaining schedule in the league with games against Miami, Milwaukee x2, Cleveland, and Boston. They also have 5 consecutive road games after this where they are 16-19 for the season. Raptors are playing on a back to back on the road and their 3rd game in 4 nights. The Bulls have had 2 days off since their last game. Patrick Williams is returning in an unknown role. It's at home. Should be several things in our favor. If we win I feel pretty confident that we'll get a top 6 seed. If we lose I don't feel good at all about it.

This franchise really is terrible in every conceivable way It seems like Jed is taking an emotionless approach to team building. This may not be a popular opinion here but you need likable players like Willson to get you through the lean years. Heck I grew up in 80s and 90s and my love for the Cubs was centered around Ryno, Grace, Dunston, Dawson, Sosa, etc. They were garbage most years but those were my stars growing up. My kids are already so disillusioned with the Cubs because all of the players they liked aren't here anymore. I get that the point is to win and winning will cure all ills. But we're not the Rays, we can extend likable players and possibly suffer a couple decline years AND still spend money wisely to build a contender.

15th highest payroll in the league, I'm surprised they are having so much trouble having people buy the most expensive tickets in baseball.

True but there’s articles out there that analyze the performance of any player that leaves Colorado and their numbers in general do not change very much. What would be at least as telling to me is: Has any player ever left Colorado and had their numbers improve? Galarraga had his numbers jump significantly at age 32 - especially over his previous 4 seasons - once he hit Colorado - now he did have pretty similar numbers his first year in Atlanta as well. Yes but that was pre-humidor which has been effective in suppressing offensive explosions at a decent rate. He also maintained his numbers to some degree after leaving Colorado.

I think you guys are going to do it. Would be great to see. As a Big Ten rival, this Purdue team is extremely likable.

Top of head guesses: - are ST road broadcasts a thing? I don’t remember - if yes, maybe Camelback specifically isn’t equipped for them - too short notice for various logistics/schedules post-lockout - spite Marquee broadcast the first road spring game this year, I'm guessing one of the middle 2. Yeah I looked at their original spring broadcast schedule and there are about 7-8 games that they aren’t broadcasting. A couple are on MLB Network (with some of those on tape delay) but at least 5 of them are not broadcast anywhere. Again I don’t care about watching every spring training game. It’s the principle of touting this new network that will cost everyone with cable 4 more dollars per month but it’s ok because you’re going to get better coverage of the team and the revenue will go back to the team. In reality they don’t even care enough to broadcast every spring training game. They suck so much. They could have stayed with NBC Sports Chicago and my experience as a Cubs fan would be no different and I’d have $50 more to spend this year. And the payroll would still be ridiculously low

The whole SEC really. No 2 Kentucky lost first round No 2 Auburn lost second round No 3 Tennessee lost second round No 6 Alabama lost first round No 6 LSU lost first round No 4 Arkansas struggled to beat the 12 and 13 seeds. Big ten is right behind them. This is a Sunday massacre if Purdue can’t win. Rutgers loses in First Four Indiana gets blown out in the first round Iowa loses to a 12 seed in the first round Michigan State loses in second round Illinois loses in second round Ohio State loses in second round Wisconsin loses in second round A 17-14 Michigan team and possibly Purdue have to carry the torch for the conference

What stars has Colorado even had? Helton Walker Holliday Tulowitzki Arenado Gonzalez Blackmon Helton and Blackmon never played outside Colorado. Tulo and CarGo were fairly washed up before they left Colorado. The rest have put up good years in STL that weren’t otherwise up to their standards. It’s not much of a sample. True but there’s articles out there that analyze the performance of any player that leaves Colorado and their numbers in general do not change very much.

Top of head guess: - spite ^ what I read ^ Based on this, every Dodgers spring game is being broadcast on their network. I would look at their network as a direct parallel to Marquee. I think they’re trying to save money by not broadcasting every game because people barely watch them anyways so the outrage is limited. https://dodgerblue.com/2022-dodgers-spring-training-sportsnet-la-tv-schedule/2022/03/17/ I don’t even watch spring games. I just feel very jaded that we were sold on all this stuff and we have something that I watch slightly more than public access channels

Top of head guess: - spite ^ what I read ^

Any idea why Marquee isn't broadcasting this one? I know its on MLB Network but its the Dodgers broadcast. Unless there's some rule about both teams broadcasting a national game, I'm really wondering what my $4 a month is going towards because we know its not going towards payroll as promised. I figured a base level of expectation would be every single spring and regular-season game would be broadcast. We were promised lots of original programming too and have gotten 6-7 documentaries that get recycled for 3 years, occasionally a live show when some news happens but it seems sporadic and not something you can count on for every piece of major news. The Ricketts family looks more and more like Lyle Lanley, hyping us up on this amazing Cubs network bringing in tons of revenue and what we got is a place to house (some) Cubs games while Tom is running through the airport to catch flight to London with money falling out of his briefcase. I realize the bubble somewhat burst on networks before Marquee got off the ground but its indisputable that they are making more money now, and we're all paying more money now.

Yeah I'd hope the Coors thing is mostly just fans and old school writers at this point. Going back to at least Matt Holliday every star who's left Coors has still been a star post Coors. Arenando has seen a decent dip. With Cardinals: .250/.310/.480 105 wRC+ With Rockies: .295/.351/.546 120 wRC+ Arenado already started to dip his last year in Colorado, albeit in the COVID season. He’s still a star though, I think he was like 4.5 wins last year, though much of that was fielding.

I think Nova can give them a game. On the off chance Michigan gets past Nova, Arizona already demolished Michigan in a neutral site game this year and they are a terrible matchup. I don’t know much about TCU this year so who knows

Coors + he sort of had the yips at the end last year. Though that was probably just a shoulder injury rather than any scary mental issue. Here are the terms Haven’t we gotten over the concept of a Coors effect or is there a certain type of hitter that does not translate to playing for a team at sea level. We’ve seen several players now leave the Rockies and not see any sort of dramatic drop off in their numbers.

While Michigan and Illinois haven’t been too friendly to each other the last 2 years, I do feel bad for Illini fans for the draw they’ve gotten the last 2 years. Last year as a 1 seed they had to play the number 10 KenPom team in the 2nd round. This year as a 4 seed they had to play the number 2 KenPom team. That’s really shitty luck

Feel really stupid for questioning Howard after the BTT loss

Also I was only half listening to Pat and Ron while driving but i swear I heard Pat talk about Reggie Theus and how he will certainly be attending games at Wrigley to watch his son in the near future

Man he’s gonna get a really nice haul for the Cubs in 5 years