Outshined_One
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Everything posted by Outshined_One
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And that's truly what it comes down to with this situation. The McCaskeys don't have the sort of independent wealth needed to pull off new stadium construction on their own. The NFL has a financing arm which can help cover various costs, but it's not enough to build a new stadium on its own, and the McCaskeys' ability to find outside financing is hampered by the NFL's rules regarding leveraging ownership interests against loans. With good reason, too, because imagine what would happen if an ownership group lost a majority stake in their team through going belly-up with JPMorgan Chase. They can't build a new stadium on their own. They need someone else to pick up the bill. In a league of billionaires, they're merely millionaires.
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Imagine if, back in 2023 (or earlier), the Bears announced an exploratory committee regarding the stadium, be it extending the Soldier Field lease or finding a location suitable for the new stadium, where this committee would have met with various officials around the Chicagoland area (including Indiana) to scope out stadium sites and see what sorts of deals could be made in advance of a new lease or site purchase or whatever. After multiple meetings, site visits, etc., they announce a deal with Hammond and Indiana to move to the Wolf Lake site. I feel like that would have been a much easier pill to swallow than the horsefeathers clown show we've seen since the AH purchase. What bothers me isn't that they're moving to Indiana, but instead the entitlement they've shown and tantrums they've thrown because they bought a site and didn't get the Hochul Special within a week of the purchase, What also bothers me is they tried to feed Chicagoans a massive load of horsefeathers about a new lakefront stadium that we all knew was make believe, and our horsefeathers mayor swallowed it whole like some dipshit fanboy. And what bothers me even more is you just know they're going to continue playing these games until they finally get everything they want.
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2026 MLB Draft
Outshined_One replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
The upcoming lockout has to be on the minds of every draft-eligible amateur out there. I'm really curious to see if we see more reclassifications and also to see how signings shake out post-draft, because the new CBA will undoubtedly screw with the draft to the detriment of draftees. -
Quite the contrary, the state is facing major budget issues due to pension payment obligations and federal funding turning into a game of whac-a-mole. Pritzker was vocal about not using taxpayer funds for anything beyond utilities/transportation upgrades for a new Bears stadium, and offering this sort of deal would have seen him strung up by the short and curlies. It's also why Brandon Johnson was roundly mocked for pushing a new lakefront stadium. The Bears can horsefeathers off to London for all I care at this point. This whole saga has been mind-numbingly stupid.
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Plus his arm at 3B wasn't particularly bad, either. I wouldn't expect him to showcase a cannon, but he has enough baseball smarts to hit the cutoff man and make runners think twice on shallow fly balls.
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Question of the week: grade the offseason
Outshined_One replied to Brock Beauchamp's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
A-/B+ for me, too. While this offense seems like it doesn't have an elite bat, I don't see any weak spots in the lineup with Bregman taking over 3B. Even with some potential regression from guys like Shaw, Busch, and PCA, I don't see the offense going through protracted slumps, either. The rotation is also stacked and deep, which should be extremely helpful come the deadline (especially if guys like Brown or Wicks show out) and down the stretch when I expect to see guys like Cabrera and Horton start tiring. I'm still a little iffy on the pen, but it feels more stable now than this time a year ago, so that's progress. -
With where the Bears are picking, you'd need a heck of a lot of luck to get a stud DL, particularly as a rookie.
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2026 MLB Draft
Outshined_One replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
Any draftniks have early favorites or good fits for the Cubs' profile for where they're drafting? Carson Wiggins stands out for obvious reasons, and Aiden Teel seems like the sort of college hitter they tend to like. -
Probably takes the Cubs out of the Gallen running if the thought was they'd want Gallen at least through 2027, no?
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It's also worth pointing out that, before any of us really had a handle on Schwarber's defensive shortcomings, there were some discussions around these parts about seeing if he could handle 1B or 3B while he was obliterating minor league pitching. He wasn't always seen as a defensive liability, odd as it may seem. I looked back at Schwarb's stint in the minors, and holy horsefeathers are these numbers hilarious:
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Part of the catching discussion might also involve whether the Cubs think ABS will be expanded to full time use after the lockout.
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Realistically, I agree the city will do everything it can to continue using the stadium. My suspicion is that Chicago will do something like add a roof to Soldier Field in an effort to court NFL teams looking to make a move or stump for an expansion team, but time will tell. It's worth pointing out, though, that those three stadiums will be open by the time the Bears move, with modern amenities and also better suited to specific events, be it soccer games or college bowl games. Soldier Field is a neat venue, but we also know it's not without issues.
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The Chicago Fire are going to be building a soccer-specific stadium down the street, the new Ryan Field is opening later this year in Evanston, and if the Bears keep AH, that's three major competitors for events at Soldier Field, all of which will have newer and (presumably) better amenities than Soldier Field. Keeping and maintaining Soldier Field without a sports team tenant like the Bears is going to be a huge drag on the city. I'd rather the stadium be demolished and replaced with park land. The colonnade can be turned into a museum or the like, but Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park both demonstrated the benefits of green space in and near downtown, and there's a lot that can be done with that space along the lakefront.
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Nailed it.
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The demolition and carrying costs on that sucker, not to mention the market shifts, probably killed any profit they could have realized from a sale of the property if they were to sell now. It's possible we see a more favorable market down the road, but if they opt to move elsewhere, that probably will not result in a profitable outcome for this team.
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Guess what an idiot with a sports betting app did this time?
Outshined_One replied to Brian707's topic in Other Sports
Oh goody, more signs of end stage capitalism. -
That's the way I've read it since the team had its eye on the Arlington site for years and was dying for the opportunity to purchase it. A private developer with deep pockets could have turned it into another suburban hellscape ala The Glen Town Center, so there unquestionably was outside interest in the site. As you alluded to, though, the Bears clearly did zero political groundwork prior to the purchase and seemed to think that the state, county, and municipality would all roll out the red carpet for them...only it never happened. Once they got pushback from every level of government, they got desperate and made some abjectly stupid political plays for Chicago and NW Indiana. The fact that Pritzker is meeting with Goodell at least tells me there's effort being made by the state and the NFL to keep the Bears from doing something ludicrous like move to Hammond, but time will tell.
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It'd actually work better if it were north on North and west on Western, but, *shrug*
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As is tradition, post headshots so we can make fun of players and pictures from workouts so we can speculate about things like how much weight Moises Ballesteros has gained/lost in the offseason.
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Going to be delightful two years from now when both sides point fingers over the lack of progress, the Bears go back to the Indiana legislature hat in hand, and the whole damn thing ends up in court.
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The Jets fans bemoaning Darnold have been similarly delightful.
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His next step is frankly what killed Vogelbach: demonstrate the ability to handle major league pitching (both in terms of velocity and breaking stuff). Vogelbach mashed changeups and sinkers, but he was meh against fastballs while getting eaten alive by sliders (and curves, to a lesser extent): It's the reason why I'm hoping Mo gets 500+ PAs in the majors this season; his bat won't benefit from seeing extended time in AAA.
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I always liked Dan Vogelbach and was disappointed his game didn't translate to the majors. The similarities are there (bad body, left-handed hitter, bat-first prospect), but I feel like Mo's advantage is he'll be the same age in the majors in 2026 (22) as Vogelbach was when he started AA. I also tend to favor Mo's more contact-oriented approach to Vogelbach's more passive approach, so hopefully that serves Mo better in his career.
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The Bulls are now two 2nd round picks away from filling up their punch card and getting a free one.
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Cash considerations, baby! This is the equivalent of burning the team down for the insurance money.
