raw

I was there today. Hot as horsefeathers out there, and of course I didn't have seats under the shadows of the stands. My son's first major league game, and he got to run the bases afterward. Guys, I saw the Cubs in person as the defending World Series Champs!

Lost 6 straight Won 5 straight Lost 4 straight History shows, Cubs win Games 1-2 of this series, before failing to sweep and losing the opener to the Pirates.

Is it me or does Ian Happ's swing look very similar to Corey Patterson's? Long swing thru the zone. Probably a little more power than Corey. But huge difference with the grasp of the strike zone.

Cubs just had a 6-game losing streak.....but are now in 1st place.

Cubs quietly pulling off a piggyback in the 5th starter spot (well 2 or 3 times out of 5 starts). I dig it.

I would hope so. But, I don't know if I can give them that much credit. I'd punt Cruz into the stratosphere for him though. Yeah, I'm sure they'd love to have Maclin, but not going to happen at this point. Maclin is 29 (old-ish for a WR) and coming off a down/injury filled season. But he'd be the #1 or 2 in this offense. The only WRs that really matter at this point are Meredith and White....and that's on the off chance he's actually ever healthy. Not concerned about taking away playing time from Kendall Wright, Victor Cruz, Markus Wheaton, or Josh Bellamy. I'd sign Maclin today and cut Cruz tomorrow. He didn't get much guaranteed money and the Bears have tons of cap room, eating money is no big deal if you can upgrade the talent by that much.

He was never holding up with a body like that. This was always most likely best case scenario.

Yeah, more important than who is available in a trade is who the Cubs are willing to give up in a trade. Despite having too many players for the 7 non-catching positions, I don't see the Cubs trading any of the guys that may be considered "expendable" by some standards. Javy isn't going anywhere. Happ was potentially a trade candidate and looks like he's going to be a part of this team. Almora probably isn't going anywhere as the Cubs love his defense and potential. Maybe in the offseason you think about trading one of these guys for pitching, but I think they are all too valuable in the current and/or the long-term to trade in a deadline deal, where prices can be inflated. I think the Cubs go after the best arm that guys like Candelario, Zastryzny, Zagunis, and the like can get them. Even if you're thinking a trade like the Chapman trade from last year, I don't think the Cubs are as willing to give up Eloy as they were about giving up Torres. I mean anything is possible, but I don't see it as likely.

I think I might love the Cubs beating Cueto more than I like anything else.

Almoron

He knows everything.

Hit the showers Lackey.

Ball IS a terrible parent, and this repeated mantra of "durrrrrrrrrrr, you don't criticize someone else's parenting" is dumb, especially when it's about someone trying as hard as possible and as obnoxiously as possible to show the world that they're a terrible parent and person. yeah, the not criticizing someone else's parenting thing is weird. Isn't this pretty much like the weird guy who lives through their kid playing little league only on all kinds of steroids topped with a guy trying to profit off their kids success. I mean, the guy claimed at one point he deserves to make money off the kid because he created him starting with picking the woman or something like that. That's pretty horrible stuff really. Ball can play and I don't really like having to root against him because of his stupid dad but that's pretty much going to happen. You're equating being a terrible person in front of cameras to being a bad parent. Nobody is disputing that Ball is living vicariously thru his kid(s). But he's also essentially a nobody, trying to make himself famous so he can capitalize off his sons' talent. There's a method to his madness. By all accounts his boys are well-behaved, intelligent young men. That has more to do with his ability as a parent than stupid horsefeathers he says on TV. He's clearly a trash human being, and maybe the boys are successful in spite of him.....but it's stepping over the line to make that determination, IMO. Either way, the point isn't whether he's a good parent or not. It's about whether you can call him a terrible parent and then play the victim when you get treated like a person who called someone a terrible parent.

Don't agree with Ball here. But a big ass part of this story that is consistently being left out is that Leahy was on air really talking trash on Lavar as a businessman and especially criticizing him as a parent. I thought Leahy's comments (which can be heard here: http://uproxx.com/dimemag/lavar-ball-kristine-leahy-fs1-parenting-cowherd-rant-video/2/) are out of line and disrespectful. Obviously, Ball handled it in the probably the worst way possible by talking down to her on her own show. Instead of confronting her about her disrespect, he just gave it back without context for most. As for the "don't market to women" stuff, I think that comes off as sexist but I don't think that was the intent. It only comes off as sexist because of the "stay in your lane" comment and because he was trying to dismiss her for her comments. There's plenty of brands that don't market to women....especially athletic companies in their early stages like Nike, Jordan, etc. I think Ball could have answered the marketing to women question better if he went into the studio with a level head without Leahy's comments. Of course, that's also assuming he has any kind of common sense or ability to articulate, which is in doubt. Basically, 2 wrongs don't make a right. She can't say the stuff she said and then play the victim like she's being attacked for no reason. He can't continue to be an horsefeathers and throw a hissy fit because people treat him like he's an horsefeathers.

I thought for sure that Junior Lake was going to steal the Cubs a few Theriot years, where's he's a prospect that was around forever that gives the Cubs a 2-3 extremely cheap league average to above seasons before he got incredibly annoying.

Happ's definitely going deep again tonight.

Pretty crazy he weighed in at 277 with legs like that. He doubles down on leg day, he's an offensive tackle.

Schwarber doesn't need any help being bad.

Schwarber, Almora, Happ, Baez all 1st round picks. Bryant and Russell on the bench. Crapshoot?

And Eloy makes his debut for Myrtle Beach today!

Houston has made it this far, he probably stays. The Bears don't really have a young OLB that they are desperate to get on the field. If he doesn't make the team, you're looking at Dan Skuta and Sam Acho fighting it out for the 4th guy in the OLB rotation. Agreed you don't want those guys as your 4th LB. They are basically STers. I have a suspicion they are high on Roy Robertson-Harris and he'll compete for that 4th spot with Houston. Its the only explanation for the lack of offseason activity at OLB considering the depth and injury history of those spots. Last I heard, Robertson-Harris has put on some weight (to about 285) and will compete at DE. Of course, he's still listed at 268 and a LB on the website.

Houston has made it this far, he probably stays. The Bears don't really have a young OLB that they are desperate to get on the field. If he doesn't make the team, you're looking at Dan Skuta and Sam Acho fighting it out for the 4th guy in the OLB rotation.

Sutton is probably the low man on the totem pole at the moment. Unrein is a DE starter for us currently, isn't he? Hicks/Goldman/Unrein with Floyd/Houston and McPhee/Young playing OLB? I wouldn't be surprised if Unrein is cut tomorrow. If the Bears feel comfortable with Howard's health, there's just no need for Unrein who provides nothing in the way of pass rush. He's a warm body who doesn't have as much talent as Howard, nor as much upside as Bullard, John Jenkins, Robertson-Harris, or probably even Will Sutton.

The idea that Glennon may play at a pro bowl level is funny enough on its own, but he frames that as the risk of starting Glennon over Trubisky, as if that would somehow be bad. And Grasu isn't a starter. And the OL isn't "a lot" better than that, it's slightly better if Long stays healthy. Penn was a former pro bowler (2010) who would go on to be a future pro bowler (2016). Joseph was still a very good guard then, before injuries derailed his career, also 2-years removed from a probowl when Glennon got there. Zuttah's also a solid lineman who was also a 2016 pro bowler. Dotson's not great, but he's not bad either.....still the starting RT for Tampa. I hate the narrative that Glennon will be so much better now than he was in Tampa because he had nothing to work with back then. OL isn't much better, if at all. The WRs/TEs aren't much better if at all. He had a prime Vincent Jackson his rookie year and Mike Evans the year after that. Defensive minded head coach with an iffy OC.

Glennon is kind of inconsequential. But, if you were signing a guy JUST to placehold, why not just bring back Hoyer? You could have used the difference in money to have added Gilmore or one of the other guys you missed on. In the end, it won't matter. Pace gets judged on Trubisky. If he flops, Pace is gone after 2018. If he's good, the media will write the "Pace had serious stones" type of articles to admit they were wrong. Was cap space really even an issue? As for the answer, I guess it was insurance in case they couldn't get Trubisky as well as a gamble on a little upside? I don't know. He's a lot better than Hoyer, IMO. Don't really see the downside of it. What kind of return could we get for Glennon if he has a halfway decent year next year? Well, the Bengals wanted a 1st or 2nd for AJ McCarron. If he's halfway decent, he'd be the same as McCarron but with more experience. Obviously nobody traded a 1-2 for McCarron, so I'm guessing a 2 or 3 for Glennon would be feasible.