WrigleyField 22

And they may have lost Portis for a while. So all in all a tank draw.

I don't totally mind the Bulls just throwing horsefeathers up and seeing what sticks. Tanking for the lotto is a lot less attractive now. The key would be is flipping whatever risks or reclamation projects actually pan out for future draft capital (of the unprotected variety ideally).

@jarrieta34 It's really something when people on a message board that calls my friend a seal every day positions themselves as victims. I'm speechless. Or just about any Cubs player, even many of the really good ones.

The Asik thing is probably overblown. The Bulls still have plenty of ways to be a salary dumping ground at the deadline or in the summer if that's what they need to do. Although I don't think the Bulls really want to be a salary dumping ground either, at least based on the current market for that sort of thing.

So David Fales is QB2 today? Let's see some mother effin David Fales today.

Something like this? (Slash indicates a piggyback start) S1_______S1______S6/S1____S6______S5/6 S2/S7___S7_______S7_______S1______S1 S3______S2/S3___S2________S2/S7__S2 S4______S4_______S3/S4____S3______S3/7 S5/S6___S5______S5________S4______S4 Probably a more organized way to lay it out, but basically introduce a way to get guys at least 1 extended rest every 5 starts, as well as some "scheduled off" days for your bullpen (presumably a 5 man pen) with the piggyback-ed starts. If your eighth starter was an optionable arm, you could fluctuate between a 5 and 6 man pen and an extra optionable position player (like Bote), depending on need. Plus use some 10 day DL shenanigans to get some extra bullpen rest when needed (especially since Morrow will be very limited). So I am sitting here in the hospital waiting for drugs/contractions for my wife to kick in and ran with my idea here a little. 7 man starter staff (Lester, Hendricks, Quintana, Hamels, Darvish, Montgomery, Smyly) 5 man bullpen (Morrow, Strop, Cisheck, Edwards, *Free Agent*) 8th starter/BP AAA swing guys - Mills AAA swing bullpens guys (various, + random DFA castoffs throughout season) I set up a 30 game cycle that ends up looking like this (varied a little from my example above) Solo Starts Piggyback Starts Piggyback Reliefs Lester 5 Lester 1 Lester 0 Hendricks 4 Hendricks 2 Hendricks 0 Quintana 3 Quintana 2 Quintana 1 Hamels 3 Hamels 1 Hamels 2 Darvish 3 Darvish 2 Darvish 0 Smyly 1 Smyly 0 Smyly 4 Montgomery 1 Montgomery 2 Montgomery 2 Mills 0 Mills 0 Mills 1 20 10 10 Lester, Darvish, Hendricks get treated something like normal starters except Darvish pitches once less in a 30 game cycle (5) while the other two pitch a full 6 game slate, but with a few designated pickyback starts. Hamels/Quintana have to pick up some piggyback relief appearances (consider it playoff prep), but still are scheduled 6 times in a 30 game slate, while Montgomery and Smyly pick up spot starts and schedule relief appearances, appearing 5 scheduled times in a 30 game slate. Every guy gets a least 1 extended rest on this cycle. Mills, or others, get thrown in for the occasional scheduled piggyback relief appearance (while also shuttling between AAA and MLB for Bote as Bullpen support is needed). Any other relievers and random DFA pickups throughout the season pick up real DL time or phantom 10 day DL time. Your "regular use" bullpen guys would almost never go three straight games without a scheduled piggyback day, which in theory limits their usage a ton (and you could try to schedule those 3 game stretches around off days). They'll still occasionally end up with appearances in piggyback days, but their rest schedule should be much easier to plan still, even though you'll only have 5 "regulars" in the bp... so not as many 1 out appearances allowed (sorry Joe). If a "regular" start was 6 innings, a piggyback start 5 innings, and a piggyback relief 4 innings, those 8 guys innings might look like this over a full year; Pitcher Est. Innings Season Lester 189.0 Hendricks 183.6 Quintana 172.8 Hamels 167.4 Darvish 151.2 Smyly 118.8 Montgomery 129.6 Mills 21.6 Do I think they'd consider something like this? No. But it is an interesting exercise to go through to think about how they could approach the starter/bullpen use.

Acho officially to the IR and OG Bryan Wintzmann signed to the active roster (played in KC under Nagy)

Something like this? (Slash indicates a piggyback start) S1_______S1______S6/S1____S6______S5/6 S2/S7___S7_______S7_______S1______S1 S3______S2/S3___S2________S2/S7__S2 S4______S4_______S3/S4____S3______S3/7 S5/S6___S5______S5________S4______S4 Probably a more organized way to lay it out, but basically introduce a way to get guys at least 1 extended rest every 5 starts, as well as some "scheduled off" days for your bullpen (presumably a 5 man pen) with the piggyback-ed starts. If your eighth starter was an optionable arm, you could fluctuate between a 5 and 6 man pen and an extra optionable position player (like Bote), depending on need. Plus use some 10 day DL shenanigans to get some extra bullpen rest when needed (especially since Morrow will be very limited).

Did they try the onside kick? I didnt think 7 seconds was enough time to do all that.

The madden create a player has come a long way, but it's a little in the uncanny valley now.

Packers getting crushed right now by Lions. So the Bears either will keep their one game lead in the W column or Rodgers will do more sorcery stuff.

But guys, those draft picks could have won rookie of the month in 2019 and 2020.

Is the overall counting ST as well? Must be pretty high there.

End this on the base paths Javy.

End this Javy.

Lol catcher interference

Oh and they've matched their INT total from 2015, 16, and 17 (8). Can they keep up the pace and get more this year than the 3 previous?

3 toughest games left (NE, LAR, GB) are all at home. Nothing else seems particularly tough. As speculated the Bears SoS always was weaker than it looked based on last years records, though Min looking weak to this point also helps a lot.

Will this be a positive point differential week?

Game 16. Trubisky- 19-26, 354 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT, 154.65 Goff- 25-37, 355 yards, 3 TD, 0 INTs, 125.4 QB rating Wentz- 27-43, 245 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, 93.7 QB rating Clearly Mitch is the best of the group. He raised his career passer rating by 7 points today.

Who's getting the start for Amukamara?

It will also be interesting if Jabari plays a lot of PF with Lauri out and the Bulls excel in that lineup.

They probably overachieved based on W-L last year. 23-59 expected W-L. Lots of unknowns though. A resurgent Jabari that puts Lavine in a more tertiary offensive role that focused on 3s and dunks... could be a decent team. Or they'll clash horribly and Lauri (once healthy) never sees the ball.

Ftfy

Hes regressed I think. He had his moments last year with poor footwork or whatever, but seemed to generally be hitting his targets with more consistency.