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champaignchris

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Everything posted by champaignchris

  1. champaignchris
    I might be wrong here but I can't remember the last coordinator to become a HC from IL, especially a power 5. SSR already mentioned Locksley who eventually became HC at Maryland. He went OC Illinois > HC New Mexico (2-26) > OC Maryland > interim HC Maryland (1-5) > OC Alabama > HC Maryland (20-28, but 2 straight bowl appearances in a beast of a division). If I had to guess, I’d bet Maryland fans would have rather the school just skipped over the whole DJ Durkin, player dying in practice phase of the program’s history and just retained Locksley after 2015. The last coordinator at Illinois to go directly to be a HC at a Power 5 school was Lou Tepper who was promoted from DC at Illinois to HC when Mackovic left for Texas.
  2. champaignchris
    Probably, but it would take like 4-6 signings/trade additions. Which are out there and also largely due to the division horsefeathering sucking. Right. If they did something like Turner, Segura, Narvaez, Smyly, Britton, they might be looking at 80-something wins assuming relatively good health.
  3. champaignchris
    I watched a ton of Cubs games last year. I thought they were a more fun team to watch than the zombie version of the 2016 team they rolled out there for the 3 seasons after Theo proclaimed that the offense was broken. It'd sure be nice if Hoyer were to do something tot improve the team I watched last year.
  4. champaignchris
    Anyone with Swanson contract predictions? Is there any reason he’d settle for something other than a little less than what Bogaerts got? Like, 9 years, $200 million. Any reason to believe the Cubs would be the one making that offer?
  5. champaignchris
    Ryan Walters, Illinois DC, to be next Purdue head coach. He’s real young, but I think they got a really good one.
  6. champaignchris
    What am I missing on the Brewers’ side of the Murphy transaction? They get William Contreras, a bullpen piece, and another prospect and all they had to give up was Esteury Ruiz? I see his ranking all over the map, but the consensus seems to be that he was about the Brewers’ 5th best prospect.
  7. champaignchris
    Seems like a bunch of dumb horsefeathers all ping-ponging off of each other. we'll never get it, but i'd love to hear theo's candid thoughts on all this Didn’t he walk away from several million dollars on the last year of his contract? That in itself spoke pretty loudly.
  8. champaignchris
    pulling the rug out from theo right before harper was so bad that it is in our GM's head several years later I can't really say I blame him. Although as was asked up thread, why did he even take the job if this were the case? I don't know what happened in October/November of 2018, but everything about this franchise seemed to change then. I'm sure it will someday make for a great book. Anyway, this has been a relentlessly fiscally conservative franchise ever since. But it's been penny smart, pound foolish the whole time.
  9. champaignchris
    Over the contract, he’ll likely consistently hit around .260/.325/.450, 20 HRs, while playing a good to great shortstop. A nice player. Just not a very sexy one. He’d clearly make the team better, but as a capstone to a “big” offseason, it’s just not very exciting.
  10. champaignchris
    Implicit in ownership’s “You can spend now,” leaks is that Hoyer wasn’t able to spend before. The Cubs aren’t going to find better bang for the pitching buck than the 2 years for $39 million left on Darvish’s contract on the open market now. Too bad Jed was forced to sell him for pennies on the dollar due to “Biblical losses.” See also the failure to pursue Harper in free agency after 2018. 9 years for $222 million looks pretty good today.
  11. champaignchris
    After Louisville’s coach went to Cincinnati. Arguably both lateral moves, although I understand Brohm is all about going back to his Alma mater.
  12. champaignchris
    He’s a free agent. They could franchise him, which would make him no longer inexpensive, and still leave them with no long-term solution and thus likely still wanting to draft a qb. Otherwise he hits the open market and who knows?
  13. champaignchris
    Starting to look at draft scenarios. As the standings sit right now, the Bears would have #2, the Lions would have #3 and #13 and the Seahawks would have #4 and #16. Geno Smith is an UFA after this year and probably not a long term solution anyway. Goff has 2 years left on his contract, but I don’t think any of it is guaranteed, and he’s obviously not a long term solution. Both teams will likely be looking at QBs in the draft. So the Bears could be looking at a scenario where they could trade down to #3 or #4, pick up the extra pick, and still have the choice of the best non-qb option in the draft.
  14. champaignchris
    Beat me by 2 minutes.
  15. champaignchris
  16. champaignchris
    I think that’s fair. Fields is a year younger than all three and has two years less experience than Herbert and one year less than Hurts and Tua. I think Hurts’ and Tua’s year 3 leaps are a good goal for Fields next year. Fields is pretty clearly out-performing all the other QBs in his draft class. By the way, I don’t think it’s generally appreciated how good a season Tua is having. 9 yards per attempt and throwing a TD on 6.7% of throws are eye-popping stats.
  17. champaignchris
    I went into the game just hoping Illinois would look like they belong on the same field as Michigan. I’d say they’re delivering.
  18. champaignchris
    27 year old 2nd baseman who had a cup of coffee in the bigs last year? Ok baseball people, tell me why this is something to maybe get excited about. Seems like the kind of guy the Cubs already have several of. Basically .300 with a .370 OBP over his last 3 minor league seasons in AA and AAA, with his SLG being improving each year. Seems pretty damn redundant with McKinstry, Bote and Madrigal.
  19. champaignchris
    Fields looking like Lamar Jackson and all of a sudden Kmet looking like Mark Andrews.
  20. champaignchris
    Is Bogaerts good enough defensively to move Nico off of SS? Or is Bogaerts going to be the 2B? Bogaerts has been pretty insistent on playing SS in a similar situation last year(Boston signing Trevor Story), so I think in 2023 you would see a default of Bogaerts SS/Nico 2B. There's reasons to think that wouldn't be so bad. Bogaerts has consistently had good UZRs, and this year had OAA easily above average too. Nico was very strong defensively last year, but also a decent chunk of that value came from constantly being flipped to play in the hole on LHH shifts, which could persist in this arrangement. And while the default would be this way there's also keeping Bogaerts rested or any minor injuries, so I'd expect Nico to be over there 10-20 games regardless. Plus, Bogaerts' insistence on playing SS may go down if he's paid like an elite SS and gotten his big FA deal. I think I’m getting more sold on Bogaerts. I don’t pay enough attention to the AL and didn’t realize how good and consistent his bat’s been over the last 5 years. My thought on Trea Turner all along has been that I didn’t really mind paying him like an elite SS despite the fact that he might not play SS over the last half of his contract because that bat will play anywhere. I’m coming to the same conclusion on Bogaerts.
  21. champaignchris
    Is Bogaerts good enough defensively to move Nico off of SS? Or is Bogaerts going to be the 2B?
  22. champaignchris
    Fine. Keep losing 35-32. We can be fun this year and then good next year.
  23. champaignchris
    Ok. I was a doubter. I’m sold. That toss to Mooney was amazing.
  24. champaignchris
    Losing 49-29 is more fun than losing 17-6. The kid I’d be aiming for in the draft would be Christian Johnston WR from TCU. Big, athletic. Most projections I’ve seen having him going around 8-12, which is right about where the Bears should be picking.
  25. champaignchris
    The real question is, will they be ranked in the CFP top 10 come Tuesday? I'd figure probably not, but maybe? They're definitely behind Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, Clemson, TCU and Alabama. So they're in the discussion after that with Oregon, USC, UCLA, Ole Miss, Kansas State, LSU, Utah, Oklahoma State, and Penn State. I'd probably put them just behind Oregon and USC, even with UCLA and Ole Miss, just ahead of the 2 loss teams. The fluke loss to Indiana and the relatively weak schedule hurts them. It’s not that they’ve played a bunch of bad teams, it’s that they haven’t played any particularly good teams. The convincing win over Minnesota is still probably their best win of the year. Illinois will get its chance. Beat Michigan on the road and the rankings will take care of themselves.
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