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champaignchris

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Everything posted by champaignchris

  1. champaignchris
    If they finish 5-3, they’ll have gone 50-50 over the last 100 games of the season.
  2. champaignchris
    Mills is not a good QB. But he was taken 56 picks after Fields and is not a worse QB than Fields right now. Those Texans might be the worst team in the League.
  3. champaignchris
    probably indifference with some cheers. his years at the U of I weren't great Yea but no one really cares about U of I Football that much. The Hell you say!?! Kidding. It’s true, I know. The few of us out there mostly view him dimly. Personally, I think history will be kinder towards his U of I tenure. He took over a smoking dumpster fire car crash of a football program after the Beckman player abuse scandal and transformed it into a merely conventionally bad college football team.
  4. champaignchris
    Since his last start, 20 games, 29.2 innings, 8 ER. 2.42 ERA.
  5. champaignchris
    Answering myself: Yes, it was.
  6. champaignchris
    Was that just an immaculate inning?
  7. champaignchris
    They can't. So the question is, is Sampson really a thing?
  8. champaignchris
    With Contreras, Hoerner and Suzuki all out, it’s gonna suck.
  9. champaignchris
    As far as fan excitement is concerned, I can’t blame my fellow Illini fans. They’ve been so bad for so long. 2nd worse P5 school over the last 10 years (Kansas) and 5th worst over the last 25 years (Duke, Kansas, Vandy, Indiana). There are two generations of fans who’ve never experienced Illinois as a consistent winner. On top of that, DIA has repeatedly alienated the fanbase beyond just the bad football. (I don’t want to get into the Chief stuff except to say that’s only a small part of what I’m taking about here.) The football games are just not fun fan experiences, and someone, somewhere along the way forgot that football games are supposed to be fun. But to your larger point, Illinois should be 3-1 after this week headed into the meat of their schedule. On paper, they may not be favored in any of their next 7 games until they close out with NW. but none of Iowa (home), Nebraska (road) or Purdue (home) look like world beaters. Win 2 of those 3 and then take care of business against the Kitties and they’re bowling, which would be a huge step in Bielema’s second season. (Of course the Illini fan in me knows, deep in my heart, that the fluke loss to Indiana is what’s going to keep them out of a bowl.)
  10. champaignchris
    The pitching staff isn’t bad with some decent young starters. Herget has been good since switching him to closer. But that offense…. Whoof! How is it even possible to have Ohtani and Trout take roughly 1/5 of your team’s plate appearances and still be in the bottom 3 in the AL in practically every offensive category? Ward and Rengifo look like OK players, but after that there just isn’t any other help there.
  11. champaignchris
    That would have been the second longest FG in NFL history. Elite QBs making a five yard conversion happens multiple times every week in the NFL. 64+ yard FG has happened twice in NFL history. The coach’s choice here was bizarre.
  12. champaignchris
    Cal just barely beat UNLV at home, a team that’s 3-17 in its last 20 games. ND might win by 30 without ever throwing a pass.
  13. champaignchris
    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Lovie Smith.
  14. champaignchris
    Illinois has a very good defense and they’re playing in a horribad division. If they get any kind of QB play at all, they should go bowling and maybe even have their first winning record in a decade. Someone from the West is going to earn the right to get destroyed by an East team in Indianapolis. Why not Illinois? Dare to dream!
  15. champaignchris
    I understand the shift complaints a bit more. The rule seems to go beyond eliminating the shift as its been employed over the last 15-ish years. Shortstops have had their feet in the outfield grass for decades before that. Something I’m curious about… would the shift rule also eliminate the Rizzo strategy of coming way up on the batter for bunt attempts? Not that it’s as relevant any more with the NL DH.
  16. champaignchris
    I’m unreasonably annoyed by the pitcher throwing to first base when the runner is literally standing on the base. So, I’m all on board the 2 pick off moves rule.
  17. champaignchris
    Every time I’m ready to write off Sampson, he puts up a start like that. As a franchise, the Cubs shouldn’t have to get 145 innings out of 30-something AAAA starters like Sampson, Leiter and Farrell, but the innings they did get from them this year haven’t been the disasters they could have been.
  18. champaignchris
    I think Maddon is a more strategic manager than tactical one. He thinks on a series to series basis rather than an at bat to at bat basis. He’s more interested in making sure guys get rest or at bats, stay refreshed and focused, have opportunities to succeed when first called up, and so on. “Soft people skills” as stated upthread. It’s one or the reasons he’s so much better at being a regular season manager than a playoff manager when each individual at bat carries so much more meaning. I think most charitably, he’s trying to remind everyone that the players are humans and not robots. You can’t just dump a bunch of data in them and expect things to work out. I think least charitably, he’s that guy from Office Space trying to answer, “What exactly would you say you do do here?” “I’m a [expletive] people person!”
  19. champaignchris
    These last two seasons he’s been a Hall of Fame bat and an All-Star pitcher in the same body. It’s unbelievable what he’s doing. It’s even more unbelievable that the Angels have ridden a healthy Ohtani and Trout to a 59-76 record this year. Just 2 1/2 games better than the Cubs.
  20. champaignchris
    Be curious to see what kind of pace they can keep up with Gonsolin, Kershaw and Buehler all on the shelf and insane, probably unsustainable performances from 30-something journeymen like Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Of course, they just got Dustin May back, but I don’t know who their 5th starter is right now and I have no clue what their starting rotation will look like come playoff time. The funny thing is the 5th starter you're forgetting about is Julio Urias who has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball since the ASB. I wasn’t forgetting Urias. Him, May, Heaney and Anderson were the Dodgers’ four starters at the time. They’ve since answered my fifth starter question by bringing Kershaw back off the IL. Pretty nice when you can fill that hole in your rotation by slotting in this generation’s best left handed.
  21. champaignchris
    Be curious to see what kind of pace they can keep up with Gonsolin, Kershaw and Buehler all on the shelf and insane, probably unsustainable performances from 30-something journeymen like Heaney and Tyler Anderson. Of course, they just got Dustin May back, but I don’t know who their 5th starter is right now and I have no clue what their starting rotation will look like come playoff time. I still think I’d take a Mets team that can roll out a healthy DeGrom and Scherzer for 4 starts in a 7 game series even if the Mets are “only” on pace for 102 wins.
  22. champaignchris
    If Willson isn’t considered a catcher, his value goes down significantly. He’s a reliably good, not great offensive player in the 115 OPS+/wRC+ range. He’s an Ian Happ who only hits from the right side. Not without value, but not a $20 million a year player. Closer to a $12-15 million a year player.
  23. champaignchris
    This seems pretty steep for Contreras. Grandal got 4 /73 and Realmuto got 5/115. I don’t think Willson is as well-regarded as Realmuto. I think the Grandal contract is closer to what he’ll get.
  24. champaignchris
    What’s the most anyone has given up for a single season of a player? Could the Cubs mitigate some of the prospects lost by taking on a good chunk of the Rendon contract?
  25. champaignchris
    Cardinals have the second lowest K/9 in the Majors.
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