Chisoxfn

He needs to go down as his adjustments have him off - but he is a very talented catcher and will be fine in the long run. He needs a reset though - had a nice rbi later. Sox had a few hard hit balls with no luck but was a fun game. Last minute rushed to Petco with my son after his baseball game and ended. Was seated 10 minutes before first pitch - was a fun game and first time in a few years that I’ve had itch to watch Sox in person when they are in town. They are far more interesting to watch - once Colson, Queen, Meidroth and Teel came up last year and even more so when you add Mune, Antonacci, Schultz, Taylor and Vargas giving good at bats (with awful luck).

Dang - that was hit hard, just to wrong spot.

I also think if I squint out 2 years - I see a team that should have the ability to compete - especially if you pair it with a new owner. But even if you don't - I think there should be a window where Muni is 28-32 and this team is playing very competitive baseball. So I don't think this team is like 4 years away where I would say, you know what, lets move on because we are still in the pure stack 3-1 moves to build up a better base for a sustainable run. I'm not saying I have the upmost confidence in the above happening - but if I squint and even when I look at the first month - generally speaking I feel like outside of Quero taking a huge step back, this has been a pretty good 1st month from a rebuild: Majors: Focusing only on guys I consider core to the long-term rebuild Pitching Martin - Really pitching well and looking solid and at least a medium term fit (could also move him and wouldn't argue it given where we are in rebuild and his years of control remaining) Burke - Shows good stuff and fit as a mid - to - back of the rotation guy; Grant Taylor - Elite FIP; Stuff strong - still developing but you can see a high end reliever; Also will caveat this is the type of guy that is a potential asset to move if you can get a high end outfield / position prospect (or starting prospect). Rest of our rotation was never key to the LT success - if you got a hit with Kay or Fedde great, but they are back end guys at best. Hitting: Montgomery - Elite power and above average defense continues to show; Clear signs that he is trending to be a 3-4 WAR player with upside of a 5-6 WAR type player if he can be more consistent with the bat. Learn from Muni on the eye / patience, etc. Vargas - Don't think he went up or down - but you are seeing improved power and eye. Avg low but OPS still serviceable and defense okay. Worse case you can squint and see a very useful elite utility guy and still some scenarios where he is a solid player surrounded with other good players. Quero - Clearly took a nose dive; Probably the most disappointing 1st month of any player who was key to our rebuild. It is still 1 month and he was working through swing changes. Needs a reset. I also understand the nuances of learning your starting staff etc take a tole. Teel - Injury impacted and stinks; But you can see progress - hopefully he is healthy by mid to late May and he gets another year under his belt further validating he has a floor of a top 7 catcher in this league. Muni - Could not be off to a better start; Elite power / Elite eye with an ability to hit velo (which was the scouting report weakness); Swing and miss is real but with the other 2 attributes he looks to be a bopper in this lineup for a while (if you can sign him) Meidroth - Solid player - worse case good bench guy; Low ceiling but he's a major league player and a very good bench guy on a high end team. Antonacci - Jury is out - but lets see what he can do; Did well in minors and spring - small major league sample size but I wouldn't say anything bad relative to expectations but lots of questions. Perreria - Off to a good start; Good buy low candidate that you can at least squint and see some potential; May not be anything but if he isn't good doesn't hurt - if he is good its gravy on top; Acuna - Flawed player - but now is the time to give him at bats because he really isn't taking playing time away from people that critical. Rest of the big league roster - they weren't long term players anyway. Minors: Pitching: Top 3 prospects all showing front of the rotation stuff Schultz - Looks explosive and now up at the big league level - very evident he has elite stuff; whether he can pull it all together, who knows - but you see potential front line starter potential. Hagen - Building up innings / pitch count (not perfect) - but no red flags right now outside of innings (which is a real one); Command improving and seems to be looking more like the guy they drafted; Work still remains; McDougal - Same thing; Elite stuff; Production good; Expect he'll be up in MLB at some point this year. Next Set - Oppor has been mixed; Would like to see another wave shine - and also curious to see what Thorpe can do when he gets back out there. Hitting: Montgomery - Continues to show the tools; Still has some question-marks but still showing high percentage upside; Overall outfield depth remains weak - would love to see this as a spot the club makes an impact signing over next 1-2 years. Bonemer - Raking at a high level and continuing to show that he can be an impact player (I wouldn't call him elite - but looks like he has the makings of being a sustainable 3-4 WAR type of guy. Slew of other Infield Prospects - They all seem to be doing a nice job;

Ayo is killing it tonight - second straight stellar game. If Bulls go with Lloyd I wonder if we see them bring Ayo back on like a 3yr 65M deal. Hopefully we win the lotto and get Dybantas and than you got him, Matas, Giddey, Ayo…grab a center with Portland pick and get Essengue back….you have Smith and Jones on bench plus Miller….tons of cap space the following year and a pretty solid foundation.

I liked what they did on day 3.

I like the DB they drafted a lot. Probably means he will suck and the guys I complained about will deal. one thing I will say - Ben Johnson is someone I trust so I am going to hope if he flagged the TE and wideout than he has a plan and sees them being legit players. The LB from ASU was a solid get too. Nothing sexy but think that was much better than when they got cute with Hyppo but I hope Hyppo with an offseason put on a bit more strength and goes and wins a job.

I wanted them to grab McCoy. Don’t know how bad his injury is but dude was a baller and even if he missed the entire year I would take my chance cause the bounce back upside would be so high.

I don’t get it - I didn’t get a few of their moves last year either and the ones I didn’t get hadn’t / haven’t paid off yet.

I’m good with that - dude is a baller.

I'm not saying to be patient - I'm saying get good football players and don't force what you want because you want it - follow the board and where the talent is. Regarding Burns - if they seriously are willing to trade him - than yeah that is interesting. I'd expect they would get an absolute haul for him.

I just don't think this is the draft to address it. I think a ton of the players are flawed and my view is lets get players who I see having an impact and I think there are more options in other spots. I also should caveat - I think the Bears are likely to take a step back this upcoming year and are still a year away. Do this the right way - I like the Utah guy because I believe he has real upside and only reason he is lower in round 1 is because it will take an extra year (I also think the Bears aren't in a bad spot to be patient). 5th year option huge - a year from now Trapillo is a swing tackle and potential starting beast at guard (replacing Jackson). Next year we have more dline freeing up and make the change than while giving time for Turner and Booker to hopefully show something this year. We have a lot of bodies on the line already (and cap) and I see a lot of guys who are okay but with flaws and hard to project.

My dream Bears draft: 1st Utah LT 2nd IU DB or Tennessee DB 2nd Kyle Louis (safety) or Trevon Sykes 2nd Chis Bell (Wideout - ACL Injury); Dline or Center 3rd Dline or Center with our next pick

Find a way to score 13! Let’s go!

How could we have not beat that - purely for flippability if nothing else.

Is bido the new Jose Paniagua

Ah man he just missed two moon shots. Hitting that one to dead center on a sub 40 MPH pitch showed his strength.

Or not. Throwing strikes helps!

This guy stinks.

That last play was incredible range but man he almost had a career ending injury there - presume OF was calling him off. And if OF didn’t he almost got his SS killed.

And same for Vargas? Is he just applying his own rules? Mune should have challenged the 2nd pitch too - it missed by even more.

How can the ump ignore official reviews. Pathetic what he did to Vargas and then does it again. Wtf.

Sasaki is someone I would be intrigued to acquire if he finally gets to point he wants to get real run way so he can prove he can make it in this league as a starter. He wasn’t ready for prime time with the Dodgers but if he is healthy I think he is type of guy that needs a six month adjustment and than can be a pretty good long term piece.

There were some rumors if the Bulls went with BD in a president role around Thibs maybe being a HC. But I don't think that happens unless you get a Kerr or someone else like that to massage. I don't recall where Lloyd and Thibs came across but I'd imagine they go another direction. If you see Deng come in - it could get interesting and while him and Mesai were not listed in the report from Shams - technically Bulls could keep that pretty quiet since you don't need permission to connect with said players.

I believe the reports were that they wanted him to move up but he was not yet ready to decide that and he had a preference to continue to coach. I presume Bulls wanted to provide him with the respect they thought he deserved and so this was a big long orchestration maybe to give him a bit of time to process that given everything else going on but I think also trying to be respective of how highly they truly think of him (and I don't think they are wrong there). I think it was literally a day later and BD and Reinsdorf both basically implied he wasn't really going to stick around as head coach under all scenarios but it was more how they wanted to frame it in terms of their respect. But Reinsdorf point blank had already backed away from that statement 2 days later but in a smaller context and BD was saying same thing like I wouldn't read too much into what Reinsdorf is saying - but I appreciate how he is doing it and how he's respecting my time to process. And in fairness - BD is one of the more respected basketball individuals and leaders in the entire basketball circuit (college and pro) and is just an outstanding individual to work with at all levels. I'm not saying he is the world's greatest basketball coach - there are better - but when you bring the people aspects etc - he is near the top - hence why I think they really wanted to see if he was ready to step into a president role and oversee the whole thing - be the guy who hired the GM, who hired the next coach - and who served as the glue guy. I personally think he would have been a home run in that role - especially when you think of how important relationships are to the full NBA ecosystem.

In fairness to Lloyd - he is a pretty good candidate and the overall list they are looking at is deep and thorough. We also don't know who else is on the list. Don't want to give them the benefit of the doubt though - as they haven't earned that.