Chisoxfn

If they are good at offense, than I'm okay at offense. LOL.

I also think everyone has been pretty measured because they recognize that Fields has physical tools, that very few QB's have and he can throw the ball downfield with accuracy (+ strong intangibles)....he just can't read. I think it is true that the Bears put limited talent and a pourous oline around him. One could even say despite some upgrades made last season (acquiring Moore, signing Davis - but he was out most of the season and adding Wright is huge (but he's still a rookie at RT), they still had significant issues protecting him given how bad the interior line play is (when the center is being blown up - being able to be comfortable in the pocket is a real hard thing so can you really blame him for bailing). So I get why people look at it and say - if you can get "Da Haul" and move from 1 to 2 and than to 4 or 8 or whatever and line up a ton of 2nd round picks, future 1st rounders, plus maybe get a Bijan Robinson or something as a player (who is on a rookie deal), than it gets difficult.

I absolutely am in the opposite camp as you. I love every single thing about his column most weeks. Just find it so enjoyable and if something isn't interesting I skip pass, but just a lot of interesting nuggets. I am as pro QB as possible - but his proposal for the Bears is very reasonable. Those are not like overly favorable offers skewed heavy to the Bears, if anything I think Bears could potentially get a bit more out of Atlanta in that scenario. And I'll be clear - if Poles did that, I would have zero issue with those moves, even if I don't think Field(s) is the guy, I think the Bears would continue to be in such a strong position.

With New England - the other thing is, I don't see why New England has to make a decision on the QB this quickly. I would think they would wait for a lot longer and really pour over the current crop of candidates.

Very well said.

What was everyone's favorite memory of Liam on southside. I think for me it was his first ASG with the Sox. I think Fox mic'd him up and he was missing on a few pitches and for any Sox fan you knew what you would get out of Liam but clearly the national broadcast didn't. It was hillarious but really the epitome for how he gave it all on the field and also back to the Chicagoland community too.

Congrats!!!

Not many guys over the past few years deserve on - Liam deserves 100. Dude was awesome on and off the field and gave it 110% at everything he did. We will miss you on the Southside Liam and wish you all the success in Boston (except when you play the right colored Sox :)).

The Sox could have had him for free - right? I should say - the only cost the Sox would have had would have been whatever the PV of paying Hendricks now vs. the ability to defer his payment over how many years.

The problem is he is a shitty hitter and a less shitty fielder than he was but he still is really really bad out there. s%*# defense - s%*# bat and by the way it isn’t like he has a minor league track record that says he can crush the ball…which to me is the only reason you would play someone who is that bad in the outfield. Sheets has to be, on volume, the absolute worse player in baseball the past few years to get the amount of shots he has gotten. I get someone stinking like him getting a long leash if they were a top 50 prospect etc but he was none of those things and has sucked for forever.

This is quite frankly one of the dumbest articles I have ever seen on a Sox blog. Good grief.

This is all true - but I think it is better for the franchise, but I agree it complicates so much. I go back to - if Bears were picking at say #6 and #10. I don't think anyone would be suggesting to package those 2 picks plus another future FRP and DJ Moore for example to move up to #1 overall. I think we all would be looking at it and saying - Fields has shown us something. There are still a lot of questions and in some cases more question(s) than answers, but lets continue to build up this football team. I likely would be proposing mock drafts that had the Bears taking the top OT and the top playmaker. Maybe some crazy ones where you decide the line is fine and you are taking 2 top playmakers (i.e., one of the top wideouts + Brockers). If than you fast forward to '2025 - if Fields still didn't take the next step, but at the same time the players Poles picked were trending up - I don't think anyone would be calling Poles out for not mortgaging the farm to move up for a QB - they would be crediting him for building a much better football team and now looking him square in the eyes and saying - now go get the QB right (how he does that - I have no idea at that point - cause you probably don't have the same draft capital, so by that point I think he's probably stuck in a rock and a hard place). So maybe as I play it out - it gives Poles more possibilities to kick the can a bit down the road - but eventually he's going to need to pay up...unless of course Fields gets better and quite frankly I would suspect he would continue to grow and improve. I don't think the ceiling is on him and that just over time his weakness would improve and at a faster rate than the physical deterioration would have on him (i.e., his athlete athleticism will go away but not for a few years - which means some steady progress on progression(s) etc from experience should drive his arrow to continue to go up - even if the trajectory is slow).

The only logical path to getting Chapman is basically Sox use the money so that Chapman is than more affordable and can get spun to a contender at the deadline. It isn't crazy - other than Sox have never done something like this, but the logic makes sense. Chapman gets big money on ST deal and essentially knows as long as he stays healthy and produces he'll ultimately play for a contender. IF he does well - he got paid a ton this year plus is in a better spot to make a ton next year as he hopefully helped a contender get deeper or win it all. With that said - I presume he would prefer to do that staying on the west coast and there is no way Sox are going to pay him a 1yr 25M deal.

Watch Kingsbury end up as UCLAs head coach.

I think a bit more to the Herbert comp. Stud talent who didn't have a great all around team - clearly limited his production (vs. talent) - but once Herbert got to NFL and had real talent - he was everything everyone thought he would be and than some. Does Drake Maye do same thing? If anything - we know he hasn't benefited from having just elite talent everywhere (ala Justin Fields). I also don't think Caleb Williams benefited from having massive talent around him in '23 (but he did have pretty good talent in '22). Allen is even more unique - total physical stud - but he was playing totally non-existent competition most of his career. So while he didn't have a ton of talent - he also played plenty of lousy teams too. Maye wasn't in the SEC but he played plenty of decent schools and programs.

Mitch also played under a completely different offensive coach. Unless I'm mistaken - Mack Brown wasn't coaching UNC when Trubisky was there. I also believe Maye was the #1 recruit target of Bama and he was headed to Bama unless Mack got back to sideline for UNC and was able to sway Maye to stick to his hurts (his brother played basketball for UNC and his dad I believe was a QB for UNC - but maybe he played QB for another program).

Man AK presser and Cowley. Seems like it’s all on AK at this point as ownership gave him green light and it sounds like his own team also was proposing to blow it up. AK clearly already has a wink wink extension with Demar. Zach will be gone and heck if I know what else. But AK is hell bent on play in or slightly better. I read a tweet that said AK hasn’t traded for a player since 21. That obviously doesn’t count when he traded for a pick which was than used on Phillips. Seperately - since Bulls traded Jimmy, they have won 1 playoff game. Butler has won 46 in that same span.

I have no idea - I'm sure he's no good anymore, but I liked the way he played and I like his veteran leadership. Its pretty clear to me that Bulls are going to resign Demar and basically have him be a veteran mentor for the rest of the team. Lavine will get dumped in off-season and I have no idea what they will do with Williams. The problem with Demar in mentor role is - the Bulls don't have really any young talent outside of White. I still think Williams is a bum and he's going to get paid. But maybe they will S&T Williams or something to maintain some value cause I don't like the idea of paying him money (literally his #'s this year are exactly in line with his career - outside of that few week stretch he's been the same lousy player he's been forever). And I'm not saying Lavine is going to get the Bulls a ton - but with him hurt and not playing I think there are just less things that can be done vs. in the off-season when more teams might be in play. Bulls front office really dropped the ball when they didn't move Lavine in the off-season (everyone knew the fit was no longer there).

Edit: I fell for a tweet that got retweeted but was related to Feb 23 (not this year).

A real front office would have done something - maybe found a creative way to get Bogan from Pistons cause New York didn't give up much anything.

Seperate question - was there a QB taken at #2 (in a #1 / #2 group) who ended up being really good? I know there are ones that have been taken later that ended up elevating (say a Big Ben) or a Phil Rivers. But in a draft where QB went #1/#2 - is there a data set for a that 2nd pick who ended up being really good (vs. not).

Seperate question - was there a QB taken at #2 (in a #1 / #2 group) who ended up being really good? I know there are ones that have been taken later that ended up elevating (say a Big Ben) or a Phil Rivers. But in a draft where QB went #1/#2 - is there a data set for a that 2nd pick who ended up being really good (vs. not). Update: I looked it up. You had: Bledsoe / Mirer - Mirer stunk Manning / Leaf - Leaf stunk Couch / McNabb - McNabb was a hit Goff / Wentz - Wentz eventually stunk - albeit there was a point where he looked better than Goff Lawrence / Wilson - Wilson stunk

I was listening to Matt Hasselbach on this morning. He brought up an interesting point - basically he thinks Maye is an absolute physical stud. So he puts Maye in the same light as Herbert / Allen from a pure physical gift perspective. Not saying his on field performance is necessarily all the way there - but that when you think of his age, what he can do, how he spins it, his character, etc - he really has everything. He might be a bit more raw - but he's also still super young and for those close to him - he's likely still growing. In Hasselbach's eyes, Maye is one of the most talented QB's to come out in the draft in the last 5-10 years (he didn't say Caleb wasn't either) - but basically he said - these 2 guys are going to grade out massively well. If that is the case - his view was, Bears SHOULD keep that view extremely close to the vest so the rest of the league (specifically Washington doesn't know) and essentialy force Washington's hand. In short - Hasselbach thinks Williams & Maye are elite QB prospects and doesn't differentiate much between the two. Pure tools he thinks Maye is BETTER. So if Washington really wants Williams - play tough - and get the #2, #40 (2nd rounder which was the Bears), and a #1 next year (this is probably realistic - if you really pushed - maybe you could get both 2nd rounders this year - but that might be a lot less likely). He had Bears than trading Fields (lets say for a 2nd and 3rd). Now you are looking at Bears having 6 picks in the 1st 3 rounds in '24. #2 - Drake Maye #9 - Weapon for Maye (OT/TE/WR) or you can take Top Dline 2nd Rounder (from Washington) - Center or Defense 2nd Rounder (for Fields) - Deep wideout draft - so could go that or you could go safety (Ejax replacement) 3rd Rounder (for Fields) - BPA 3rd Rounder (Bears) - BPA In 24 Bears have - 4 Picks in 1st 2 rounds Own 1st Rounder Washington 1st Rounder Own 2nd Rounder Carolina 2nd Rounder Note: They may even have 1 more higher end pick - depending on the value they could extract from Washington. I will caveat - I think what is proposed above is NOT unrealistic. It assumed Fields goes for a 2nd and 3rd rounder (which i think is a reasonable assumption). It has Washington giving up a 1st next year and 2nd rounder this year - which I think is in the ballpark. I think anything less and it isn't worth it for the Bears to make the move and I certainly could see scenario(s) where the Bears could get a bit more.

In fairness Konerko and Buehrle spent the vast majority of their careers in Chicago.

I’ll be honest - I wouldn’t mind signing TA to one year deal. Give him at bats and hope he is healthy and you can flip him at deadline. Similarly i have no issue with Whit on 1 year deal. Let him play a bit at 2B and OF…just like id have TA play some 2B and SS. Both would be signings with hope you could flip. Maybe not for a ton but at least something - even if it is bonus pool and draft picks. Reality is with TA if he is healthy and bounced back - you are taking a flyer on someone who would be valuable at deadline and if Whit is hitting decent a team may give you an interesting flyer or two.