almagest

A good QB is so important and getting the best guy (Williams or Maye) in a pretty good draft year for QBs is a no-brainer to me. Fields has barely improved as a passer this year and that's with a top 10 WR, a good TE and a better o-line. He's consistently in the 20s for every major QB stat and that's not good enough, especially given how much time he misses due to injuries and that the Bears need to pick up his 5th year option before next season starts. I also think people are dreaming of a big trade down haul that just isn't happening. These trades just don't happen very often, for one, and in a QB class last year without many options beyond the top 2 you got one first round pick and DJ Moore (likely valued as a 2nd with maybe a later round pick attached) by trading down nine spots. I think the hauls most people expect would come from trading to 10+, where I don't think the Bears want to be - the best QBs and WRs will be well off the board by then, and you just don't get the same level of impact from the guys in that part of the draft.

Yeah, I was just going off who was listed as a RF. Gallo just can’t hit and I don’t think there’s any upside left. He is what he is. Grichuk and Duvall at least hit a little.

Really puts into perspective how bare the cupboard is in the minors when we have to sign all these, to put it charitably, "reclamation projects" to fill voids in our roster because there's just nobody better internally. Hopefully they grab a Right Fielder, too. Based on projected salaries on Sportrac looks like Grichuk, Winker, Duvall, and Grossman are the options at our level.

These are the kinds of signings I like for bullpen options, instead of spending a premium for the Robertsons/Gravemans/Kimbrels.

Will not what? Move? Or add a new Chicago franchise if the Sox move?

Honestly, I would welcome a Sox move. Get the stink of this loser franchise out of the city. Chicago can absolutely host two baseball teams, so MLB would almost certainly put a new franchise there, with a new owner. If Reinsdorf doesn't die anytime soon this is the next best option to get rid of him.

I've been saying the same for a long time. Payroll is irrelevant to me, beyond any salary caps or luxury tax thresholds. In 2024 the threshold is $237 MILLION. Plenty of room to sign Ohtani.

I've never seen a Hail Mary returned for 100 yards and a TD with time expiring in the first half before, that's for sure.

He went to the Angels and fell off a cliff. We'll see which is more impactful - playing for Wash, or playing for the Angels.

With Washington helping on defense absolutely. I just don't know how good Wash will be at keeping Tim away from distractions.

Yeah, but we'd just waste 'em like the Angels did.

No surprise the California White Sox are interested in him. There are much better places for him to get it together, though.

The o-line and defense look so much better than when Fields went down. It'll be good to see if plugging Fields back in will really allow him to take off, or if part of the issues on O & D were due to Fields holding the ball too long/setting the defense up with poor field position due to turnovers and losing yards on offense.

"I only look good if you're this specific type of QB or a first ballot Hall of Famer" isn't the flex these guys think it is...

I get that these guys have egos, but I cannot fathom why you'd say "my way or the highway" when it's really your job on the line. Fields will have a nice career carved out for him as a backup at worst. Getsy's floor is "QB coach for high school football".

That's my dad

Hopefully the art of "hitting big home runs against the White Sox" translates to helping the Sox hitters.

I wish I could go back in time to 2017 and tell myself not to bother with this team

That's different than being competitive with those signings. That's admitting you're a bad team going nowhere and trying to fill your lower minors with a few lottery tickets by signing guys who you hope can rebound enough to be interesting to a competitive team at the trade deadline.

I see Garfien's podcast continues to be meatball central. None of these signings makes the team better, and you already have basically an entire team you have to see massive improvements from, so adding more "what if"s to the team does nothing except waste money.

Vaughn may have even ended up a "meh" factory with more time and development, who knows. At that point he'd just be a bust and not a top "boy you sure screwed that guy up" candidate. With a real right fielder we also don't notice his failings as much because so much of the offense isn't keyed on him posting a >130 wRC+. The Hahn/KW era is so mind-boggling. My main encouragement right now is hoping Getz and Co. couldn't possibly be this short-sighted.

And they rushed him for basically no reason because DH and 1B were already well-covered with Abreu, Eloy and Yaz. Sticking him in the outfield is one of the dumbest possible decisions they could make, but it had to happen because Eloy got hurt and all they could muster was a can of coffee to play RF.

Crushing loss for the Rangers. Yeesh.

You would be incorrect.

I do not get these obsessions with utility infielders/outfielders. They're almost all directly interchangeable and are the literal last component you worry about when building your position player roster.