By Dan O’Shea

Part 1: The Top 20 Overall.
There are more talented runners than ever among top fantasy QBs, though the elite draft picks at the position remain members of the old guard.
1. Aaron Rodgers, GB: His passing yards were down last year and receiver injuries are causing some alarm, but he remains the league’s most efficient TD passer, and that’s the best way to score fantasy points.
2. Drew Brees, NO: Gunning for a third straight season of 5,000 yards passing, which he just might do, since he doesn’t run at all, and is willing to risk INTs for big plays. Both those qualities keep him from being the No. 1 fantasy QB, but just barely.
3. Peyton Manning, DEN: He thrived last season after being considered ready for the retirement home, and will again be throwing to two of the best young receivers in the NFL.

Read More

Posted on August 14, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“Manager Dale Sveum acknowledged Sunday morning that his players took notice of the fact that the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals adjusted their rotation so that two of their starters were pushed back to face opponents in series considered more challenging than theirs against the Chicago Cubs,” Mark Gonzales writes for the Tribune.
The Cardinals pushed back Adam Wainwright so he could start against the Pirates on Tuesday, starting rookie Michael Wacha in his place. The Dodgers pushed back Zack Greinke so he could start against the Cardinals, using Stephen Fife instead.
To make matters worse, Dusty Baker is pushing himself back for the entire three-game series the Reds start with the Cubs tonight so he can concentrate on the following series against the Brewers. Neifi Perez will manage in his place.

Read More

Posted on August 12, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

Tyler Flowers has been just one disappointment this White Sox season amongst multitudes of transgressions. But this one easily could have been avoided.
Flowers simply is playing out of position. No, I’m not saying that Tyler should be patrolling first base – he’s appeared there five times during his career on the South Side – but he’s not a front-line catcher either.
However, he does stack up favorably as a backup, which he more or less has become with the arrival of Josh Phegley a few weeks ago.

Read More

Posted on August 12, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Many, many fallacies flowed from the Bears game Friday evening and even more so from the local coverage of said team and game over the weekend. Here are my favorites.
It is all J’Marcus’s fault. Offensive tackle Webb did make one really bad play early on which enabled an opposing lineman to beat him to the outside and then to come back and beat him to the inside for a sack during the Bears’ 24-17 loss to the Panthers.
This does not mean he should immediately report to the bench. For now he’s been demoted to the second string in favor of rookie Jordan Mills, and some pundits have even suggested replacing him with Eben Britton. Small problem: Britton, a former Jacksonville Jaguar second-round pick in 2009 whom the Bears picked up off the scrap heap in the off-season, was blasted backwards at least twice that I saw during his stint at the position. And he was facing the second- and third-team ends from Carolina rather than a No. 1.

Read More

Posted on August 12, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

The last few years it has become fashionable to complain about the fantasy value of running backs. Offensive plans in which the best backs often split carries – or worse, gave up goal-line chances – to their backfield mates inspired screams of frustration every Sunday. Meanwhile, everything from injuries to contract holdouts to plain old inconsistency has led to mounting distrust.
As you can see from my pre-season overall fantasy football top 20, I’m not buying any of it. A number of workhorse RBs are set to have great seasons, and putting together my top 10 in particular was difficult because in my view the guys listed from No. 4 to No. 9 are almost equals.

Read More

Posted on August 7, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

How bad was the spanking the Dodgers administered to the Cubs over the weekend? So bad the Cubs couldn’t score on Carlos Marmol.
“The Chicago Cubs appeared to take the weekend off in their series against the surging Los Angeles Dodgers,” AP put it.
That’s when you have to look at the manager – especially coming home from sweeping the Giants in San Francisco only to tank against the lowly Brewers. What the hell happened?
Junior Lake seemed to be the only guy trying, what with a two-homer game, a 4-for-5 game, and a catch in left field not seen in this part of town since Alfonso Soriano arrived with his fear of the ball and the wall.
And yes, I know it doesn’t really matter at this point how many games the Cubs win this season, but if they’re trying to lose games to get a higher draft pick, they’re doing a poor job of that too – there are five teams ahead of them in that regard including the White Sox, for chrissake. And the White Sox are trying to win!
In other words, both Chicago teams are screwing up in reverse.

Read More

Posted on August 5, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Repeat after me: Just because football training camp has begun doesn’t mean football has begun. Just because football training camp has begun doesn’t mean football has begun. Just because football training camp has begun doesn’t mean football has begun.
Football starts when the season starts, i.e., when real games start. In other words, and believe me when I say I truly wish this wasn’t so, there are still only two teams in town playing meaningful games. One of those teams seems hell bent on posting one of the worst records in Chicago sports history and the other is back to torturing its fans with new and excruciating ways to waste good pitching.

Read More

Posted on August 5, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

You know it’s bad when you’re following the Charlotte Knights versus the Norfolk Tides on the computer while the Sox and Tigers provide the background on television.
But that’s what it has come to. The only drama Saturday evening in Detroit wasn’t so much whether the Sox could beat Max Scherzer – of course they couldn’t – but whether they could score against him. Again, that didn’t happen in the meek 3-0 loss.
Tracking Avisail Garcia’s first games in the White Sox organization – he joined the Knights last weekend after being part of the Jake Peavy deal – enticed me more than what was happening in Detroit as we count down the games to the end of the 2013 season, which can’t come quickly enough.

Read More

Posted on August 5, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“You’re telling me we’re going to get more Jim Belushi? That’s not a recipe for success in my book.”
– Me, to AP last February
*
And so last night it came to be. Again.
The Cubs just can’t get enough of him – even if their fans have had their fill.
Perhaps a petition is in order?
To wit:

@dan_bernstein Nothing can make this Cub game worse. Oh, wait. #jimbelushi

— Mike Fonk (@MichaelFonk) August 2, 2013

Read More

Posted on August 2, 2013