By Thomas Chambers

When last we saw our four-legged heroes, precocious three-year-old California Chrome was embarrassed by the adults in the room when co-owner Steve Coburn called Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and other fresh challengers “cowards” for not matriculating right alongside ‘Chrome in the Triple Crown series.
We hope the 102,000-plus fans who gathered at Big Sandy are home by now, recovered and ready for the big summer racing season as Del Mar, Where the Turf Meets the Surf in idyllic San Diego County, opened Thursday and rustic Saratoga Race Course, aka The Spa, opens Friday. Heady days indeed for us purists.
Although these are the sit-back-and-relax boutique meets for all those who wander the paddock, they also offer main-event racing that is pound-for-pound the best of the year.

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Posted on July 18, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

If you manage to look beyond the fact that pitchers are joining the disabled list in record numbers, the 2014 baseball season has been a fairly predictable one. That’s good for fantasy team owners – we like to see all the work we put into crafting our expectations and drafting our players proven worthwhile. It so rarely happens.
Yet, if you take a look at the top performers of the season’s first half, there are almost no surprises:

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Posted on July 17, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

While Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo are at the All-Star Game in Minneapolis, the rest of the Cubs will be back home taking care of business. Here’s what they’ll be up to.
Welington Castillo: Shopping for another “l.”
John Baker: Who?
Darwin Barney: Selling his soul at the Crossroads.
Mike Olt: Reminiscing about how he used to be Javy Baez.
Junior Lake: Seeking advice from Senior Lake.

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Posted on July 15, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

The cagey folks in Bristol had about as much chance tricking Jose Abreu as major league pitchers have had through the season’s first 96 games.
ESPN has duped the masses into thinking that calling out names for the NFL and NBA drafts is an earth-shaking event, worthy of prime-time television, exaggerated hoopla and the celebration of making millionaires out of 19-year-olds.
When the Milwaukee Bucks with the NBA’s first pick tabbed Lew Alcindor in 1969 – 10 years before the founding of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network – the hype was real. The team added 29 more wins with Lew – double what they won the previous season – but my mind is foggy trying to recall a similar immediate elixir since then.

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Posted on July 14, 2014

By Steve Rhodes and Jim Coffman

In this episode: Chicago Held Hostage. Rocky Wirtz Knows His Limitations. Dear White Sox: Closer By Committee Doesn’t Work. We [Heart] Mendy. Bearing Down Soon. The Week In The Sky.

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Posted on July 11, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

Big-time baseball trades, like the deal that sent Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland, have some obvious fantasy implications for the players involved, but they also can radically affect the fantasy value of other players on the real world teams involved in the deals.
Call it the fire sale effect. If a team unloads a couple of its best pitchers, that could mean greater fantasy value for other pitchers ready to move into those vacant spots. In the case of the Samardzija/Hammel deal, that could mean it’s time to keep an eye on Dallas Beeler, who is likely to get a long-term look for one of the openings.
On the negative side, if a team has a decent closer, there’s a chance the closer’s value could good down with the potential for fewer opportunities following a deal like this. Hector Rondon has held marginal fantasy value thus far, but with the Samardzija/Hammel deal, it dwindles.

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Posted on July 9, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

When I first saw rumors on Twitter that the Cubs were about to make a blockbuster trade to the A’s involving both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, I wondered if we would be getting Yoenis Cespedes in return.
Instead, we got Addison Russell.
Now, maybe Cespedes wasn’t realistic. On the other hand, both he and Samardzija were just named All-Stars, and by some measures Hammel has been having a better season than his trade partner. A two-fer for the A’s!
And the Cubs certainly have a need in the outfield.
On the other hand, the Cubs weren’t interested – according to every report I’ve read – in an actual major leaguer. They were looking for prospects from the get-go. You see, that aligns with the business plan, which is to cheap it out until someone else – a TV contract, a Jumbotron advertiser, the fans – can pay the freight.
As articulated (twice!) by my colleague Jim Coffman, this has nothing to do with Theo’s genius and everything to do with the Ricketts’ smallness.

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Posted on July 8, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

What a glorious Fourth of July. The rain finally stopped, Chris Sale was on top of his game, emerging Sox legend Jose Abreu slammed yet another homer and icon Paul Konerko drove one into the left-field stands exciting the almost-30,000 fans who jammed The Cell. Along with beer, hot dogs and fireworks, the 7-1 Sox win over Seattle was absolutely delightful. Not even the perpetually-annoying Wave dampened the euphoria of possibly the White Sox best performance of the season.
Of course, the celebration of our country’s birth included both the national anthem before the game and “God Bless America” for the seventh-inning stretch. Red, white and blue bunting decorated the walls while the four mildly confused teenagers sitting behind us – apparently remnants of the World Cup jubilation – chanted, “USA, USA, USA,” most of the game.
Meanwhile, on the field, Cubans, Venezuelans, Dominicans, and one player each from Japan, Colombia and Brazil sprinkled the rosters of the Sox and Mariners. Of the 50 players, 18 were born in a country other than the USA.

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Posted on July 7, 2014

By Jim Coffman

I have had issues with the people who are paid to commentate on sports in Chicago in the past. But I have never found them, as a group, to be more clueless than they are right now.
It would be comical if it wasn’t so infuriating. Theo Epstein made a ridiculous trade on Friday in which he exchanged two accomplished and yet still up-and-coming major league starting pitchers with ERA’s under 3.00 – Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija – for two prospects who are still years away from playing in the majors, if they are lucky. Given the rate at which prospects turn into major league pros, the Cubs will be fortunate if one of them turns into a solid, everyday player. Neither will be as valuable as a top-of-the-rotation starter.
And yet so far on local websites, sports pages and broadcast outlets, the reaction has been almost uniformly supportive.
Come on!

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Posted on July 7, 2014

By Steve Rhodes and Jim Coffman

The Cubs’ big trade sure is part of The Plan – The Plan to fleece Cubs fans.

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Posted on July 5, 2014