Chicago - A message from the station manager

Roof Shots

By Roger Wallenstein

This is a quiz. Name the statistic where the major league leader can go 0-for-4, striking out each time, and still continue to be the MLB leader?
Here’s a hint. As of Sunday morning, Yoan Moncada, Franchy Cordero, Jorge Alfaro and Teoscar Hernandez all were in the top 10 in the category. We’re familiar with Moncada, but who are these other guys?
I’ll save you the trouble of investigating. Cordero is a rookie outfielder with the Padres; Alfaro, a catcher, has played a total of 53 games for the Phillies; and Hernandez roams the outfield for Toronto.
What we’re talking about here is the stat du jour, otherwise known as exit velocity, just one of the analytic gems produced by cameras and radar that apparently are present in ballparks throughout the country.

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Posted on April 30, 2018

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #198: Ryan Pace Still Sucks

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

He got the Bears’ first-round pick right Thursday night, but he only filled a hole of his own making. Plus: The Cubs Are Cohering; The White Sox Aren’t Worth Watching Yet Like We Thought They’d Be: and Men In Red Over Red Bulls.

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Posted on April 27, 2018

The One Guy Ryan Pace Better Not Take In The First Round Of Tonight’s NFL Draft

By Jim Coffman

Consistently good NFL teams trade down in the draft way more than they trade up. Exhibit A is the Patriots’ draft record over the past 15 years – they have consistently made moves to increase their number of picks rather than decrease them, and that is a big reason they are good year after year after year.
Successful NFL teams are always on the lookout for a sucker who falls too hard for a prospect and is willing to give up multiple picks so that at the very least he can appear to be aggressive. Sound like someone we know? And so many members of the professional sports commentariat continue to fall for it. The local guys shouldn’t feel too bad – the national guys do it too.
Because of course we remember what general manager Ryan Pace has done in the Bears’ last two drafts. He has moved up. The guy who is supposedly building through the draft had all of five picks in the third one he oversaw for the Bears last year. The Packers, Vikings and Lions averaged 10 picks each.

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Posted on April 26, 2018

The Ex-Cub Factor

By Steve Rhodes

First of a new ongoing series tracking the movements of those who have worn Cubbie blue.
1. The ‘Special’ Skill Gleyber Torres Is Already Showing.
“After going hitless in his first game, Gleyber Torres has shown at least some of why the Yankees have been so high on the second baseman,” Dan Martin writes for the New York Post.
“In Tuesday’s 8-3 win over the Twins, Torres had a pair of singles for his first multi-hit game and added his first RBI.”
The special skill is his makeup, though in another report it’s his ability to adjust.
Comment: It’s gonna hurt to watch Torres become a star, but no Cubs fan should regret trading him to the Yankees for the right to abuse Aroldis Chapman on the way to a World Series championship.
By the way, the Yankees also got Billy McKinney, Rashad Crawford and Adam Warren in the deal. Then they signed Chapman back as a free agent after the season. Well played, Brian Cashman.

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Posted on April 25, 2018

Welcome To The Regression

By Roger Wallenstein

It’s Sunday morning, and the sun is making a valiant effort to burn through the cloud cover. The thermometer already is registering in the mid-50s as I gaze from my balcony overlooking Lincoln Avenue. Finally spring is beginning to bloom, and the Sox are home to play the young and talented Houston Astros. Sunday parking is $10. Round-trip on the El is less than half. I possess a voucher that the team passed out at last season’s final home game that gets me an upper deck box seat for free.
I’m feeling good. Most other seasons, I’d be out the door. But I’m not going today. Call me a fair weather fan – which, I suppose, is literally true for this grandfather – or someone who is in need of a reminder of his allegiance to the team which I’ve always revered. But the heart of the matter is that I am wary of watching the opposition score four times in the first inning followed by three walks and a grand slam in the top of the second as the local bunch falls behind 8-0 before the first beer can be consumed. We all have choices. This would not top my list. Not even close.

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Posted on April 23, 2018

SportsMonday: The NBA Saves The Day

By Jim Coffman

The playoffs are here! Tra la, tra la. The playoffs are here! Tra la, tra la. I refer, of course, to the NBA playoffs. And they began with quadruple headers on Saturday and Sunday. There is postseason hockey as well, but I think I have established previously that I am always a basketball guy first.
Have I mentioned lately how cool it is to be a sports fan in this day and age? The weekend was a total washout in terms of baseball (although nice comeback on Saturday, Cubs – never has a team made so much of so little production at the plate with nine runs in the eighth on just three hits) but that just cleared things out so we could focus on the winter sports postseasons.

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Posted on April 16, 2018

Cold-Cocked

By Roger Wallenstein

E-mails came from readers in Phoenix and St. Louis. Both wanted to make sure I was aware that the White Sox-Rays’ game last Monday drew exactly 974 patrons. Thanks, guys. Glad to know you’re not so busy that you might miss something as fascinating as White Sox attendance on a wintry day against an opponent with as many challenges as the local ballclub.
Apparently the Tampa Bay Times broke the story. Quite possibly their beat writer had time to actually count the bodies in the stands as he sat through a 5-4 Rays’ victory, which broke the team’s eight-game losing streak. You can be assured that if Sox management went through the same exercise, the silence would be deafening. As it were, the team announced the paid attendance as 10,842.
If nothing else, we might guesstimate that the club has sold a few more than 10,000 season tickets for this rebuilding season. Hip Hip Hooray!
Even if the game had been played in the evening, as originally scheduled, in 60-degree temperatures, there still would have been enough room for a freight train to chug through the ballpark. Two seasons ago a mid-April Tuesday-through-Thursday home series against the Angels saw an average of a little more than 12,000. Last year’s second game at home against Detroit drew 10,842 when it was 48 degrees with a 23 mph wind. Those were paid admissions.

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Posted on April 16, 2018

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