By Jim Coffman

What are we to make of this team, this Bears team that is? It is oftentimes better to sketch out an assessment a few days after a given game, after the worrisome tide of dozens of little outrages has receded just a bit and we can take a bit better look at the bigger picture.
First and foremost overall is still the fact that the great quarterback hope has crashed and burned. And that fact in and of itself should make it far more likely than not that the general manager will be fired at the end of the year. You can’t continue to employ a guy who has no effing clue who has a chance to be a great quarterback and who will be a bust.

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Posted on October 6, 2020

By David Rutter

We will ring the altar’s chimes three times today in remembrance. The Bob Gibson Era is over.
In some philosophical ways, my era is over, too. This is awareness with no bitterness and only minor regret because this is the natural progression of life.
The Bob Gibson Era is not Gibson’s alone, of course. Sandy Koufax is 85. Juan Marichal is 83. Gaylord Perry is 82. Ferguson Jenkins is 78. Sam McDowell is 78. Jim Bunning died three years ago; Don Drysdale has been gone for 27 years.
They were the men and mighty they were who forced baseball to lower the pitching mound by five inches, just to give mortals a fighting chance to hit them.

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Posted on October 5, 2020

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Theo can build a team, but he can’t really hold a team. Plus: Rickey Rentamanager’s Lease Will Be Renewed; Central Sucking Time; Nick McCown; Red Stars & Fire.

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Posted on October 3, 2020

By Roger Wallenstein

Take the mountains and mountains of data. Celebrate the sabermathematicians all you want. Let your infielders shift on every pitch if that’s your fancy. However, no matter how you manipulate all the bits, bytes and algorithms, there’s one rule in baseball that rises above all else: Throw strikes!
You needn’t look further than Thursday’s painful White Sox elimination game in Oakland under the cloudless California sky for the prime example. For the uninformed, there is no defense when your pitchers walk guys. There is zero possibility of retiring a hitter if four pitches wide of the strike zone are delivered. There are no walks in tee-ball, no doubt giving the 6-year-olds a false sense of security, but once pitchers begin throwing the ball toward the plate, the game becomes a different proposition.

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Posted on October 2, 2020