By Roger Wallenstein

Is there any other profession besides professional sports where trades take place?
Like, what would happen if we could dump Emanuel and get de Blasio? I think we’d be dumb not to make that deal. Or how many surgeons from Rush would it take to pry James Andrews loose from his practice in Birmingham? Suppose we didn’t like the sopes rancheros super chef Rick Bayless concocted at the Frontera Grill. Imagine if we then dispatched him to New Orleans in a straight-up deal for Emeril and his chorizo po’ boy.
Of course, the world doesn’t work that way, but baseball does. Before the days of free agency and guaranteed, no-trade contracts, players were chattel and trades were made with regularity.

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Posted on May 19, 2014

Best In The City, Third In The State

“It might be surprising that Clemente, an urban school in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, has an archery team,” Barbara Brotman wrote for the Tribune in March.
“On top of that, it has the third-ranked team in the state.”
That’s out of 143 Illinois schools that participate in the National Archery in the Schools Program. Seventeen of those are Chicago schools.
Clemente traveled to Louisville last weekend for nationals – the only Chicago team to do so. (Ten other teams from Illinois also went; just three of those were in the high school division, while the rest were elementary or middle schools)

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Posted on May 16, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

It’s a wonder Cy Young’s arm didn’t fall right off of his body at some point. His 511 career wins, 749 career complete games and 7,356 innings pitched are baseball’s most unbreakable records. Sure, things were different back then – games were managed differently, pitchers didn’t throw as hard and they were never pulled from games. Still, I think the “Cy” may have been short for “Cyborg.”
This year, we are being reminded again why no modern pitcher will ever come close to those numbers. Not only has bullpen micro-management made the complete game virtually a thing of the past, the best pitchers in the game today simply can’t stay healthy. Since the start of spring training, at least 18 pitchers have either had or are waiting to have reconstructive Tommy John surgery on their elbows, according to the USA Today.
Many of them, including the latest slated for season-ending surgery – Marlins ace Jose Fernandez – were considered to be in the top tier of fantasy pitching stat contributors.

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Posted on May 14, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

Here’s the problem with Jeff Samardzija throwing 126 pitches against the White Sox last week: According to Theo Epstein, it doesn’t matter whether the Cubs win 68 or 73 games this year.
So why is Ricky Renteria trying so hard to win that game that he pushes him past what he acknowledges was his pitch limit?
If the game mattered, that would be one thing. And even still, if this was a potential playoff team, you’d want to keep Samardzija fresh for late in the season.
But the game did not matter. It didn’t even matter to show Samardzija’s trade value; it only endangered it.
Misaligned incentives all the way around.

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Posted on May 13, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

Life may simply be a series of choices, but some are easier than others.
When I was a just a kid of six or seven, our family moved to suburban Chicago from Cincinnati. The choice of Sox versus Cubs was an obvious one. The Sox were a good team. The Cubs weren’t, and we were frontrunners.
For all I know, our dad never saw an American League game until he drove us to Comiskey Park for the first time. Since the Reds were his National League team, he never said boo about us becoming Cub fans even though we lived on the North Shore.
In the grander scheme of things, this sort of choice ranks below choosing a career, how best to parent children, or whether to drink light beer. You might want to put being a faithful, loving spouse who makes healthy decisions in your top two or three.
Nevertheless, picking the White Sox more than 60 years ago clearly goes into my “life-changer” column.

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Posted on May 12, 2014

By Jim Coffman

Can anyone tell me, specifically, what it is that Jonathan Toews does so well? It isn’t puck-handling. It isn’t Marian Hossa-style hold the puck and hold the puck and hold the puck and then make the perfect pass or shot at the absolute last second.
His shot is strong but not blisteringly fast or accurate. He is a physical presence, especially on defense, but he isn’t flying around crashing into everyone and thank goodness. Otherwise he’d probably be out with an “upper body injury” that sure looked like a killer shot to the head. Actually, we’ll get back to that physical presence stuff.
He skates well but he isn’t flying down the ice faster than just about anyone else like, say, a Patrick Sharp.
I suppose we have to go with a cliché. I mean, there is a reason people say certain things about great athletes and then say them again. It is because those truths are particularly apt, particularly frequently.

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Posted on May 12, 2014

Meet The NFL’s Most Infamous Talent Evaluator

“Think of the most important thing you’d want to know about an NFL prospect,” Barry Petchesky wrote for Deadspin on Thursday, ahead of last night’s draft.
“The piece of information that should be listed first on his NFL.com draft profile. It is, almost certainly, nothing like these:

Texas A&M WR Mike Evans: “His father, Mickey, was murdered when Mike was 9.”
NIU safety Jimmie Ward: “Has a child.”
Oregon TE Colt Lyerla: “Grew up poor in an unstable environment.”

“The man behind all these evaluations is Nolan Nawrocki, known around some parts as Trollscout. Perhaps most famous for his dog-whistle evaluations of Cam Newton and Geno Smith for Pro Football Weekly, Nawrock is now part of the official NFL media machine.”
Click through to read Chicago writer Daniel Libit’s profile of Nawrocki, re-posted from last month.

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Posted on May 9, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

I’ve already had an unusually good number of Cubs and White Sox mentions in this column this season, which is a neat trick considering neither team is a real contender (don’t fool yourselves, Sox fans).
Yet this week I find myself on the topic of local heroes once again – it’s the week of the Crosstown Cup.
Now, maybe this series is not what it was. Maybe it would be more exciting to see Jose Abreu wrestle a bear than watch his team take on the other named for baby bears. But there is still reason while you’re perusing the waiver wire to occasionally stop at the name of a Cubs or Sox player.
In fact, here are two names beyond the usual suspects – the Abreus and Rizzos – who might be able to help your fantasy team.

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Posted on May 8, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

“The Blue Jays could make up their 2.5-game deficit in the AL East by making four changes, Paul Swydan writes in an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com,” MLBTradeRumors.com notes.
“One of those moves would be an upgrade at second base, and Swydan suggests that Rickie Weeks, Luis Valbuena, Emilio Bonifacio and Danny Espinosa could all be logical trade targets.”
So that’s why the Cubs still have Darwin Barney – someone’s gotta play second once even mediocrities like Valbuena and Bonifacio are sent packing.
When the Cubs go on the road, it must be like the flea market coming to town.

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Posted on May 6, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

The good ones never stop trying to figure out what’s going on when it’s going bad, and when it’s going good, they know how to keep it going. He’s one of, if not the hardest-working hitting coach I’ve had. He gets all the credit.
– Adam Dunn
After the game he’s in the cage working with people. [Guys] like Viciedo and [Gordon Beckham]. Those guys will be saying he’s their guy.”
– Paul Konerko
Yessir, looks like the White Sox have a keeper in new batting coach Todd Steverson. Only problem is that those quotes from Dunn and Konerko were lifted from last season when Jeff Manto was the team’s hitting instructor.

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Posted on May 5, 2014