Quick post: The Lance Briggs Situation

Inspired by AITA on Aerys Sports, here's my quick take on the Lance Briggs contract situation.

Three years ago, he tested the open market as an unrestricted free agent. There should be no argument against the fact that the Bears paid him fair market value. In my opinion, this wouldn't even be an issue if Briggs' agent wasn't that scumbag Drew Rosenhaus. Also, I don't really think Briggs has out-performed the contract. If he came back in two years with two more Pro Bowls under his belt and only ONE year left, then I could see it. But this is simply ridiculous.

Chicago blunders....but I guess that's nothing new

Two Chicago sports franchises have made a couple facepalm moves today.

The Cubs traded OF Kosuke Fukudome to Cleveland for 2 prospects, a pitcher and an outfielder. While the Cubs can say they got rid of the Fukudome's hefty contract, they really can't, because they are still paying a big load of that contract. Of the estimated $4.5 million he's owed the rest of the year, the Cubs still have to pay all but $775,000 of it.

And what exactly are the Cubs getting in return? As I aluded to with this tweet and Keith Law confirms (sorry non-ESPN Insiders), not a whole lot of anything. Abner Abreu, a 21-year-old outfielder, is doing a whole lot of striking out this year in high-A, with 102 K's in 92 games this year. Also not helping is his low walk rate, with 22 BB in 363 PA. There's really not a whole lot of good I can say about him. He's batting .244/.294/.431, with 12 HR, and as Law mentions,

He's just 21 and is already repeating high Class A, so he's been moved aggressively, but has also shown very little development in his ability to recognize balls from strikes -- and the Cubs have not had success in teaching impatient hitters how to work the count.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. And also a distressing critque of the Cubs organization, as working counts and getting on base is one of the foundations of sabermetrics. Ultimately, this move demonstrates that Manager of Statisical Anaysis Ari Kaplan is either a) not doing a very good job, or b) doesn't have nearly enough say in deals made, and I'm guessing the latter.

The other prospect the Cubs received in the Kosuke deal was pitcher Carlton Smith, who has played all of 2011 in AAA Columbus. Smith, 25, doesn't look like he can hack it in anything above AA, posting a 1.606 WHIP in 94 AAA innings since his promotion last year. I've generally looked for high strikeout rates in the minors as a general indicator of "stuff," and Smith hasn't posted anything higher than 7 K/9IP in any full minor league season. It also seems that he struggles against lefties, allowing them to hit .292/.395/.508 this season, indicating that even if he does make the majors, he won't be any more than a specialist reliever.

And now allow me to air my beef on the Bears moves (and lack thereof) today. This evening the Bears traded away TE Greg Olsen, a fan favorite and one of the bright spots of the Bears offense. At 6'5", he was a big target for Jay Cutler in 2010, catching 41 balls for 404 yards and 5 TDs, tied with Johnny Knox for most on the team.

What really astounded me about the trade was that they traded him to Carolina....for someone not named Steve Smith. The Bears have been a complete nonthreat at wide receiver, and everyone and their mother knows that. Except Jerry Angelo. There's no reason he should be trading away Cutler's biggest target without getting a big or bigger target in return. I did see there was a draft pick involved, but with Angelo's draft history, it amounts to just about bubkis.

Hat tip to @Kimberly_Lucio for how I will close this post: Greg Olsen gone, NBA lockout, Bulls lose to Heat in playoffs, and the Cubs. Chicago sports fans need a big group hug right about now.

So winning hinges ENTIRELY on Cutler

The Falcons made stopping Forte look way too easy. So the Bears had to go to almost exclusively to the pass, and Cutler, although throwing for 300 yards, couldn't come up with the big play. Twice in the red zone he threw and interception, both after the Bears had driven down the length of the field. Not only do you NOT score, but it's really deflating for the team. After one of the turnovers, Matt Ryan drove right back down the field for the go-ahead score.

More proof that Cutler needs to play well for a Bears win:

In wins: 624 yds, 71 completion pct, 7 TD, 1 INT, 109.8 passer rating

In losses: 577 yds, 56 completion pct, 3 TD, 6 INT, 59.9 passer rating

What we need in a statement win in Cincy next week. Something to say hey, we deserve to be in the top tier of the NFL. The Bengals actually have a losing record at home this season at 1-2, coming off a 28-17 loss to the Texans. If Matt Schaub can put up nearly 400 passing yards and 4 TD's, you would think the Cutler-Knox-Hester combination would be able to put up a handful of scores (with Forte getting a couple too for my fantasy team).

I heard that Cutler, over the last 2 years, has thrown 7 red zone INT's, tops in the NFL. That can't happen if Chicago is going to be a playoff team. We're looking up at Minnesota, just about knowing that they are a better football team. I just really hope we can get it together by week 12 when Chicago travels to the Hump Dome.

It all went our way, and we STILL blew it

With a 31-24 loss at the hand of the Houston Texans, the Bears put the cap on a 9-7 season, and really didn't look like a playoff team out there. Most of the miracle to get the Bears into the playoffs had already happened, with the following happening in Week 16:

• Dallas losing to Baltimore 33-24, becoming 9-6
  
• Tampa Bay losing to San Diego 41-24, becoming 9-6
• Minnesota losing to Atlanta 24-17, becoming 9-6
• The Bears winning the Monday Night Football finale against the Packers, becoming (you guessed it!) 9-6
  

I'll give you that the Ravens might be a better team than the Cowboys, but the Bolts (currently 7-8) over the Bucs IN Tampa Bay?! And the Vikes couldn't even protect their own Dome against a Falcons team that had already locked up a playoff spot.

So going into Week 17, all the Bears needed was a win and:

• A loss by Minnesota (to NYG) for the NFC North
• Losses by Tampa (to Oak) and Dallas (to Phi) for a Wild Card spot

OK, so the Vikings DID win against the Giants, but in ANOTHER game in Tampa, the Bucs lay an egg and lose to the 5-11 RAIDERS 31-24. The path was set! The door was open!! All the Bears had to do was go into a Reliant Stadium that was actually heavily speckled with Bears fans and beat the 7-8 Texans. Could they do it? NO. And what do they do? Give up 31 goddamn points. So much for a vaunted defense.

And since this was written before the Dallas-Philly game, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Philly wins, which would have given the Bears the 6th wild card spot.

Oh well...I guess Illini Basketball is on the upswing. They should get into the Top 25 after that win against Mizzou.

Now my devotion is all Bears and Illini Football

With the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers, I have decided to put all sports enthusiasm towards the football teams of the Chicago Bears and the Illinois Fighting Illini. For an offense that lead the NL in runs scored, doubles, total bases, OBP and slugging, I was thoroughly disappointed.

Other pitiful and otherwise disappointing stats of the series:
5-for-28 (.179) with runners in scoring position
9 XBH (12 for LAD)
5.87 starters ERA (1.42 LAD)
14 BB given out by the Cubs pitching staff
The Big 3 (Soriano, Lee, Ramirez) went a combined 9-for-37 (.243)

Our starting pitching (Dempster, Zambrano, and Harden respectively) dug us deep into holes early in the games and the heart of our order was not clutch to say the least. And after pretty much blowing away hitters for months, I was not expecting this out of our staff. Six runs scored over three games isn't gonna win a series 100 times out of 100 in this day and age, and so much more was expected after leading the NL in runs scored.

Saying "Wait 'til next year" sounds especially sour after such a successful 97-64 Division-winning regular season, but it still has to be said. Jim Edmonds was a great (and cheap) pickup, batting .256, 19 HR, and 49 RBI over 85 games as a Cub. Kosuke Fukudome, whom I thought at the beginning of the year had rookie of the year written all over him, seemed to be baffled by MLB pitching, especially on left-handers, during the entire second half.

So much was expected of this team. It was supposed to be THE year, with 7 All-Star selections, the highest payroll ever, and the most wins since 1935.

It gonna be a long winter, but now it's time to turn attention to football.