Chicago Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. – White Sox closer Liam Hendriks threw a bullpen at the players union’s camp Tuesday in Mesa, looking fit as ever and sounding loud, feisty and vulgar as usual.

Afterward, he was more contrite, apologizing to baseball fans and workers affected adversely by the lockout that moved into the evening hours of its 96th day, albeit with some progress bringing baseball’s owners and its players union closer to a deal that would get spring training started and presumably keeping a 162-season season intact.

The league last Tuesday said the first two series of the season are cancelled, and said it planned to cancel more regular-season games if a deal for a new couldn’t be reached Tuesday.

“Sorry,” Hendriks said when asked what his message to workers and fans would be. “We didn’t want this to happen. We didn’t strike. As a group we apologize. We want to make sure we get on the field as soon as possible and get this thing done.”

Hendriks began throwing bullpens in November and has thrown five or six live batting practices, he said, at junior colleges and various sites around Phoenix as he stays in shape preparing for the season. He is an alternate player representative to Lucas Giolito. A representative Sox group chat of “eight or ten guys” has been keeping the 40-man roster informed.

The Sox have had a group chat of eight or ten guys.

“We’ve got the guys who’ve been around a while like me and Lance (Lynn) and the arbitration [eligible] guys like Giolito and the zero to three guys like Bummer so we’re making sure we’re taking care of everyone’s issues not only the high paid guys. We have a pretty eclectic group in our chat. We’re well versed on the information that is coming in. Making sure everyone is heard is important.”

While Hendriks and other Sox on the 40-man roster worked out in what should have been the third week of spring training, Sox minor leaguers trained in Glendale with minor league staff. Sox manager Tony La Russa, in plain clothes, is also in camp keeping a close eye on Sox prospects.

Around camp, there isn’t much talk about the lockout. Very cautious optimism is the general mood.

“Every day is obviously critical,” Hendriks said. “We’re trying to get to a point where we can play a full season. But we’re not fighting for everything that’s happening today, we’re fighting for the things that are happening five years from now, for the guys who haven’t even been drafted yet.”

Players have been unified.

“With the White Sox it’s been pretty much unanimous around the board what we’re looking for and it hasn’t broken people’s spirits,” Hendriks said. “We’re ready to dig in to make sure for what is fair and get back and be as competitive as we can be on the field.”

As the day went on, talks seemed to intensify but it wasn’t clear if they would lead to an accord or the latest breakdown in negotiations.

“It’s an interesting concept that is floated around that we’re banging [162 games] and then it’s back on and now we’re really going to bang it,” Hendriks said. “It’s been frustrating from a players point of view.

“We’re all working for the same goal, to make this game as competitive and fun for fans as we can going forward. I don’t understand how it’s taken so long to get to where we’re close and certain things are thrown in at the end to beat us. I think Ross Stripling said it best, ‘We’re being treated as those dumb jocks.’ ”

Contributing: Maddie Lee

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The Local School Council at Jones College Preparatory High School is set to vote Tuesday on whether to recommend their principal be fired after a few members of the committee levied accusations of policy violations against the school leader.

The controversial vote pushes the LSC’s broken relationship with Principal Joseph Powers into further turmoil and threatens to divide one of Chicago’s highest-rated high schools.

Three LSC parent representatives, including the chair, wrote a letter to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez last month alleging Powers has violated the district’s residency requirement by maintaining a primary home in Missouri, failed to properly handle teacher misconduct complaints and fostered an unwelcoming environment for students and staff of color and transgender and gender non-conforming students.

The trio is taking its disapproval a step further Tuesday, putting the concerns for a vote before the entire 13-member LSC that would call on Martinez to approve administrative charges against Powers and begin dismissal proceedings. Under state law, the CEO would have 45 days to either approve or reject the request.

The agenda for the 6 p.m. meeting, to be streamed on the Jones LSC’s YouTube channel, notes more public speakers will be allowed than usual because of “volume of interest.”

In the days since Powers revealed the tension with the LSC and that he was considering retirement in a stunning letter to the school community, some parents, staff and even student members of the LSC have come to his defense — or at least criticized the process by which the three LSC members aired their concerns.

Sarah Kaiser, whose daughter is a senior at Jones, said she wished there was more parent and student input before the LSC representatives wrote their letter because “so many people in this situation were just completely blindsided by this happening.

“If these allegations are found to be true and there are serious issues, then I hope it’s addressed,” Kaiser said. “I don’t think it was gone about in the way it should have been.”

Kaiser said she has appreciated Powers’ leadership, calling him a “well-loved principal,” and felt he has been transparent and appropriately handled problems at the school. Addressing the complaint that Powers hasn’t welcomed LGBTQ students, Kaiser said her daughter, who is gay, has had a fulfilling experience in the school’s Pride Club and appreciated the school’s attention to students’ pronouns and bathroom signage.

Cassie Creswell, the LSC chair and a frequent critic of CPS officials, had maintained that the concerns are widespread. “The need to remove the principal is about student safety, both accountability for past harm and preventing future harm to students, staff and families,” she said this week.

CPS general counsel Joseph Moriarty told Creswell and the other two LSC members who wrote the letter that the district sees no reason to remove Powers while it investigates the allegations. “At this time, the investigative bodies have not indicated that circumstances exist to justify the removal of Dr. Powers,” he said in his response letter last week.

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MESA, Ariz. — Cubs left-hander Brad Wieck flicked his glove, signaling to his catcher that a breaking ball was coming. He brought his hands together, squinted at the mitt under the sun, ready to stride down the artificial turf mound.

Six months ago, Wieck underwent heart surgery for atrial fibrillation, but on Tuesday, he said, “everything feels great.”

The Cubs’ 6-foot-8 lefty reliever is training this week at Bell Bank Park, where the Major League Baseball Players Association reserved fields and facilities for players to work out during the lockout. Wieck threw a bullpen session Tuesday, rotating through with fellow Cubs pitchers Kyle Hendricks and Justin Steele.

“It stinks right now that we’re locked out,” Wieck said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “But at least with this alternate site, we can be around some guys that are doing the same thing that we’re doing, with the same goal.”

Wieck acknowledged he is measuring his excitement about his progress in his health because he’s been through this before.

“At the same time, I’ve had a couple health scares, and I’ve come back from all of them,” he said “So, I just had that mentality of, it’s not going to stop me.”

In February 2020, Wieck underwent a cardiac ablation procedure to address an atrial flutter. He pitched in a big-league game in late July but then landed on the IL with a hamstring strain.

The next summer, Wieck threw in 15 major-league games before landing on the injured list in July with an irregular heartbeat. His second procedure required a longer recovery.

“This one, they had to poke a hole in my heart and go to the left side of my heart,” he explained. “So, they had to put me on three months of blood thinners so I wouldn’t develop a blood clot in my heart.”

The surgery itself was minimally invasive. Wieck’s cardiologist told him that a decade ago, his same condition would have required open heart surgery.

Now, Wieck’s schedule has him throwing two bullpens a week. Asked when was the earliest he could be ready for spring training after MLB announces the end of lockout, Wieck had his answer before the end of the question:

“Tomorrow.”

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GLENDALE, Ariz.– Lance Lynn and Dallas Keuchel probably have a year or two left with the White Sox. Lucas Giolito is eligible for free agency in 2024. Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech won’t be here forever, either.

Which is why the business of drafting and developing starting pitching is key for the White Sox, whose current rotation is comprised of a free agent (Keuchel) and four pitchers acquired from other organizations.

Which is why what is going on now at the Sox training complex in Glendale really matters. While the big leaguers waited behind locked gates to get in, recent draftees such as right-handers Jared Kelley (second round, 2020), Matthew Thompson (second round, 2019) and Andrew Dalquist (third round, 2019) were laying groundwork for the day they get in, too.

Kelley (No. 5), Dalquist (No. 6) and Thompson (No. 7) are the highest ranked pitching prospects in the organization, per MLB Pipeline. All three were drafted out of high school, an unusual shift by an organization that historically has leaned toward college pitchers. The Sox spent $3 million on Kelley, $2.1 million on Thompson and $2 million on Dalquist.

They all talk about graduating to the majors together.

“When all three of them have 10 years in the big leagues we’ll still refer to them as the high school trio or the high school kids because they get lumped together,” Sox pitching coordinator Everett Teaford said. “Which is good. They push each other.”

“Most definitely,” Thompson said. “It’s something we all think about. We’re not here going through the motions, we all want to get to the big leagues and help the big league team. That’s the goal, but we have to trust the process.”

Going through the lost 2020 season due to the Coronavirus together, attending the same minicamps and being at the Sox’ alternate site in Schaumburg in 2020 brought the three together naturally.

“We always feed off each other,” Dalquist said. “We share similar experiences and talk about them and relate in ways other people couldn’t. It’s good that we’re joined together and can move up the system. And it’s friendly competition. Thompson has a good game, I want to have a good game. It’s not a rivalry but a healthy competition.”

Thompson set a mini-bar in his first simulated game here, which Teaford called “electric.” Dalquist didn’t dictate the count but found his way through a scoreless inning. Kelley, who dealt with shoulder impingement at Low A Kannapolis last summer, saw his offseason throwing program set back by a bout with Covid, so he is slightly behind in his progression.

These are all baby steps. At Low-A Kannapolis, Kelley posted a 6.86 ERA in 10 starts, Thompson 5.89 in 19 starts with four of his last five starts giving up two or fewer runs and Dalquist 4.99 in 23 starts.

Kelley will likely begin the season at Kannapolis, while Dalquist and Thompson will go to High-A Winston-Salem. Teaford wants to see them progress from a game management standpoint this summer.

“Learning the ebb and flow of the game, when to push the gas and when to soften up and land a breaking ball,” Teaford said. “That kind of game management, because all the tools are there. Just learning the intricacies. There will be ups and downs but they want to learn and get better.”

NOTE: Cuban right-hander Norge Vera, who signed a $1.5 bonus in January, has a Grade 1 right lat strain and will not break camp with the others, Getz said.

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Bob Dylan has a new book coming out this fall, a collection of more than 60 essays about songs and songwriters he admires, from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello.

The new book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” is his first release of new material since the acclaimed memoir “Chronicles, Volume One” was published in 2004. “The Philosophy of Modern Song” is scheduled for Nov. 8.

“He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal,” according to an announcement issued Tuesday by Simon & Schuster. “And while they (the essays) are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem.”

The 80-year-old singer-songwriter won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016 and has continued to tour and record, his most recent album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” was released in 2020.

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MESA, Ariz. – Cubs left-hander Brad Wieck flicked his glove, signaling to his catcher that a breaking ball was coming. He brought his hands together, squinted at the mitt under the sun, ready to stride down the artificial turf mound.

Six months ago, Wieck underwent heart surgery for atrial fibrillation, but on Tuesday, he said, “everything feels great.”

The Cubs’ 6-foot-8 lefty reliever is training this week at Bell Bank Park, where the Major League Baseball Players Association reserved fields and facilities for players to work out during the lockout. Wieck threw a bullpen session Tuesday, rotating through with fellow Cubs pitchers Kyle Hendricks and Justin Steele.

“It stinks right now that we’re locked out,” Wieck said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “But at least with this alternate site, we can be around some guys that are doing the same thing that we’re doing, with the same goal.”

Wieck acknowledged he is measuring his excitement about his progress in his health because he’s been through this before.

“At the same time, I’ve had a couple health scares, and I’ve come back from all of them,” he said “So, I just had that mentality of, it’s not going to stop me.”

In February 2020, Wieck underwent a cardiac ablation procedure to address an atrial flutter. He pitched in a big-league game in late July but then landed on the IL with a hamstring strain.

The next summer, Wieck threw in 15 major-league games before landing on the injured list in July with an irregular heartbeat. His second procedure required a longer recovery.

“This one, they had to poke a hole in my heart and go to the left side of my heart,” he explained. “So, they had to put me on three months of blood thinners so I wouldn’t develop a blood clot in my heart.”

The surgery itself was minimally invasive. Wieck’s cardiologist told him that a decade ago, his same condition would have required open heart surgery.

Now, Wieck’s schedule has him throwing two bullpens a week. Asked when was the earliest he could be ready for spring training after MLB announces the end of lockout, Wieck had his answer before the end of the question:

“Tomorrow.”

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When Ryan Poles was introduced as the Bears’ general manager in January at Halas Hall, one line above all would have brought the house down if they had allowed fans into the press conference:

“We’re going to take the [NFC] North and never give it back,” Poles said.

That job got a little bit tougher Tuesday, when four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers ended a year of drama by agreeing to terms on a four-year, $200 million contract with the Packers, according to NFL Network. The deal reportedly includes $153 million in guaranteed money and actually reduces his massive $46.6 million salary cap number for 2022. Rodgers confirmed via Twitter he will play for the Packers this season, but disputed the accuracy of the contract details.

The deal marked a 180-degree turn from a year ago at this time, when Rodgers’ departure from the Packers appeared a fait accompli after the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback expressed dissatisfaction with general manager Brian Gutekunst and the Packers’ front office culture following the 2020 postseason.

But after Rodgers finally agreed to play for the Packers in 2021 — announcing his return on the eve of training camp — the two sides mended fences and the Packers went all out to coddle their prized quarterback.

Still, the departure offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (to the Broncos as head coach) and quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Luke Getsy (to the Bears as offensive coordinator) and a problematic salary cap situation that only figured to get worse with All-Pro receiver Davante Adams a free agent still muddled the matter. “I don’t want to be part of a rebuild,” Rodgers said after the playoff loss.

But the Packers lured 68-hear-old Tom Clements — a Rodgers favorite as the Packers quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from 2006-16 — out of retirement as their quarterbacks coach. And loopholes in the salary cap allow the Packers to at least partially defer a reckoning and give them a chance to stay in Super Bowl contention. They placed the franchise tag on Adams on Tuesday.

In effect, Gutekunst tacitly acknowledged that the Jordan Love gambit that seemed to ignite Rodgers’ ire has failed. The Packers’ GM drafted Love in the first round in 2020 (26th overall), hoping to repeat the virtually seamless Brett Favre-to-Rodgers transition.

It appeared flawed from the start. Not only is Love not the prospect Rodgers was (Rodgers could have been the No. 1 overall pick by the 49ers in 2005 before dropping to No. 24), but Rodgers has more gas left in the tank than Favre. After Rodgers was drafted, Favre was an MVP runner-up in 2006 with the Packers and fourth in 2008 with the Vikings. But since Love was drafted, Rodgers has won the league’s MVP award the past two seasons and is playing at a career-high level at 38, with no signs of slowing down.

The Rodgers news reverberated throughout the NFL. The Broncos, who had been a likely suitor for Rodgers, quickly responded Tuesday by trading for Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. And the Bears certainly were not unaffected. Poles’ hopes of taking control of the division would be greatly enhanced by the demise of the Packers — a more likely scenario with Rodgers out of the way.

Rodgers has been the Bears’ arch-nemesis throughout his career. He’s 23-5 against them as a starter, with 20 wins in his last 22 games he’s started and finished. In his last six starts against the Bears, Rodgers is 4-0 with a 141.5 passer rating (14 touchdown passes, no interceptions) — and one memorable “I own you” taunt. Now, he’ll likely be signed throughout the length of Justin Fields’ rookie contract.

This isn’t over, though. The cap ramifications of keeping Rodgers and Adams bears watching. The Packers faded with Favre in 2005 and 2006 — when the Bears surged to Super Bowl contention under Lovie Smith. They can fade with Rodgers, too. But Bears fans have been conditioned by years of torment. They’ll believe it when they see it.

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CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple will enter the live sports coverage arena with “Friday Night Baseball.”

Apple and Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Apple TV+ will carry a weekly doubleheader on Friday nights in eight countries when the regular season begins. Games will initially be available without the need for an Apple TV+ subscription.

MLB has been under a work stoppage since owners locked out players at the end of the collective bargaining agreement. At 97 days, it is the second-longest work stoppage in baseball history.

The broadcasts on Apple TV+ will include pregame and postgame shows and will not be subject to local broadcast blackout restrictions. Besides being shown in the United States, Canada and Mexico, games will also initially be available in Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

The agreement also includes the “MLB Big Inning” weekday show for fans in the U.S. as well as a livestream channel for those watching in the US and Canada.

MLB has been exploring selling a weeknight package of games with ESPN reducing its coverage of the regular season to 30 games, mostly on Sunday nights. Turner Sports will have games on Tuesday nights under a new rights deal that begins this season.

Apple and MLB have been closely aligned for years. MLB At Bat was one of the first apps to go live on the Apple app store in 2008.

The deal also comes as Apple is looking to expand to other leagues. The company has been pursuing streaming of NFL games when the league’s “Sunday Ticket” contract expires at the end of the upcoming season.

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As expected, the Bears did not give the franchise tag to receiver Allen Robinson — or anyone else — before Tuesday’s 3 p.m. deadline. Robinson, who would have commanded $21.5 million on a one-year tag, will become a free agent next week.

He’ll find a market missing the two most attractive free-agent receivers. Both the Packers’ Davante Adams and the Buccaneers’ Chris Godwin were given the tag by their teams Tuesday, which locks them in for one season if they can’t agree to multi-year contract extensions by July 15.

Robinson had a disappointing 2021, catching 38 passes for 410 yards and one touchdown in 12 games. In his first three seasons with the Bears, he averaged 85 catches, 1,050 yards and six touchdowns per season.

Three tight ends were tagged, per NFL Network: the Dolphins’ Mike Gesicki, the Browns’ David Njoku and the Cowboys’ Dalton Schultz. Two tackles got the tag, too: the Chiefs’ Orlando Brown and the Jaguars’ Cam Robinson. Bengals safety Jessie Bates was the only defensive player to receive a franchise tag.

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PHILADELPHIA — Tristan Thompson has only been a Bull for a few weeks, but he definitely brings an interesting perspective.

It’s debatable on how accurate the big man was, but it’s definitely interesting.

After the 15-point loss to Philadelphia on Monday, Thompson was discussing the current season-high five-game losing streak the team was crawling through. According to the veteran center, there’s a defensive blueprint going around on how to stop the Bulls, and everyone seems to be studying it.

“I’m making an assumption, but I think how well this team has started off compared to last season, I think people — not our team, I don’t think anyone in our locker room, anyone on our staff is panicking — you’ve got to understand that when you come out that hot in the first half of the season, teams are going to start prepping for you differently,” Thompson said. “Instead of treating it like, ‘Hey, a walk-through, we got the Bulls tonight.’ It’s ‘Hey this is a potential playoff matchup and we’ve got to throw some wrinkles in our scheme to see how they’ll react.’

“Memphis showed it first with how they played us defensively, and it continued on with Miami. And I think that film from Memphis has started to be sent from the video guys to those other playoff teams in the league and they’re going to have the same game plan coming in defensively. So we’ve got to make those adjustments.”

Hold up.

While Thompson didn’t detail what that blueprint was from the Grizzlies — for obvious reasons — it’s safe to assume that the frequent double-teaming and blitzing they did on DeMar DeRozan was what he was referring to.

If DeRozan swung the ball to Zach LaVine, the defense was rotating to LaVine, leaving the corner three-pointer open. Basically, it was smother DeRozan, be prepared for LaVine, keep Nikola Vucevic covered with the big, and make anyone else on the Bulls roster beat them.

Because of Memphis’ athleticism and length they did a solid job of messing with DeRozan’s efficiency — he shot 10-of-29 — and the other Bulls players not named DeRozan or LaVine did shoot a combined 4-for-15 from three, so there’s some merit to that.

Where Thompson’s theory loses a bit of steam, however, was Memphis wasn’t the only team to play the Bulls this way. Miami has done that basically in all three meetings, Milwaukee attacked DeRozan in the fourth with only one player — Jrue Holiday, and Philadelphia gave the Bulls multiple defensive looks throughout the night, sometimes double-teaming DeRozan to get the ball out of his hands, but also throwing different individual players at him.

It’s not the blueprint that’s been dooming the Bulls as much as it’s the talent level of the opposing personnel.

But hey, give Thompson an A for effort. Maybe feeling like it’s an adjustment here, a tweak there, is better than facing the reality that four of the five teams in this streak are just better and more talented.

What coach Billy Donovan has to get them believing is that while help will be coming with Alex Caruso (wrist), Patrick Williams (wrist) and Lonzo Ball (knee), the immediate help has to come from the player currently looking in the mirror.

“We’ve had 16 games the entire year with Lonzo, Alex, Vooch, DeMar and Zach, 16-some games,” Donovan said. “Our guys are fighting and we can be better. I agree we have not performed really well against these [elite] teams and our margin for error against these teams is very small. Certainly Alex, Patrick and Lonzo make us better defensively.

“That’s not to say they are the cure for all this. And I’m not making excuses because we have to be better because we don’t know if we’ll even get whole.”

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