Chicago Sports

Jack Sanborn received strong message from Chicago Bears DC

Jack Sanborn gets a message from his defensive coach

After trading away Roquan Smith, the Chicago Bears turned to undrafted rookie free agent Jack Sanborn to stop an elite Miami Dolphins offense. The defense played about as well as one would expect them to, given they traded away Robert Quinn and Smith before the deadline.

The Bears were gashed 302 yards and the air and 77 more rushing yards. The Dolphins’ offense put up four of the team’s five touchdowns. Sanborn accounted for seven tackles, placing him second on the Bears’ defense for the most tackles behind rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon.

During Thursday’s press conference, defensive coordinator Alan Williams spoke about Sanborn’s performance. According to Chris Emma with The Score, Williams said Sanborn gave him a strong message of support for his first start in the NFL:

“First start, he looked like he belonged. Didn’t have errors. Tackled well. Ran around well. … Now let’s take one more step forward.”

Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams said of rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn: “First start, he looked like he belonged. Didn’t have errors. Tackled well. Ran around well. … Now let’s take one more step forward.”

Some stats suggest otherwise

Jack Sanborn had a lot asked of him in Week 9. The Dolphins present multiple challenges to the defense, and Sanborn stepped in as the weakside linebacker in place of an All-Pro. However, Sanborn’s performance was less than perfect. Williams did a good job of trying to tell the press something that just wasn’t true.

According to Pro Football Focus, Sanborn was graded 45.5 overall for his play against the Dolphins. He did well in creating stops, as PFF credited him with four stops. However, he was credited with missing a tackle. His pass coverage left much to be desired, as he gave up all three passes he was targeted on.

Jack Sanborn did well, considering the situation he inherited. But he still has much work to improve on this season. He’ll get the opportunity to take that next step against the Detroit Lions in Week 10.

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NFL analyst has extremely high praise for Justin Fields

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields earned some high praise from an NFL analyst who criticized him in the past

Justin Fields put the NFL world on notice with his Week 9 performance, continuing to build on a stretch of games where he’s looked impressive.

Fields rushed for a NFL regular season record 178 rushing yards in the loss to Miami in Week 9. He added 123 passing yards and 3 touchdowns in the effort, helping lead the Bears to 32 points. While Fields dazzled, it was his running ability that is catching the attention of analysts.

Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk was the latest to praise Fields for his performance on Sunday afternoon, giving him extremely high praise and saying he’s better than every other quarterback in running the football.

“Oh, he’s the best running quarterback in football now,” Sims said. “As a runner, if you gave me, listen we are talking Lamar Jackson here. I’m going to put him in front of Lamar right now. I think he’s a little faster than Lamar is right now. He’s a little bigger human being. Their team is not built like Baltimore. Nor to they have quite the variety of Lamar Jackson type runs.”

That’s high praise from Sims who once had Justin Fields as a late first-round pick and outside of his top 30 quarterbacks in the NFL.

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Bears QB Justin Fields is ESPN’s new crush

Justin Fields was national news this week. When’s the last time that could be said about a Bears quarterback?

Sure, Jay Cutler made plenty of news for, well, being Jay Cutler. Jim McMahon made headlines when he mooned a helicopter during the leadup to Super Bowl XX. But I’m talking about favorable news. That’s what Fields made.

By now, you’ve seen, heard or read countless times about his 178 rushing yards Sunday, an NFL regular-season record for a quarterback, and his three touchdown passes. Field has been praised throughout the NFL universe, but one place in particular has had a Fields day, if you will.

Bristol, Connecticut. Home of ESPN.

On Monday, the network’s two morning talk shows, “Get Up” and “First Take,” flew their Fields flags. “Get Up” host Mike Greenberg, a Northwestern alum who was a reporter and host at The Score in the 1990s, couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Does Chicago have the best young quarterback in the entire NFL?” Greenberg said, teasing an upcoming segment. “Who would’ve thought we’d be asking that question?”

During the segment, he said, “There may not be a team right now in the NFL, and I mean this, that has a more promising future than the Chicago Bears. … They may have finally gotten it right at quarterback.”

“This is what a franchise quarterback looks like,” former coach Rex Ryan said.

Added former player Ryan Clark: “I said the Jets should’ve drafted him. I said the 49ers should’ve drafted him. Because I knew when he put it together from a talent standpoint … there was no one else that could do what Justin Fields was doing.”

The adulation continued on “First Take,” where Hall of Famer Michael Irvin made his weekly appearance. Irvin ranked Fields first in his segment, “Playmaker’s Top Playmakers.” I’d tell you what he said, but printed words wouldn’t do it justice. Imagine a combination of Little Richard and Hulk Hogan, and you have Irvin’s performance.

“Keep it spinning,” Irvin implored Fields, pretending to be a dancing DJ.

Granted, neither program led with Fields. He appeared in the last quarter of each two-hour show. But the excitement for him was palpable, and it continued during the week.

“I keep hearing, Trevor Lawrence is still unquestionably the best quarterback from that [draft] class,” Greenberg said Tuesday on “Get Up.” “I’m sorry. I’m watching Justin Fields play. That kid is going to be the best quarterback from that class. In fact, I think he already is.”

“You’re right,” former general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. “Trevor Lawrence has been given a free blank check the last few years where no one’s held him accountable. Justin Fields has a high floor and an incredible ceiling. And when you think about Trey Lance, Mac Jones and Trevor Lawrence, you gotta take Justin Fields.”

So how does an ESPN morning turn into a Fields lovefest, despite the fact the Bears lost?

“I’ll give you three reasons,” said Antoine Lewis, ESPN’s vice president of studio production. “No. 1, it was one of the most entertaining games that Sunday. The second reason is people love the story of someone on the way up. And the third reason is because everyone knows the Bears have never been known for their quarterbacks.

“Why do people get up early like they did Tuesday to see an eclipse? Because we rarely see this.”

Lewis is keenly aware. He grew up on the Far South Side, went to Lincoln Park High School and Northwestern and worked at NBC 5 and WGN in the ’90s, among other stops. He has been leading “First Take,” with Stephen A. Smith and host Molly Qerim, since 2013.

Lewis said shows don’t share their topics for the day with each other, but they know what the biggest storylines are.

“We know what people are talking about,” he said. “You can see the buzz, whether it be social media or other avenues off of Sunday’s games. And that was a huge storyline. I sent a note to my coordinating producer asking how we’re going to discuss Justin Fields for the simple fact that it was a great game and a record was broken.”

ESPN has a habit of falling in love with certain players to the point of overexposure. It’s way too soon to know if Fields will fall into that category, but Lewis made no bones about hoping Fields does.

“He’s exciting, he’s young. I think that we’re going to be talking about him for many years to come,” he said. “This is tremendous for me. I’m tired of hearing about the Patriots and now the Giants having a good season and the Eagles and all that. Let’s get some Bears in there.”

Remote patrol

NFL regional games airing Sunday in the Chicago market: Lions at Bears, noon, Fox-32 (Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez); Colts at Raiders, 3:05 p.m., Ch. 2 (Kevin Harlan, Trent Green); Cowboys at Packers, 3:25 p.m., Fox-32 (Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen).NBC will air its first women’s college basketball game at 3 p.m. Saturday, when No. 9 Notre Dame faces Cal in St. Louis. The game also will air on Peacock.Read More

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Bulls still have some glaring issues, but the bench isn’t one of them

There weren’t just subtle hints of what was coming.

Not for DeMar DeRozan at least.

“Oh no, there were some days that they were kicking our ass,” the veteran recalled recently when discussing the reserve squad and the intrasquad scrimmages from fall training camp. “That was their mentality.”

A mentality that hasn’t relinquished.

While the Bulls have muddled through the first 13 games of the regular season as a whole, the players that have made up the bench came into camp looking to do some damage, have backed that up, and then some.

Goran Dragic was leading the team with a plus-minus of plus-74. Following the “Dragon” was Alex Caruso with a plus-72, Andre Drummond with a plus-42, Javonte Green at plus-34, and then Derrick Jones Jr. at a plus-25.

The nearest regular starter in that category?

Zach LaVine at a plus-7, and oh by the way the same LaVine who has spent a lot of his playing time staggered with the second unit.

“You can see when [the starters] get a little stagnant and we’re not playing with the right energy,” Dragic said. “I look at it as it’s my job to bring that energy, try and make sure we’re organized and doing what we need to do.

“The best way to do that is through your actions. That’s my mentality and the mentality of a lot of these [bench] guys. And if we want to be objective, we’ve been missing a few of our guys with ‘Drum’ [Andre Drummond] and Coby [White] injured.”

Meaning?

“We can be even better,” Dragic said.

Coach Billy Donovan hopes so.

It isn’t that Donovan’s starters have been awful so far this season, but they have been inconsistent, especially with the way they’ve started and finished games. Too many careless possessions, too many turnovers, and not enough urgency.

Donovan has been trying to change that, and there were signs in the loss to the Pelicans on Wednesday that at least those early-game bad habits were being dealt with, but a 6-7 record isn’t cutting it.

In the loss to New Orleans, the Bulls did play the visiting team to a 22-22 tie in that opening quarter, only to see the game slip away late, which is yet another issue with this team.

The Bulls have been terrible in “clutch” moments this season, which the NBA defined as five-point games with five minutes less. Six opportunities for the Bulls and six misses, with an 0-6 record in those situations as a result.

But the bench? That’s been a real strength. With Dragic, Drummond when healthy, Caruso, and the mix of Green and Jones, tied in with LaVine, Donovan has stumbled on a unit that he hopes has staying power.

“When you’re playing against each other every day in practice, you see the second unit playing and they were playing really well together, but it’s only against us,” Donovan said. “As we started to see other opponents, and then staggering it a little bit, putting Zach in there with that unit, they’ve played really well for us.

“They play really fast, they’ve gotten out in transition. Andre is an elite runner, an elite screener, Goran and Alex are really good in transition with the ball in terms of advancing it or creating action. It’s been encouraging to see them play the way they have because I didn’t know what it would look like.”

That’s why Donovan might not be done tweaking it.

He actually used DeRozan rather than LaVine a bit more with that second group against New Orleans in that third quarter and saw some success.

“I just think with some of these guys you’ve got to try different units and see what it looks like,” Donovan said. “How sustainable it will be for us, we’ll see.”

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Luke Getsy: Bears QB Justin Fields made ‘miraculous’ plays

Asked to evaluate Justin Fields’ record-setting performance Thursday, Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy pulled an adjective from the heavens.

“Obviously, he made some plays that were miraculous,” Getsy said. “I mean, they were pretty unbelievable.”

Chief among them Sunday was Fields’ 62-yard touchdown run, the longest any Bears quarterback has ever posted.

“Honestly? It was like, ‘Holy cow,’ but not with not that type of talk,” Getsy said, drawing laughter. “It was a pretty unbelievable play. As you review the film, it probably shoulda been a 15- or 20-yard completion to [receiver Darnell] Mooney. The way he slid up in the pocket, you wanna see him keep his shoulders a little bit more perpendicular to the line of scrimmage and rip the ball. He was headed there, he just got there a tick late because he squared his shoulders and then it turned into, like, an unbelievable play after that.

“Once he got to a certain point and I saw Mooney in a position to be able to cut the guy off, I was like, ‘There’s no way anyone’s catching that guy.’ So it was pretty cool.”

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Bulls unveil new City Edition uniforms

The Bulls unveiled this season’s version of their City Edition uniforms on Thursday. The team will wear the uniforms for the first time during the Nov. 18 game against the Orlando Magic at the United Center. The first 10,000 fans will receive an Ayo Dosunmu City Edition t-shirt.

The 2022-23 season marks the sixth season of the Nike NBA City Edition uniform collection.

This year’s design used the first white jersey since the first City Edition collection in 2016. Some of this season’s design features include rust-colored “Y” symbols with two sets of five lines (representing the number of players from each team on the court) and a light gray “Y” pattern printed throughout the uniform.

The rust color on the uniform reflects the color of the bridges in downtown Chicago.

In addition to next week’s game, the uniform will be worn Dec. 10 vs. the Dallas Mavericks, Jan. 13 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder, Feb. 24 vs. the Brooklyn Nets, March 3 vs. the Phoenix Suns and April 9 vs. the Detroit Pistons – the team’s final home game of the 2022-23 regular season. The jerseys are available for purchase at the Bulls team store at the United Center and the Bulls website.

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‘Spirited’ review: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell spin off Dickens into a jolly, bouncy musical

Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 Yuletide story “A Christmas Carol” might just be the most frequently adapted holiday work of all time, with dozens of theatrical, live-action and animated film and TV interpretations through the decades. Whether it’s the 1951 gold standard film starring Alastair Sim or the long-running annual theatrical adaptation at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre or “The Muppet Christmas Carol” or one of the endless parades of TV series from “Sanford and Son” to “WKRP in Cincinnati” to “Saved by the Bell” to a “A Different World,” these interpretations almost always tell the story from the point of view of Ebenezer Scrooge or a character with Scrooge-like tendencies; we’ve always been led to believe Scrooge’s experience was a one-off.

One of the clever conceits of the bouncy, upbeat, impressively staged and eminently huggable parody musical comedy “Spirited” is that the story is told mostly from the viewpoint of the ghosts in the machine, if you will. And it turns out this is a sophisticated operation that saves one redeemable soul every year, meaning ol’ Ebenezer is just a crusty old figure from long ago, and more than a hundred folks have been made to see the light since then. The Ghosts of Past, Present and “Yet to Come,” working under the supervision of the stern but fair taskmaster Jacob Marley and with the help of a large and sophisticated support staff, have been doing this thing for decades. They’ve got this!

Now, when you think of the prominent song-and-dance artists of our time, the names of Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds probably don’t spring to mind — and they shouldn’t, because you’re not INSANE — but Ferrell has long been willing to go all-out with his pretty decent voice when the material requires it (“Step Brothers,” “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”), and Reynolds proves to be a gamer who can at least carry a tune to the end of a number, and has some pretty impressive dance moves as well. (It doesn’t hurt that the songs in “Spirited” come courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the team behind “La La Land,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Greatest Showman.”)

‘Spirited’

As we get our first glimpses of a high-tech command center that looks like a start-up headquarters crossed with a museum, we meet Will Ferrell’s Present; Sunita Mani’s Past, and “Yet to Come,” a hulking figure played by Loren Woods but voiced by Tracy Morgan. After a prologue in which a Karen who is actually named Karen (Rose Byrne) awakens on Christmas morning with a change of heart about calling the police on the neighbors and stealing their packages, it’s time for a big musical production number.

“Why are they singing?” asks a new ghost. “Because this is a musical,” comes the meta reply. “All of this. The Afterlife [is a musical].”

The song, titled “Christmas Morning Feeling,” goes a little something like his:

Playing our parts

Changing hearts one by one

Everything’s super holly jolly

It’s like we’re all on Molly

But it’s a natural high!

HA. Once Karen has been saved and her story memorialized with a display in the Hall of the Redeemed, it’s on to the next “perp,” as they’re known. Present has his eye on one Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a handsome, cynical, manipulative, cold-blooded media consultant who sings to a roomful of potential clients, “It’s not enough for folks to love you, they gotta hate your rivals more!” Marley warns that Clint isn’t redeemable, but Present says he represents a great challenge: “He’s like the perfect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest!”

Flash forward to a year later, and it’s time for the trio of ghosts to do their thing. Past doesn’t exactly haunt Clint; it’s more like she hooks up with him, because she’s been dead for decades and he IS hot. Once Clint is convinced he’s actually been targeted for redemption, he says to Marley, “Out of all the people on the planet — murderers, racists, people who do gender reveal parties — I’m the guy you’re gonna haunt?”

Fair point, but those other examples are beyond redemption.

Even as Present tries to make Clint see the light and become a better person, the wily Clint turns the tables on Present and starts grilling him about HIS backstory. Meanwhile, Present is smitten with Clint’s kindly assistant, Kimberly (Octavia Spencer), who can somehow see him even though he’s a ghost and only Clint is supposed to be able to see him. Ah, but then we wouldn’t get a touching romance between Present and Kimberly, complete with touching love ballad!

“Spirited” has a bloated running time of 2 hours and 7 minutes and careens all over the place, from a trip back to Dickensian times to some vignettes in Clint’s younger days, when he was emotionally incapable of handling the terminal illness of his sister (Andrea Anders) and refused to become the guardian of his niece Wren (Marlow Barkley). What a jerk! Maybe Clint really IS beyond redemption. But wait …

Well. Even though this is “A Christmas Carol” told from a different angle, it’s still “A Christmas Carol.” With Ferrell and Reynolds striking just the right combination of hipster comedy with genuine sincerity, and the musical numbers working as parody but also toe-tapping entertainment, “Spirited” is … that’s right … a big cup of holiday cheer for the whole family.

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‘Spirited’ review: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell spin off Dickens into a jolly, bouncy musical

Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 Yuletide story “A Christmas Carol” might just be the most frequently adapted holiday work of all time, with dozens of theatrical, live-action and animated film and TV interpretations through the decades. Whether it’s the 1951 gold standard film starring Alastair Sim or the long-running annual theatrical adaptation at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre or “The Muppet Christmas Carol” or one of the endless parades of TV series from “Sanford and Son” to “WKRP in Cincinnati” to “Saved by the Bell” to a “A Different World,” these interpretations almost always tell the story from the point of view of Ebenezer Scrooge or a character with Scrooge-like tendencies; we’ve always been led to believe Scrooge’s experience was a one-off.

One of the clever conceits of the bouncy, upbeat, impressively staged and eminently huggable parody musical comedy “Spirited” is that the story is told mostly from the viewpoint of the ghosts in the machine, if you will. And it turns out this is a sophisticated operation that saves one redeemable soul every year, meaning ol’ Ebenezer is just a crusty old figure from long ago, and more than a hundred folks have been made to see the light since then. The Ghosts of Past, Present and “Yet to Come,” working under the supervision of the stern but fair taskmaster Jacob Marley and with the help of a large and sophisticated support staff, have been doing this thing for decades. They’ve got this!

Now, when you think of the prominent song-and-dance artists of our time, the names of Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds probably don’t spring to mind — and they shouldn’t, because you’re not INSANE — but Ferrell has long been willing to go all-out with his pretty decent voice when the material requires it (“Step Brothers,” “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”), and Reynolds proves to be a gamer who can at least carry a tune to the end of a number, and has some pretty impressive dance moves as well. (It doesn’t hurt that the songs in “Spirited” come courtesy of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the team behind “La La Land,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Greatest Showman.”)

‘Spirited’

As we get our first glimpses of a high-tech command center that looks like a start-up headquarters crossed with a museum, we meet Will Ferrell’s Present; Sunita Mani’s Past, and “Yet to Come,” a hulking figure played by Loren Woods but voiced by Tracy Morgan. After a prologue in which a Karen who is actually named Karen (Rose Byrne) awakens on Christmas morning with a change of heart about calling the police on the neighbors and stealing their packages, it’s time for a big musical production number.

“Why are they singing?” asks a new ghost. “Because this is a musical,” comes the meta reply. “All of this. The Afterlife [is a musical].”

The song, titled “Christmas Morning Feeling,” goes a little something like his:

Playing our parts

Changing hearts one by one

Everything’s super holly jolly

It’s like we’re all on Molly

But it’s a natural high!

HA. Once Karen has been saved and her story memorialized with a display in the Hall of the Redeemed, it’s on to the next “perp,” as they’re known. Present has his eye on one Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a handsome, cynical, manipulative, cold-blooded media consultant who sings to a roomful of potential clients, “It’s not enough for folks to love you, they gotta hate your rivals more!” Marley warns that Clint isn’t redeemable, but Present says he represents a great challenge: “He’s like the perfect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest!”

Flash forward to a year later, and it’s time for the trio of ghosts to do their thing. Past doesn’t exactly haunt Clint; it’s more like she hooks up with him, because she’s been dead for decades and he IS hot. Once Clint is convinced he’s actually been targeted for redemption, he says to Marley, “Out of all the people on the planet — murderers, racists, people who do gender reveal parties — I’m the guy you’re gonna haunt?”

Fair point, but those other examples are beyond redemption.

Even as Present tries to make Clint see the light and become a better person, the wily Clint turns the tables on Present and starts grilling him about HIS backstory. Meanwhile, Present is smitten with Clint’s kindly assistant, Kimberly (Octavia Spencer), who can somehow see him even though he’s a ghost and only Clint is supposed to be able to see him. Ah, but then we wouldn’t get a touching romance between Present and Kimberly, complete with touching love ballad!

“Spirited” has a bloated running time of 2 hours and 7 minutes and careens all over the place, from a trip back to Dickensian times to some vignettes in Clint’s younger days, when he was emotionally incapable of handling the terminal illness of his sister (Andrea Anders) and refused to become the guardian of his niece Wren (Marlow Barkley). What a jerk! Maybe Clint really IS beyond redemption. But wait …

Well. Even though this is “A Christmas Carol” told from a different angle, it’s still “A Christmas Carol.” With Ferrell and Reynolds striking just the right combination of hipster comedy with genuine sincerity, and the musical numbers working as parody but also toe-tapping entertainment, “Spirited” is … that’s right … a big cup of holiday cheer for the whole family.

Read More

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Bears predictions: Week 10 vs Lions

The Sun-Times’ experts offer their picks for the Bears’ home game Sunday against the 2-6 Lions:

RICK MORRISSEY

Bears, 31-28

According to Vegas, the Bears are slight favorites to beat the Lions. According to public opinion in Chicago, Justin Fields will run for 200 yards, pass for 200 more and launch a mayoral campaign Sunday. If the Bears can keep their feet on the ground while their fan base swoons over the quarterback, they’ll have a good chance against Detroit.Season: 6-3.

RICK TELANDER

Bears, 25-23

One team’s on a winning high, the other’s coming off a tough loss. Guess which team is favored? Fields is now known to the league. But the Bears better be careful. Cockiness kills. Season: 5-4.

LAURENCE HOLMES

Bears, 30-20

The Bears are riding high behind the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. The Lionswon their Super Bowl and probably saved their coach’s job last week against Green Bay. Look for Fields to have a big day passing on Sunday. Season: 5-4.

PATRICK FINLEY

Bears, 43-42

Getting to this unique score –it’s never happened before in the NFL –is a bet on just how bad these two defenses are. The Lions allow 6.39 yards per play, the fifth-most in the history of the sport. The Bears allow about a half-yard less. Season: 5-4.

JASON LIESER

Bears, 39-32

Fields did well enough against the Lions in just his second NFL start to take over the position for the Bears. He’s a lot better now, and the Lions might — somehow — have gotten even worse. Season: 5-4.

MARK POTASH

Bears, 31-24

An improving Fields coming off a record-setting performance against the Dolphins, playing at home vs. a Lions defense that ranks 32nd and last in the NFL in points and yards allowed. What could go wrong? Season: 6-3.

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Chicago Cubs Free Agent Target: Jose Abreu

The Chicago Cubs are expected to be very active in the free agent market, one of their targets longtime White Sox first baseman, Jose Abreu.

Jose Abreu has been arguably the best free agent signing that the Chicago White Sox ever made. The 2020 AL MVP, has parted ways with the south siders and is now entering free agency. The now 35-year-old first baseman, has been marked as a target for the Chicago Cubs.

Cubs “Will Express Strong Interest” in Jose Abreu, But Matt Mervis Will Still Have an Opportunity to Contribute Right Away
https://t.co/5rzil2bJrF https://t.co/VBh4NHezYp

According to Bruce Levine of the marqueesportsnetwork.com, the Cubs have a strong interest and are expected to reach out to the representative of Jose Abreu and gauge to see if there’s mutual interest.

“Abreu would solve numerous short term issues for the North Siders. First and foremost, the Cubs have no apparent first baseman from the farm system guaranteed to step in and lock down the position.” – Levine

This would be an upgrade for the Cubs at this point in both offense and leadership. A durable starter that can give you 500 plus at-bats per year. Abreu finished the 2022 campaign slashing .304/.378/.446, with 15 homeruns and 75 runs batted in. While his power numbers have gone down, Abreu is still a very productive hitter and can produce runs from the middle of the order.

Being in his late 30s and having a nine year career under his belt, Abreu would be an ideal fit for the Cubs in the leadership aspect of things. Matt Mervis, is someone who can learn from Abreu while splitting time with him at 1B/DH.

The Cubs are expected to be mayor players in a lot of free agents, Abreu is key due to the leadership and hitting potential that he brings. We’ll see if the Cubs can work out a deal with the veteran first baseman.

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