Chicago Sports

BALTIMORE – This time last year, second baseman Nick Madrigal had yet to travel to Wrigley Field to meet his new teammates, after a surprise trade from the White Sox to the Cubs, and had only recently sat down with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer in the stands of an Arizona Complex League game.

Now, he’s climbed up the Cubs batting order over the past couple of weeks, into the leadoff spot.

“Just put him up there [at the top of the order] to get him back as many at-bats as we can possibly see from him, working his way [back,] with missing all the time he’s had,” Cubs manager David Ross said, complimenting Madrigal for his bat-to-ball skills and all-fields approach. “Get him consistent ABs and keeping him healthy.”

It’s been a long road back from hamstring surgery for Madrigal, one that included a departure from the organization that drafted him, a Major League Baseball lockout, an early slump this season, and a series of minor injuries.

“I feel like I’m just in a lot better place now than I was in the beginning of the year,” Madrigal said in a conversation with the Sun-Times this week.

His production at the plate has responded accordingly. Madrigal entered play Thursday hitting .313, with a .421 on-base percentage, since the Cubs activated him from the 10-day IL (left groin strain) a couple weeks ago.

The Cubs are seeing a version of the player they’d targeted when they traded closer Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox for Madrigal and young reliever Codi Heuer at the deadline last year. On the South Side, Madrigal posted a .340 batting average in his debut 2020 season and was hitting .305 when a torn right hamstring ended his season last June.

“You’ve seen little glimpses of it here, but you haven’t seen it yet,” Joel Wolfe, Madrigal’s agent, told the Sun-Times this week. “When you see it, you’ll know. He is a really exciting player.

Even White Sox general manager Rick Hahn acknowledged to reporters on deadline day that his calls to Madrigal and Heuer must have come as a surprise and weren’t conversations he necessarily anticipated.

Then, just when Madrigal had started to know his new teammates and the Cubs staff – visiting Wrigley in September and rehabbing at the Cubs’ spring training complex in Arizona over the offseason – the lockout hit.

“I don’t wanna say it ruined everything,” Wolfe said, “but it really changed the course of this great experience he was having. … Now, all of a sudden, everybody’s on their own, and we’re having to bounce around to different places. So you know, it was tough.”

Madrigal’s struggles to start the season have been well documented. He’s had two IL stints, for a stranded low back and then strained groin. In May and June, his season batting average hovered between .210 and .235.

“Especially early on, I knew I fell into some bad habits,” Madrigal said of his swing mechanics. “When I’m going good, I’m on the attack in the batter’s box. And early in the year when I was kind of overthinking things, I was getting a little bit defensive in the box. And I’ve never been that way.”

His recent resurgence has been a combination of minor mechanical tweaks – moving back in the box, for one – and getting back to an aggressive approach. At the same time, he hasn’t overcorrected; he’s drawing walks more often than early in the season.

“You’re seeing production from somebody that’s getting back healthy and feeling good, and his legs are getting good and underneath him,” Ross said. “The approach looks right, he looks strong and his base is getting down the line really well. He’s playing good defense. Just the kind of player he knows he is and we believe he is, and so just seeing that play out is rewarding.”

Madrigal said his doctor told him it could take a year or two after the surgery for him to feel fully back to normal. He’s had to take extra measures to get stretched out, and some days are better than others.

“It’s just one of those big procedures where it’s a constant battle,” he said, “and just nothing can quickly fix it. … But I feel like it’s just one of those things I have to deal with for now.”

He seems to have found a successful balance and routine. Now, Madrigal has seven weeks left in the season to make this version of him the lasting memory of this year. But he’s not thinking about it like that.

“I’m kind of over trying to get games back and being frustrated that I’m not in there,” he said. ‘I’m just out there playing now and not worrying about anything other than trying to win ballgames out there.”

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The Cubs always have been a part of Joe Girardi’s life.

Growing up in Peoria, he watched and listened to Cubs games with his father. The Cubs drafted him in the fifth round in 1986, and he made his major-league debut with them on Opening Day 1989. After playing for the Rockies and Yankees, he returned to the Cubs in 2000 and made the All-Star team.

And when he was done playing and entered broadcasting in 2003, the first game he called was a Cubs-Braves playoff game on ESPN Radio with former Bulls broadcaster Jim Durham.

“I was really nervous,” Girardi said this week. “I asked the producers what to do, and they said just be yourself. And I said, I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know what myself is.”

Girardi figured it out, battling through a migraine to have a fine performance. It led to opportunities with the Yankees’ YES Network, Fox and MLB Network, interspersed among 14 years as a manager.

And continuing the pattern of his life, Girardi will return to the Cubs on Friday, when he joins Jon Sciambi and Jim Deshaies on Marquee Sports Network for the three-game series with the Brewers.

“[Cubs president] Crane Kenney gave me a call and asked if I’d be interested in doing a few games,” Girardi said. “I said absolutely. I love managing, but I love broadcasting, as well. It’s like coming full circle. There’s so many fond memories of Cub games, whether I was a little boy or a player. I wrote an essay in third grade that my dream was to play for the Cubs.”

Girardi was available because the Phillies fired him after going 22-29 in his third year as manager. They’ve gone 43-23 since under interim manager Rob Thomson and are in the thick of the playoff race. So the move clearly has worked for them.

And it hasn’t been so bad for Girardi, who talked while driving with his daughter, Lena, on their way to a workout together. Such family time is difficult to find for working managers, and Girardi is passionate about his other career.

“You get to enjoy the game that you love so much, and you don’t have to worry about the wins and losses,” said Girardi, who also will call the Cubs’ series Sept. 19-21 in Miami, where he and his family live. “You’re basically having a conversation with someone else who loves the game just as much as you do.”

Girardi brings elements of his managerial career into the booth. He prepares for broadcasts as though he were preparing to manage a game. He still watches games every day using MLB.TV – “That app becomes really important because you can fast-forward 30 seconds,” he said – and he’ll watch a couple of weeks of games to get to know the teams he’s calling. But he realizes he can’t speak on everything.

“I just tell [the story] through my eyes,” Girardi said. “Because I can’t tell it through a pitcher’s eyes because I didn’t see the game that way. I saw it as a catcher, I saw it as a manager, I saw it as somewhat of an offensive player but one that had to do the little things. I don’t know what it’s like to be a power hitter, but I know I like having those guys on my team.”

Girardi hasn’t worked with Sciambi or Deshaies, but he’s looking forward to interacting in the three-man booth.

“I think a three-man booth can be a lot of fun,” Girardi said, “because now you have a great announcer in ‘Boog’ and you have a pitcher and a catcher talking strategy and how you see things. I think that can be interesting.”

Girardi doesn’t know what awaits him after the season. Managerial jobs are sure to open, and despite his ending with the Phillies, teams figure to be interested in him. He did last 10 years with the Yankees, winning the World Series in 2009 and making the postseason six times.

“I’ll take it a year at a time,” he said. “I know that I love broadcasting, and I’ve always said that it would be something that I would go back to to finish my career. I don’t know if I’m finished managing. But to finish my career, [broadcasting is] what I’d like to do because you can do it for a long time and I love it.”

Remote patrol

MLB announced its broadcast plans for the postseason. ESPN will carry the wild-card series, TBS has the American League Division and Championship series and Fox and FS1 have those series for the National League. Fox will air the World Series for the 25th time.Jason Benetti will be joined by Steve Stone and Guardians analyst Rick Manning for the White Sox-Guardians game at 11:05 a.m. Sunday on Peacock. Peacock again will exclusively stream one Notre Dame football game this season. That will be against UNLV at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22.Read More

How to put this delicately?

That’s a question that comes to mind while an athlete is referencing part of his body and accentuating the point by hanging both arms in semicircles well below his own belt — down to his knees, even.

“Cojones,” pitcher Johnny Cueto said more than once Thursday in the White Sox dugout at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Oh, the anatomy!

Before the series finale against the Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field, a reporter wanted to know why it is that Cueto, 36, keeps delivering for the Sox despite his previous team having given up on him, despite his advanced age and unusually short, squat stature, despite his quick-pitches and shoulder shimmies on the mound that evoke a beer-drinking 16-inch softball pitcher more than they do a finely tuned professional athlete.

“I don’t think that your body matters as much as your balls,” Cueto said via translator Billy Russo. “You have to have some balls to go out there and perform, and I have that.”

Do the rest of the Sox have enough of it? That has been a topic of discussion since an embarrassing 8-3 loss in Kansas City on Aug. 10, after which Cueto questioned his team’s “fire.” And this topic won’t be going anywhere for as long as the two-steps-forward, two-steps-back Sox just kind of hang around unimpressively near the top of baseball’s worst division.

Saturday in Cleveland, Cueto will put his streak of nine straight quality starts on the line against the first-place Indians. The last Sox pitcher with nine of those in a row was Carlos Rodon in 2018, when it didn’t exactly mean a whole lot on a 100-loss team. This season, Cueto has made clutch look easy, allowing three or fewer runs in 15 of his 16 starts since the Sox brought him up from the minors on May 16.

Watching Cueto reach for a doughnut in the clubhouse before a bullpen session in between starts, one might have noted that he’s as close to his listed height of 5-11 as a strawberry glazed is to broccolini. But this is a bad man the Giants let walk away after last season, and this is a man the often lifeless, often fire-less Sox would be a completely lost cause without. Perhaps it’s more than this team deserves that it can just throw Cueto out there against anybody and pretty much bank on seven innings of good stuff.

“I just try to go out there and be perfect, try to be as perfect as I can,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re 10-foot-10. What matters is, Do you have the balls to do it? I do.”

At least somebody around here is fired up.

“My arm feels like a baby’s arm,” Cueto said. “I’m just going to be doing my best and trying to win and displaying that fire I have to win.”

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Chicago White Sox number 2 ranked prospect Oscar Colas has been making noise down in the minors.

After 59 games in Single-A Winston-Salem, Chicago White Sox prospect Oscar Colas was called up to Double-A.  Since being called up to Birmingham, Colas has now homered 10 times in 23 games.

The 23 year old left handed outfielder is starting to showcase his skills, specifically his power.  One can’t help but imagine his arrival to the major league roster, whether it is this year or next year, would be a big boost to the White Sox lack of lefty power.

Prospect Oscar Colas performance in Winston-Salem

Before his promotion to Birmingham, it is important to take a look at Colas’ stats in single A first.  In 59 games, Colas posted a slash line of .312, .369, and ..475 slugging.  He produced 7 homers and 42 runs batted in for his team.  With solid stats like this, it is no surprise that Colas was called up to double A.  It might not be long before he receives another promotion.

Colas’ recent power surge

In the past six games, Colas has homered 4 times.  The 23 year old cuban, who signed with the White Sox in January of 2021, is really coming along now with his bat.  His averages in single A were solid, but the power is starting to take center stage now since his promotion.

In the 23 games he has played at Birmingham, Colas is slugging a whopping .708 with an OPS of 1.139.  An OPS of over a thousand is certainly going to get eye balls on you. The future for Colas looks bright and It might not be long before he receives another promotion.  Additionally, prospect Oscar Colas has a real shot at cracking the official top 100 MLB prospect rankings soon.

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This has been an up and down (mostly down) season but the White Sox are finally favorites to win the AL Central.

Entering last Friday, August 12, the White Sox found themselves 5 games back in the division and about as hopeless as they come. However, since last Friday, the Chicago White Sox have won 5 straight games and are tied for second and only 1 game back of the Cleveland Guardians.

Playing the Detroit Tigers has been a very good thing this season, boasting a record of 10-3 against the Tigers. Going from one of the worst teams in the American League to one of the best is a very difficult task for many teams, but the White Sox have battled through against the Houston Astros, the team with the best record in the AL.

In the last 2 games, the Sox have seen late game heroics from one man, Yoan Moncada has back to back game winning singles to lead the Sox to two straight wins against the Astros.

After this 4 game series against Houston, the Sox set their sights on Cleveland with the chance to finally take the lead in the division.

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The starters need to step up for the Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears starters struggled in Week One of the preseason against the Kansas City Chiefs. The team will need to show improvement on offense and defense in Week Two at Seattle. The Seattle Seahawks are projected to be around where the Bears are in terms of likely outcomes in 2022.

This is a good measuring stick for the Chicago Bears. Here are five things Bears fans will want to take note of during the game Thursday.

1. Can Justin Fields show progress(ions)

The Bears’ second-year quarterback had a decent performance in Week One. Fields made some nice pre-snap reads and tossed a couple of dimes while under pressure. One step Fields hasn’t mastered is the art of progressions. Fields can often look at his primary target like “Squints” looks at Wendy Peffercorn in the movie Sandlot.

It’s been a consistent and considerable problem for Fields during camp. Even a highlight reel catch from Darnell Mooney couldn’t detract viewers away from how Fields stared him down. This problem was noticed by Dan Orlovsky after the Chiefs game.

2. How does Teven Jenkins play at guard?

Teven Jenkins came into the league as an offensive tackle. The Chicago Bears moved Jenkins to the right guard position in their last practice. After Michael Schofield‘s dreadful performance Saturday, the Bears might be putting their trust in Jenkins to solidify the starting right guard spot.

The transition from tackle to guard can take a little time. Especially in Luke Getsy’s offense. Getsy said the guard is tested more mentally than the tackle in his scheme. We’ll see how Jenkins responds to the switch in Week Two. A starting guard is better than a trade for a fourth-round pick.

3. Can the Bears’ special teams kick in good field conditions?

Chicago Bears rookie punter Trenton Gill had a great preseason debut against the Chiefs. Kicker Cairo Santos was a perfect two-for-two on his field goal attempts Saturday. Santos and Gill have had the advantage of preparing to kick on their “sandy” home field.

Santos has said he had to stop practicing this offseason at a local high school because it was too nice to simulate Soldier Fields’ terrible playing surface. When they head to Lumen Field, the special teams unit will have to deal with non-adverse conditions, which could be a major disadvantage for the Bears.

They’ll need to take advantage of this game and the next one at the Cleveland Browns to prepare for professional field conditions before the regular season. There are a whole eight games the Bears will need to kick on a properly maintained surface.

4. Rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon makes his debut

Chicago Bears rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon didn’t play against the Chiefs. His second-round rookie colleague, safety Jaquan Brisker, had a nice performance. Gordon has had a lot of coaching praise hyped on him this offseason.

Gordon is looking forward to playing his first NFL game in the same state that he played in college. As a Washington Huskie, Gordon never gave up a touchdown. We’ll see how he can hold up at the NFL level Thursday.

5. How fast does Velus Jones Jr. look at the NFL level?

Chicago Bears rookie Velus Jones Jr. didn’t play Saturday. He’s expected to play Thursday against the Seahawks. Jones had made some positive impressions in training camp during practice.

With the Bears having a plethora of injuries already at wide receiver, Jones will need to step up this season. The speed threat rookie from the Tennesse Volunteers knows his teammates are depending on him this year. While he’s known for making flashy moves on special teams, Jones will need to up his wide receiver skills before the regular season.

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Recently retired announcer Pat Foley is expected to call a Chicago Cubs game on August 23rd.

Legendary Chicago Blackhawks announcer Pat Foley recently called the final season of his career. Foley first became the play-by-play man for the Blackhawks in 1981. Thankfully, fans will get to hear Foley call one more game, but it may not be a game that you’d expect.

On Tuesday, Jeff Agrest with the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Pat Foley will be calling a Chicago Cubs game.

Agrest details that Foley will call the first three innings on the radio, the middle three on the television broadcast, and then the final three on the radio.

It’s been a lifelong dream for the Glenview native to call a Cubs game from Wrigley Field.

‘‘I’ll probably spend more hours getting ready for this broadcast than I have for any single broadcast in my career,’’ Foley said Tuesday. ‘‘I have not called a baseball game for more than 20 years. I am really excited to sit with Coomer and Deshaies.

Pat Foley is one of the most beloved announcers in Chicago sports. Fans will surely be tuning into this special broadcast who otherwise may not have. Agrest notes that Pat Foley has called Cubs games in the past, but they were all road games, and he was just a fill-in.

Pat Foley is scheduled to call the 2nd game of Tuesday’s (Aug. 23) doubleheader against the Cardinals. This game will be broadcasted on 670 The Score and Marquee Sports Network. Fans can read the full story here.

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The Chicago Bears could target Darius Slayton ahead of Week 1 to help Justin Fields and the offense

It’s no secret the Chicago Bears have some questions surrounding the wide receiver position going into the 2022 season. With Justin Fields’ development being the single-most important thing for the franchise, one can argue general manager Ryan Poles didn’t do enough to help him.

The Bears did sign a few receivers and then ended up trading for N’Keal Harry this offseason but the former first round pick is dealing with a foot injury that will keep him out weeks. Plus, Byron Pringle is also hurt, leaving Fields having to throw to a rotation of guys in training camp.

But Poles could look to add to the room before Week 1 and an analyst believes the Bears would be a fit for Darius Slayton.

Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger wrote on 10 players that could be traded ahead of Week 1, listing Slayton among them. In the write-up, Spielberger lists the Chicago Bears as a best fit for the receiver:

Team fits: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans

Slayton burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2019 with eight touchdown receptions and a 15.4 yards per reception average, a top-25 mark at wide receiver. Since then, he has moved in the wrong direction on the depth chart and now finds himself behind a collection of guys including Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, rookie Wan’Dale Robinson and eventually Sterling Shepard when he returns from injury.

Slayton has one year remaining on an elevated salary of $2.54 million.

The article also mentions that a 2023 sixth-round pick could get the deal done for a team, and if that’s the case then that could be really good value for the Bears.

Poles already gave up a future seventh rounder for Harry but would he once again trade capitol for a receiver that would come in and be near the top of the depth chart?

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The Chicago Bears didn’t do enough Saturday to impress analysts

The national media has criticized the Chicago Bears’ chances of making the playoffs this season. Not surprisingly, as the team is rebuilding this season. The Bears’ recent additions to the offensive line didn’t do enough to impress analysts.

On Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bears starters struggled to keep up with their competition. The Bears wound up coming back to win 19-14 in the second half when the starters were already out. The team’s performance didn’t give any indication the Bears made a lot of progress this offseason.

ESPN’s crew on “Get Up” talked about the Bears’ prospects this year. Dianna Russini has a prediction from an insider that the Bears will be the worst team in the league.

The Bears have a long way to go before they impress people. Their comments don’t seem that off base. The team is missing their best player, Roquan Smith, due to a holdout. The already weak depth at wide receiver and the offensive line has seen a lot of injuries in training camp.

It’s a little early to say the Bears will be the worst. The team has a favorable schedule and should be able to win several games if they can stay healthy. But the playoffs are still out of the question for the Chicago Bears.

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