Chicago Sports

LAS VEGAS — The Bears will again be up against some formidable odds this season, according to many sportsbooks and bettors who bolster their beliefs with their bankrolls.

Chicago’s victory total has been widely set at 6.5, so experts forecast a ninth non-winning campaign in 10 seasons.

In its preseason release of every lined 2021 NFL game, the Westgate SuperBook had the Bears favored just four times. They went 6-11, overall and against the spread.

In fact, according to TeamRankings.com, the Bears are 89-105-3 against the number since 2010 for a .459 winning percentage, fifth-worst in the league. Blindly betting against the Bears over that span has been profitable.

For ’22, the SuperBook has Chicago favored just twice.

On its NFL MVP odds sheet, Station Casinos lists 55 players. Not one is a Bear. Of 74 players, the SuperBook has quarterback Justin Fields 19th, at 80-to-1 odds and tailback David Montgomery 63rd at 500-1.

At Circa Sports, the Bears are +400 (risk $100 to win $400) to make the playoffs, -550 (wager $550 to win $100) to miss the postseason.

Rex Beyers, an industry veteran and head of wagering at PlayUp USA, envisions a six-win season as the Bears’ best-case scenario, 5-12 or 4-13 being more likely.

“That’s the worst team in a bad division,” he says. “And the quarterback can’t play, which we will find out most likely, once and for all, over the course of several long fall 2022 Sundays.”

Handicapper Bill Krackomberger relished finding a 7.5 total, very early, and hammered Under at -145. The consensus of his expert staff predicts “a tough season” for Chicago.

“I know it’s really popular to bet Bears futures every year, amongst gamblers. But that’s just it — they are gamblers rooting and betting with their hearts. Good people in Chicago. I love them and the city.

“[But] sorry, Bears fans. We need the ’85 Bears to return to their glory.”

He says something akin to, Where have you gone, Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan?

SELLING IT

Some aren’t so sour on the Bears, or Fields. Without Andy Dalton over his shoulder, DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello expects the 23-year-old quarterback to settle down.

“I liked him at Ohio State,” Avello says. “Thought he was terrific.”

About the axiom that Buckeyes quarterbacks don’t pan out in the NFL, Avello pauses.

“That might be true, but Ohio State is such a great collegiate program. People always have high expectations for them when they get to the next level. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Sometimes it’s about the right system.”

He mentions Tom Brady, who didn’t portend professional superstardom at Michigan but soared in New England to become the game’s most accomplished quarterback.

“Sometimes it’s about the right break, the right coaching, the right mentor,” Avello says. “So I don’t hold that against anybody.”

Long Island ‘capper Tom Barton concurs and considers this Fields’ second rookie season. Nathan Peterman and Trevor Siemian are Chicago’s reserve quarterbacks. A lifelong Bears fan who divorces his head from his heart in pursuit of profit, Barton likes what he has heard from Luke Getsy.

New coach Matt Eberflus hired Getsy from Green Bay, where he worked with quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ passing schemes, to be the Bears’ offensive coordinator.

Getsy champions a 1-2 running attack, with Montgomery and Khalil Herbert, and play-action wrinkles to allow the quarterback to hit a single option, highlighting tight end Cole Kmet or receiver Darnell Mooney.

“Fields can sell,” Barton says. “Watch his Ohio State tape, which I’ve done. He can sell that play-action.”

TOUGH SLATE

Barton has reviewed what Eberflus and Getsy have undoubtedly seen in last season’s video — that Fields doesn’t pick up blitzes well.

“Always been his problem,” Barton says. “He doesn’t have that sixth sense. He doesn’t feel the pressure. And it’s his perception … if he doesn’t trust they’re going to pick up the block, that’s going to be an issue.”

Chicago quarterbacks were sacked 3.4 times a game last season, tied for next-to-worst in the NFL. Barton says Fields would get hit early, question himself, dump it off or scamper.

Eberflus and Getsy have a remedy.

“They’re saying, ‘Do a lot of play-action. Someone will bite.’ Now all Fields has to worry about is, Who’s the [defender] biting?” Barton said. “Now you have one-on-one coverage, and you can take advantage.”

He pegs Week 5 at Minnesota, though, as Danger Week. He expects the Bears to be 1-4 after that Vikings game. Then comes Washington, at New England, at Dallas.

Said Barton: “They could be sitting there with one win going into Week 9.”

He recommends savvy fantasy players to consider key Bears, two months into the new system, at this point, with the Dolphins at home followed by the Lions, then at the Falcons and Jets.

Maybe four consecutive triumphs, Barton said. But he has the Bears winning only six or seven games, and he despises the late Week 14 bye, in the second week of December.

He hasn’t invested in Bears futures tickets and advises nobody to do so.

“No Super Bowl, no NFC championship,” Barton says. “I saw people take 100-to-1 on Fields to win MVP. ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ What does he have to do to win the MVP, win 12, 13, 14 games? Yeah, that’s not happening.

“To me, lay off, don’t go near and don’t touch.”

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The poor results of Fire sporting director Georg Heitz’s 2019-20 offseason are well known. And if the Fire can’t reverse this year’s slide, his moves last winter will face heavy scrutiny.

Perhaps overlooked is what Heitz did between the 2020 and ’21 seasons, a period that wasn’t as splashy but continues to haunt the Fire.

After the Fire narrowly missed the expanded 2020 playoffs, Heitz decreed that continuity would bring better results. Instead of making big additions, he added right back Jhon Espinoza, striker Chinonso Offor and winger Stanislav Ivanov before the 2021 season. He also signed prospect Jhon Duran, who wasn’t eligible to join until 2022. Meanwhile, Heitz sent Homegrown winger Djordje Mihailovic to Montreal for up to $1 million in allocation money and didn’t bring back veteran striker CJ Sapong.

Those decisions aren’t paying off.

Espinoza is still behind starter Boris Sekulic and has struggled defensively when he’s seen the field. Offor is the Fire’s third-choice striker, and Duran has shown some promise but his lack of polish has kept him from seriously challenging Kacper Przybylko.

Ivanov’s struggles are the most glaring.

After missing the first half of last season with a knee problem, Ivanov began this season as a starter. But with the additions of Chris Mueller and Jairo Torres, the emergence of Brian Gutierrez and coach Ezra Hendrickson’s trust in Fabian Herbers, Ivanov seems like the odd man out. He hasn’t played in the Fire’s last four matches, and Hendrickson has chosen to use the more defensive-minded Herbers instead even when the team has needed a goal.

On May 25, Hendrickson said Ivanov is “still in the mix” but then picked Herbers in the 75th minute of the Fire’s 3-2 loss to Toronto when the match was even at 2.

“Right now, we’re in a situation where we feel like we’re putting the best players that we have on the pitch,” Hendrickson said before the Toronto match. “He had a bad run of form right before we got the additions, so that didn’t help his cause. But we want to play the guys who are performing, and that goes from what they do in training, also from what they do when they get their opportunities in games.”

For whatever reasons, Ivanov, Espinoza and Offor haven’t improved since coming to Chicago. At best, the trio give the Fire some depth, but their bit parts and minimal impact make that a hard argument to win, stretching a top-heavy team even further.

Now in Nashville, Sapong remains a dependable scoring option. More painfully for the Fire, Mihailovic has become one of the league’s most dangerous attackers. Since the start of 2021, Mihailovic has 11 goals and 20 assists and recently earned a call-up to the U.S. national team before pulling himself off the squad because of injury.

While it’s unclear whether Mihailovic would’ve reached those heights in Chicago, his breakout is a stark reminder of Heitz wasting the 2020-21 offseason. Unfortunately for the Fire, seeing a former Homegrown player flourish elsewhere isn’t the only consequence of Heitz’s mistakes that winter.

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Chicago Bears need to shop Robert Quinn and could use D.K. Metcalf

New general manager Ryan Poles most significant failure this offseason was bungling the opportunity to trade Chicago Bears linebacker Robert Quinn before the 2022 NFL Draft. Poles could remedy the situation by trading the veteran player for wide receiver D.K. Metcalf if he can strike a reasonable deal for the Bears.

Reports are coming out that Metcalf wants out of the Seattle Seahawks locker room. They’re coming at the same time rumors of Quinn wishing to leave the Bears for greener pastures as well. Quinn has been a great asset to the Bears’ defense since joining the team in 2020. Last year, he set the Bears’ single-season sack record to go along with four nifty interceptions.

Even with all he’s accomplished, the Bears should at least see what he and what else the Seahawks would be wanting in return for a valuable prize like Metcalf. With Justin Fields in need of elite playmakers, Metcalf would bring the tools to be a true “X” wide receiver. It’s something Fields and the Bears desperately need.

Quinn’s value will never be higher after 2021

The 11-year NFL veteran, Quinn, turned 32-years old this May. There are only so many good years he will have left producing numbers we saw last season. Let’s not forget, that he had his worst sack season statistically in 2020 with the Bears.

With Quinn coming off an electric 2021, many Bears fans were hoping they could use that success as leverage and get the Bears more value in the draft. Because with Khalil Mack gone and Akiem Hicks wanting to sail off into the sunset, there was no point keeping Quinn over younger, cheaper, players for a new system.

Instead, Poles played the cards he was dealt like a rookie’s hand at UNO. He missed playable moves while picking up more cards and still fumbling the Bears’ overall leverage. Since Poles whiffed at his first offseason job of building a successful foundation for Fields, Quinn has skipped out on the Bears’ voluntary workouts altogether. With signs pointing to Quinn’s eventual absence from the Bears roster, one of the team’s best options would be leverage for Metcalf.

Metcalf can bring a lot to the Bears’ offense

Since joining the league in 2019, Metcalf has been near impossible for defenses to defend. He’s caught 216 balls for 3,170 yards and scored 29 receiving touchdowns. The Pro Bowl athlete is 6-foot-4, 235-pounds, which is a size mismatch for corners.

Imagine pairing his skillset with the speed of Darnell Mooney, Byron Pringle, and Velus Jones. That speed trio will keep most secondary on their toes trying to keep up. It’s going to take at least two defenders to take on Metcalf’s size in the open field. That combination could be lethal if Fields has time to make accurate throws.

The Bears shouldn’t give too much for D.K. Metcalf

As much as the Bears need a wide receiver, the team shouldn’t get conned into giving up a first-round draft pick. Although the Bears know they are getting a true stud, the Bears will likely be drafting high in the first round next year. Rookie contracts are cheaper than what Metcalf will be when his contract is up after this year.

Poles and the Bears need to continue their plan of building homegrown talent, and the Bears need to see that talent coming from the first round, as they provide the Bears with the best players for the price. The Bears have not had a first-round pick in the last three of the past four drafts. That has cost the Bears in cap space.

The Bears should certainly look to shop Quinn and a second and a fourth-round pick though. A second-round pick alone will likely not be enough. Metcalf can be a young, key piece that for sure provide more to the Bears than most round two and four talent. Because Quinn is showing signs of wanting out anyways, this just adds extra icing for the Seahawks and doesn’t cost the Bears much.

Getting Metcalf is probably a longshot for the Bears

The Seahawks would want good value for giving up a 24-year-old Pro Bowl athlete. With Quinn 8-years his senior, the Bears would need to give up more for the trade. The Bears would need to consider a high price in terms of draft picks to make it worth the Seahawks’ time. The elite-upgrade-trigger-averse Poles seems unlikely to make a deal giving up valuable picks.

Even if the teams wanted the player swap, Metcalf and Quinn might not be happy with the new destination. Metcalf is running from a team that traded away Russell Wilson and will have to rebuild. Granted, Fields is a better quarterback than Geno Smith or Drew Lock, but the Bears are rebuilding. They also have a poor history of keeping wide receivers happy. Quinn is likely wanting to leave the Bears for a championship contender like Mack and Hicks. The Seahawks are anything but that.

The Bears have nothing to lose by throwing their name in the hat and trying to gain an exceptional wide receiver. The least the organization could do to pacify the fanbase would be to leak a story the team is going after Metcalf. Bears fans need a little assurance the team is trying to remedy the offense instead of just blowing smoke in press conferences.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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In his first draft as the Blackhawks’ amateur scouting director, Mike Doneghey won’t have a first-round pick.

But he does have two second-round and three third-round selections. That’s five picks between 38th and 94th overall.

And he knows that if the Hawks can strike gold on a couple of those, it’ll make a major difference in their -rebuild.

“[When] you look at a team like Carolina, three of their best players — Sebastian Aho, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin — were second-, third- and fourth-round picks,” Doneghey said this week. “So the players are there. You just have to [find them].

“My advice to the guys is, ‘Let’s buckle down and not leave any stone unturned.’ Because there are players historically that come out of that portion of the draft and make an impact for your team.”

Trend to reverse

The Hawks’ failures to identify those later-round gems during the latter half of former general manager Stan Bowman’s and former amateur scouting director Mark Kelley’s tenures is part of why GM Kyle Davidson promoted Doneghey into his role in March.

The scouting department regularly conducts redrafting exercises four or five years after a draft to evaluate, as Doneghey explained, which “guys we’ve hit on, guys we’ve missed on, why we’ve hit, why we’ve missed, so on and so forth.”

And they can’t be thrilled with their -findings.

From 2012 to 2018, the Hawks drafted 53 players in the second round or later. Only 11 have made the NHL. Only five have played in more than 100 NHL games: Alex DeBrincat (the lone flash of brilliance in the group), Philipp Kurashev, John Hayden, Tyler Motte and Vinnie Hinostroza.

The Hawks’ 21% success rate on picks making the NHL pales in comparison to the league average of 38%. So does their 100-game success rate of 9% to the league average of 15%.

The second round has been a particular weak spot. Only three of their seven second-round picks in that span have made the NHL. Chad Krys, Artur Kayumov, Graham Knott and Dillon Fournier failed to do so; DeBrincat, Ian Mitchell and Carl Dahlstrom are the only players who did.

That equates to a 43% success rate on second-round picks making the NHL and a 14% success rate on them playing 100 games (only DeBrincat has so far). The NHL averages are far higher: 65% and 32%, respectively.

The Hawks hope a new vision will lead to better results this summer and beyond.

Changing structure

Doneghey reports to Davidson and new associate GMs Norm Maciver and Jeff Greenberg. Beneath Doneghey is a staff of 10 amateur scouts (and two support personnel) whom he’d like to give defined roles.

“We’ve had a history of having a lot of guys cross over [between regions],” Doneghey said. “I would like to have a department where the scouts are more regionalized and know their own area and then have two or three crossover scouts throughout the world — including myself — that are going into each region, looking at the top players and coming up with a consensus.”

That will involve changing the roles and titles of some scouts, but those changes won’t be made until after the draft July 7-8.

In the meantime, Doneghey, Davidson, Maciver, Greenberg, scouting manager Hudson Chodos and the four head regional scouts — Jim McKellar (Eastern Canada), Darrell May (Western Canada), Rob Facca (United States) and Niklas Blomgren (Europe) — all attended the NHL Scouting Combine last week in Buffalo, New York. The full department will unite for the first time since before the pandemic at the draft in Montreal.

“It’s going to be dynamite,” Doneghey said. “I’m looking forward to seeing everybody, and I’m sure they’re looking forward to seeing each other.

“[But despite] what we’ve gone through as scouts in the NHL, as

far as watching video and having video meetings with your staff, it has been worse for these kids because they’ve had to do it for [everything]. One player that we interviewed [at the combine] didn’t play hockey all of last year. The last two years haven’t been great for anybody, but more so the players because their development has been skewed a little bit.”

That lost development time makes it extra-difficult to evaluate the 17- and 18-year-olds who make up the draft class this year. That uncertainty is why Doneghey doesn’t necessarily agree with the popular sentiment that the class is weaker than usual.

“I don’t know how you can judge that,” he said.

This year’s plan

It’s nearly impossible to forecast from afar which players the Hawks will target because they’re so far down the order. Even internally, Doneghey doesn’t have much clearer of an idea because so many variables remain in play.

“The only team who gets the player they want is No. 1,” he said. “After that, you have to go off of the team in front of you. You keep your list always up-to-date [with] moving parts.”

Nonetheless, Davidson has made it clear publicly that he wants the team he builds to emphasize speed and skating.

“[We] want to play really fast, as fast as you can,” Doneghey said Davidson told him.

Given the imbalance in the Hawks’ prospect pool, with plenty of potential NHL-caliber defensemen and goaltenders but very few promising forwards outside of Lukas Reichel, drafting more forwards also will be a priority.

The biggest objective, though, is to hit on more picks than in years past — regardless of the chosen prospects’ position and skills.

“The goal for me is to not take for granted those five [second- and third-round] picks,” Doneghey said. “Just because they’re not labeled with a first-round pick doesn’t mean they’re not going to play.”

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Already, the Bears are seeing a different Justin Fields.

A year ago, Fields was a touted rookie who had no chance of winning the starting quarterback job the Bears had promised to Andy Dalton. He was cemented in Matt Nagy’s apprenticeship program — following an Alex Smith/Patrick Mahomes template the Bears had no hope of replicating.

Today, Fields is the unquestioned starter, the centerpiece of coordinator Luke Getsy’s offense. Who knows if he’ll get time to throw, or have a running game to keep a defense on its heels, or have open receivers to throw to. It’s June. But tight end Cole Kmet can see the difference.

“Just in the huddle, that’s the biggest thing for me,” Kmet said. “Just the way he commands everybody on the field.

“I think we were running two-minute these past couple of weeks — he’s just been great in terms of being vocal to everybody and being demonstrative about what he wants from everybody. It’s been fun to be a part of and fun to watch and exciting to keep drawing on this going into training camp.”

Even as he learns a new system in his second season, teammates can see Fieldsbecoming more acclimated to being the focal point of the Bears’ offense. Let the record show that he had a 73.2 passer rating and a 26.4 QB rating last season. But he has embraced his role, with apparent room for growth.

“I just feel like he’s more comfortable,” guard Cody Whitehair said. “His leadership has taken a step, and that just comes from being more comfortable from Year 1 to Year 2 — a little bit more experience, seeing things a second time or third time or fourth time. And he’s only going to continue to grow.”

Even defensive players have noticed Fields’ growth. Defensive tackle Justin Jones played with Justin Herbert with the Chargers last season before signing with the Bears in free agency and had a front-row seat to Herbert’s quick progression to “Next Big Thing” status — the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 and the Pro Bowl in 2021.

“I think Justin Fields is a different quarterback from Justin Herbert. A little different player, [they’re] different guys,” Jones said. “What I’ll say about Justin Fields, though, is he really loves the game of football. He has a commanding leadership on the field — a legit field general. He gets guys wound up, gets guys going.”

We’ll see how it turns out. “Command of the huddle” leadership is one of those offseason accolades that turns into a fallacy by September. Chase Daniel said it about Mitch Trubisky. Victor Cruz said it about Mike Glennon. Matt Forte said it about Josh McCown. Zach Miller said it about Jay Cutler. Even Trubisky said it about Tyler Bray.

How does a quarterback’s command of the huddle make a teammate better? Or an offense better? Whitehair has played with nine starting quarterbacks in his six seasons with the Bears — Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer, Matt Barkley, Glennon, Trubisky, Daniel, Nick Foles, Dalton and Fields. He’s as qualified as anyone to ask.

“I just think when he comes in to annunciate the play or give us what we need to know to get out there and execute the play, it’s just a lot more smooth,” Whitehair said. “He says it with more confidence. That’s just him developing from Year 1 to Year 2. We like where Justin is at, and I’m really excited for the year.”

Though Jones did not play with Fields last year, he apparently saw enough of him to see a difference in Fields this year.

“I feel like the pace of his game has [increased] since last year,” Jones said. “Obviously, first year going into your second year, your speed of the game has excelled a lot — I feel that way personally.

“I’m really excited about the season he’s about to have. Once you’ve played your first year, you’ve seen the speed of the game; you’ve seen how guys are moving; how fast the window closes; you see how fast receivers get open. I’m excited. He’s a lot more comfortable now.”

Bears coach Matt Eberflus was with the Cowboys for Dak Prescott’s first two seasons in 2016-17. Prescott’s impact was immediate. He was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2016 and made the Pro Bowl.

“We saw him grow before our very eyes,” Eberflus said. “He’s a talent, a guy that can throw on time but also make extended plays and throw down the field, and that’s where I see that Justin is.

“I’m not trying to compare [Prescott and Fields]. They’re different players. But certainly you can see the jump that we’re going to make with Justin, and I can see those things as he starts to mature in the offense.”

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Since this delayed season began, baseball has been playing catch-up. Every day there is a game to watch. Even the quizmaster is blending months together, as you can see by my mid-June questions about May.

As fans, I know it’s exhausting. So take a few minutes for yourself today. Do something

relaxing. Read a book. Talk to a neighbor. Take a nap. Before you know it, it will be the first day of summer, then July 4, then the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, then the trade deadline. Before you know it, it will be August — and I’ll be asking questions about June.

Have some fun, and good luck on the quiz.

1. In May, the White Sox went 15-12 and the Cubs went 12-16. Which team had the better ERA?

a. White Sox

b. Cubs

c. The same

2. Two teams did not hit a triple in May. Which ones?

a. Cubs b. White Sox

c. Yankees d. Braves

3. In May, Jose Abreu and Patrick Wisdom led the Sox and Cubs in extra-base hits. Who had more?

a. Abreu

b. Wisdom

c. The same

4. In May, Paul Goldschmidt led the majors in extra-base hits. Who had more, Jose Abreu and Patrick Wisdom combined or Goldschmidt?

a. Goldschmidt

b. Abreu and Wisdom

c. The same

5. In May, Willson Contreras tied a Cubs record by getting hit by eight pitches in a month. Whose record did he tie?

a. Kris Bryant b. Anthony Rizzo

c. Marlon Byrd d. His own

6. On June 2, we remembered and honored Lou Gehrig. The date is significant because he became the Yankees’ starting first baseman on that date in 1925 and died at the age of 37 on that date in 1941. In between, on June 3, 1932, Gehrig became the first player in the 20th century to hit four home runs in a game. Pat Seerey is the only Chicago player to achieve that feat (July 18, 1948), doing it for the Sox. Who are the two players who hit four dingers in a game against a Chicago team?

a. Mike Schmidt b. J.D. Martinez

c. Mike Cameron d. Chuck Klein

7. In head-to-head contests, the White Sox lead the Cubs 73-65. Since 2013 — that’s 10 seasons of baseball — who leads the intracity rivalry?

a. The White Sox

b. The Cubs

c. They have same record

8. In 1970 and 1972, Johnny Bench was the National League MVP (he could have won it every year). In each case, the runner-up was a Cub. Who were they or who was he?

a. Billy Williams b. Ron Santo

c. Rick Monday d. Fergie Jenkins

9. The Braves are coming to Wrigley Field next week. It won’t come as any surprise to you that Henry Aaron leads all Braves with 50 homers at Wrigley. Who is the active leader for homers by a Braves player in the Friendly Confines?

a. Freddie Freeman b. Jason Heyward

c. Ozzie Albies d. Ronald Acuna

ANSWERS

1. The Sox’ ERA was 4.32, 20th in the majors. The Cubs’ ERA was 3.97, 14th in the majors. The major-league average was 4.10.

2. The Cubs hit seven triples and the Yankees hit one, which leaves the Sox and Braves bereft of triples.

3. They had the same.

4. Jose Abreu and Patrick Wisdom each had 11 extra-base hits for a total of 22, one shy of Paul Goldschmidt’s 23.

5. In the final month of the 2020 season, Willson Contreras was hit by eight pitches. It’s hard enough being a catcher without being battered as a batter.

6. On April 17, 1976, the Phillies’ Mike Schmidt hit four homers against the Cubs. On May 2,

2002, the Mariners’ Mike Cameron did it against the White Sox.

7. With the Sox taking three of four this season, each team has won 24 games and lost 24 games in the last 10 seasons.

8. In 1970, Johnny Bench received 326 points; Billy Williams finished second with 218. In 1972, Bench received 263 points; Williams finished second with 211.

9. Of course, it’s Freddie Freeman — who is now with the Dodgers — with seven. I just put the other names there to tantalize you.

Shameless plug: My book with Bob Ryan, ”In Scoring Position: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair,” will make a great gift for Father’s Day.

Write me at [email protected], and you might be a part of the quiz.

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The long-awaited move to option struggling left-handed hitter Gavin Sheets to Triple-A Charlotte took place before the game Friday night, but it came at a price.

Because the White Sox’ bullpen was short-handed, Jimmy Lambert was summoned from Charlotte. That transaction left the Sox with only three bench players this weekend.

“The issue is going to be what we do when [Lance] Lynn comes back,” manager Tony La Russa said. “I wish we had the issue of getting Timmy [Anderson] and Eloy [Jimenez]. We are in that period of time where we are playing a lot of games.

“One reason we survived this long with our issues [is because] we really have tried to protect our late-inning [relievers]. We’ve won some games where the earlier guys have stepped up, and they’ve pitched us late [in games] because we were protecting guys. We aren’t going to change that.”

Lynn, who made three rehab starts at Charlotte after having surgery on his right knee, is projected to return Tuesday in Detroit.

Meanwhile, Sheets will try to regain his stroke after batting .204 with 34 strikeouts in 134 plate appearances. He was only 1-for-14 (.071) against left-handers.

“This is the worst place to try to [break out of a slump] — even if you’re a pitcher working on something,” said La Russa, who noticed Sheets was pressing at the plate. “Big-league pitchers, big-league hitters — no mercy.”

The Sox hope Sheets can rekindle the stroke that saw him hit 11 home runs and drive in 34 runs in 54 games in 2021, his rookie season.

Lambert, 27, has spent parts of three seasons with the Sox, including an 0-2 record with a 5.14 ERA in three games in 2022. He was 0-3 with a 9.24 ERA in five starts at Charlotte.

Double duty

Assistant general manager Chris Getz has been scouting amateur players for the draft next month in addition to his primary duty of overseeing the minor leagues.

Getz said he stays in frequent contact with amateur scouting director Mike Shirley on ways to plug holes in the farm system.

“I always enjoy going out and seeing players and talking to our area scouts and Mike and anyone else who is part of that staff,” Getz said. “I try to get a stronger understanding of how each of these players fits in a particular draft and also get background information if we’re able to draft and sign them on how they fit into our organization and how to handle them from a developmental standpoint.”

The Sox have the 26th overall pick in the draft.

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Tony La Russa’s decision to employ Reynaldo Lopez as an opener Friday night didn’t ignite fires on the internet and the airwaves.

The dark clouds of criticism still hovered over Guaranteed Rate Field one day after La Russa’s failed decision to walk Trea Turner that set up Max Muncy’s three-run homer in a loss to the Dodgers, but the White Sox’ skipper doubled down on his decision while acknowledging the criticism.

“I’m always fascinated, and that’s part of the reason I’m still here,” La Russa said. “I really embrace the excitement of making those decisions. If it don’t go right, I have enough scabs. I can take it.”

La Russa’s decision to start Lopez, after a suggestion from the baseball operations department, paid off in an 8-3 victory against the Rangers. Lopez and Davis Martin, who pitched five innings of three-hit ball, kept the score close enough for the offense to erupt for five runs in the eighth.

Yasmani Grandal snapped a 3-3 tie with a two-run double, and Danny Mendick capped the rally with a two-run homer.

“A lot of clutch hitting,” La Russa said after the Sox had five consecutive hits with two outs in the eighth.

Martin had no issues after learning earlier Friday that he would relieve instead of start.

“It was a little different, but I did it in college my freshman year,” said Martin, who pitched at Texas Tech. “So it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I don’t take a lot of time to warm up anyway. So I embraced it and had fun with it.”

The Rangers also were forced to use Matt Bush as their opener after starter Glenn Otto had a positive COVID-19 test.

At the very least, Martin provided length for a well-worked bullpen and defused some of the attention from the previous day.

But La Russa was ready to elaborate on his decision and on remaining firm in his convictions while taking a nostalgic drive based on what former mentor Paul Richards told him and what he learned from watching managerial greats such as Sparky Anderson, Billy Martin, Earl Weaver and Whitey Herzog, as well as Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

La Russa referenced Belichick’s decision to go for a first down on his 29-yard line on fourth-and-two that cost his team a victory against the Colts in 2009.

“Arguably one of the greatest coaches of all time, right?” La Russa said. “And he got blasted. And that’s the way it is if it doesn’t work. I don’t care who you are. The deep part about it is it really frees you.”

La Russa shook his head when asked if he still believed he made the right decision to walk Turner on a 1-2 count and have Muncy face left-hander Bennett Sousa.

“Twenty-four hours later, I’m even more surprised,” said La Russa, insisting the decision wasn’t a close call.

Turner is batting .344 on 1-2 counts the last three seasons, according to ESPN content producer Paul Hembekides. La Russa reiterated his faith in Sousa and said his decision was heavily influenced by Turner’s success on 1-2 counts.

“Now if it had been a right-handed pitcher, yeah, I probably would have tried to make a pitch,” La Russa said.

Recently, La Russa has come under scrutiny with awkward lineups while working with an injury-riddled roster.

He is merely heeding the advice of Richards, who told him during his second season as a minor-league manager to “trust your gut, don’t cover your butt.”

“He said if you make moves to cover your butt, and they usually don’t work and you get fired, you’ll never know if you’re good enough,” La Russa said.

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NEW YORK – Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo has followed the Cubs’ season from a unique vantage point.

Who else can say they’ve been through the early years of a Cubs rebuild before, experienced the deadline sell-off last year first-hand, and are now on a perennial playoff team?

“When the big teams are playing at a premium, it’s just better for baseball,” he said Friday. “It’s better for the overall experience when you turn on a game and it’s Yankees-Red Sox battling for first place in June, but it seems like it’s October. That’s good for baseball.

“And all the big markets have plenty of money to spend. So yeah, a team like the Cubs should be competing every single year at a very high payroll.”

The Cubs’ 2-1 extra-innings loss to the Yankees on Friday marked the first game Rizzo has played against his former team since it traded him to the Yankees last summer.He went 0-for-4 at the plate.

Though only a few of Rizzo former teammates remained in the opposite dugout Friday, the group included his close friend Ian Happ and four guys he’d won a World Series with – Jason Heyward, Kyle Hendricks, Willson Contreras and manager David Ross.

The Cubs are going through their second rebuild in a decade, although president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stands by his promise that this time won’t be a mirror image of the last.

“I don’t necessarily think you can use the same strategy multiple times in a row,” he said last month.

Rizzo was part of the core that pulled the Cubs from rebuild mode to championship mode last time. But unlike Javy B?ez and Kris Bryant, Rizzo was also there for the teardown years, when the Cubs lost 101 and 96 games in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“In ’14 at the deadline was when the feeling went away, like this is going to be our last time trading guys,” Rizzo said.

It’s unclear how many more trading sprees the Cubs will have this time around. Even though they’ve played tightly contested games in recent weeks against playoff-hunt bound teams (Brewers, Cardinals, Yankees), the Cubs (23-34) are expected to be sellers this time around.

Rizzo can relate to the position Contreras, in his last year of club control, is in.

“I’m sure last year has helped with him too, just seeing the reality of this game,” Rizzo said. “… He’s a professional. He knows how to prepare. And I never have seen him ever let outside noise get to him. I don’t think that’ll change right now for him.”

Contreras and the Cubs avoided arbitration before his scheduled hearing Thursday, agreeing to a $9.625 million salary for 2022.

“I’m really happy with the results that we got,” Contreras said. “I think both sides won, and I’m really happy how the negotiation went through.”

Contreras said they have not begun extension talks.

“I’m not focused on that,” he said when asked if he hoped the club would engage. “I’m focused on playing my season the way I’ve been playing, keep helping my teammates, whoever needs my help I’ll be there, lead the team the right way. And I’m just going to keep going.”

Rizzo, on the other hand, cut off extension talks when the parties reached an impasse before Opening Day last year. The Cubs traded him four months later.

“It’s not like they’re just gonna go and roll over anyone by any means,” Rizzo said of this new-look Cubs team, after its payroll-cutting moves. “It’s just a different year than the normal standard that we created there over the last seven or so years.”

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The Bennett Musser-Danny Connelly battery has been together since both were 10 years old. So Connelly, the catcher, knows when Musser has his best stuff.

“Bennett’s fastball has always been dominant and when he locates his changeup and his curveball he’s basically unhittable,” Connelly said.

That’s exactly what happened on Friday in Joliet.

“His offspeed [stuff] was on today,” Connelly said.

It resulted in 5 2/3 no-hit innings for Musser as the Mustangs cruised to a 12-0 win against McHenry in the Illinois High School Association Class 4A baseball state semifinals at Duly Health and Care Field.

“When I play my best is when I pitch to contact,” Musser said. “When all three pitches are working I get ground balls and weak contact. It’s a lot easier when we get some runs.”

Musser pitched all seven innings and allowed just one hit and no runs. He struck out four and walked three.

The Mustangs (29-5) led 2-0 early and erupted for four runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Michael Farinea, Daniel Pacella, Christian Seminaro, Connor Wik and Connelly all had two hits. Pacella and Weik each drove in two runs.

“I’m so proud of all these guys,” Mundelein coach Randy Lerner said. “From day one our goal has been the state championship. We’ve been struggling offensively the past couple of games. Today we stayed nice and loose and got Bennett a couple runs and he had an unbelievable performance.”

The Mustangs will face Edwardsville in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Cooper Cohn had the only hit for McHenry (30-9), which will face Brother Rice in the third place game.

Mundelein vs. McHenry box score

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