Chicago Sports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After left-hander Dallas Keuchel expressed disappointment about not being given the chance to pitch past the fifth inning in the White Sox’ 3-2 win over the Yankees Saturday, manager Tony La Russa defended his decision by pointing to Keuchel’s effectiveness beyond the fifth. Keuchel had five scoreless innings under his belt, but La Russa called it a team decision.

The two talked it over Sunday and Keuchel came away from it with this:

“Just kind of got to pitch better,” he said Monday. “I’m feeling more like myself, so hopefully that entails a lot of six-, seven-, eight-inning [outings], maybe mix in a nine.”

Keuchel (5.54 ERA) has had two good starts in a row. He threw five scoreless in Boston then gave up two runs in the sixth.

“I’m a big believe in earning stuff,” Keuchel said. “I mean, I like to think that my baseball card says that I’ve earned some stuff, but at the same time you have to reinvent yourself every five days to be who you want to be. I’m no different.”

Kelly not crisp — yet

Joe Kelly’s three appearances have been bumpy — four walks in his second one and three hits in his last, both against the Yankees — but he takes solace knowing he’s not yet razor sharp after his delayed ramp up after missing spring training because of a biceps nerve injury.

“I usually have seven to nine outings during spring training,” Kelly said. “I had three in Triple-A and three here, so it would be one or two more and ready for season.”

Kelly said the feel for his pitches is “not playoff ready. It’s not far off but it’s not crisp, either.”

“It’s going to come,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going in there and giving up five barrels and homers all over the yard. Soft singles and some unfortunate calls on big counts.

“It’s almost there.”

Vaughn bats last

La Russa, who was known to bat his pitcher eighth when he managed the Cardinals, on why he batted Andrew Vaughn ninth: “The second leadoff hitter is a reality in the American League. He hits right in front of your best hitters, so if you’ve got a guy hitting .250, .275 and .300, a lot of managers including myself hit the .300 guy ninth. [Vaughn] isn’t the ninth best hitter on our team. But it definitely deepens our lineup.”

Royals fire hitting coach

The Royals fired hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and promoted Alex Zumwalt, looking to shake up one of the worst offenses in the majors. The Royals’ 118 runs through their first 32 games was better only than the Tigers, Orioles and Sox.

“Baseball is constantly shifting and we have to continue to self-evaluate and make sure we’re giving our players everything they need to be successful at the highest levels,” Royals general manager JJ Picollo said. “Our results so far haven’t matched what we’re capable of, and we all share accountability in that.”

This and that

To make room for Johnny Cueto on the roster, infielder Danny Mendick was optioned to Charlotte.

*Teams can add a player from the minor leagues for Tuesday’s doubleheader. Right-hander Kyle Crick is with the team in Kansas City.

*Cueto took third base coach Joe McEwing’s uniform No. 47. McEwing is now wearing 99.

*Broadcaster Steve Stone has the road trip off, as scheduled. Gordon Beckham is serving as analyst on NBCSCH.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Johnny Cueto is here to stay with the White Sox. For how long remains to be seen, but the White Sox view him as more than a temporary plug-in to their starting rotation.

“We would be disappointed if he’s not,” manager Tony La Russa said before Cueto made his first appearance for the Sox against the Royals Monday at Kauffman Stadium. “And we don’t expect to be disappointed.”

They were not let down by Cueto’s six scoreless innings in his Sox debut against the Royals Monday. He struck out Whit Merrifield, Andrew Benentendi and Salvador Perez in order in the first, retired the first nine batters in order and allowed two hits and two walks, quite the opening act for the three-time All-Star.

Cueto exited with a 3-0 lead but the Royals scored three in the eighth on four hits against Kendall Graveman to rob Cueto of his first Sox win.

Cueto, 36, ended his final inning by throwing a 93-mph elevated fastball past Perez for his seventh strikeout, pumping his fist. He had to be a bit tired that inning after dashing to cover first on a ground ball that caromed off first baseman Jose Abreu but was scooped up by second baseman Leury Garcia, and then hustling all the way to the backstop for a foul ball that catcher Yasmani Grandal didn’t see. The ball was out of play. That came during an 11-pitch at-bat to Merrifield, who walked.

Sinking and spinning his pitches in the bottom of the strike zone, working quickly, staying ahead in most counts and sneaking the occasional quick pitch and altered motion into his mix, Cueto threw 81 pitches, 55 for strikes against a 12-20 team that fired its hitting coach Monday.

Cueto’s arrival had been long anticipated. He made four starts for Triple-A Charlotte after signing a one-year, $4.2 million minor league deal in April, which will be prorated. He posted a 5.17 ERA over 15 2/3 innings. Last season, Cueto was 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA in 21 starts for the Giants.

Those were serviceable numbers, but even with a proven track record that includes five postseasons between the Reds, Royals and Giants, Cueto’s market during the offseason was cool, although the Twins and Tigers from the AL Central reportedly expressed interest.

Cueto jumps in to help the Sox at a time when Lucas Giolito is on the COVID-19 IL — although Giolito could be back during this series — and Lance Lynn is recovering from knee surgery. While Dallas Keuchel’s last two starts against the Red Sox and Yankees have been good, and two of Vince Velasquez’ last three starts were good, that pair owns ERAs of 5.54 and 5.53 in six starts, respectively.

La Russa said all pitchers’ innings are being watched closely, and Michael Kopech, who will get an extra day and pitch on five days rest Saturday against the Yankees, will be rested more in one form or another.

To have too many starters “would be a great concern to have,” La Russa said.

That’s not the case for Tuesday, however. After Dylan Cease starts Game 1, the Game 2 starter is undecided. A bullpen game is possible but not desired, La Russa said.

Cueto was given a 3-0 lead to work with, thanks to No. 9 batter Andrew Vaughn’s sacrifice fly scoring Adam Engel in the third and Grandal’s second homer of the season in the fourth against right-hander Brad Keller.

Engel doubled on a blooper to left and stole third, setting up the Vaughn sac fly, and Luis Robert extended his hitting streak to 14 with an infield single in front of Grandal’s homer.

Whit Merrifield’s double to deep left scored two and Andrew Benintendi’s single on a 3-0 count scored Merrifield with the tying run in the Royals eighth. Grandal had a chance to get pinch runner Nicky Lopez at the plate on Tim Anderson’s relay on the Merrifield double but he couldn’t hold on to the throw.

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Pirates pitcher Bryse Wilson should have learned from fellow staff member Dillon Peters’ mistake earlier in the inning. Don’t throw the first pitch over the plate to Willson Contreras.

Instead, Wilson’s curveball drifted into Contreras’ wheelhouse, and he blasted a grand slam halfway up the left field bleachers for his 100th career home run.

In a 0-9 win against the Pirates on Monday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs had control of the game from the start. Contreras’ grand slam was part of an eight-run first inning that sent 13 batters to the plate.

Contreras, serving as the designated hitter on Monday, started things off by sending Peters’ first pitch off the right-center field ivy for a lead off double.

“It could be a different mindset, but I don’t think about that,” Contreras said before the game of batting leadoff. “I don’t think about that. I think it’s going to be a really important at-bat from pitch one, and then I’m trying to get on base or make contact. If I make contact, it’s fine. If I get on base, it’s even better.”

Cubs two-hole hitter Seiya Suzuki moved Contreras to third base with a ground out to second. Then, the Cubs’ next three batters – Ian Happ, Frank Schwindel and Yan Gomes sent base hits into left field. Peters walked Jonathan Villar to load the bases, and the Pirates made a pitching change with two outs.

The switch, however, didn’t have the rally-squelching effect Pittsburgh must have intended. Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons, activated off the 10-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation) the day before, dribbled a swinging bunt up the third-base line for an RBI single.

Cubs nine-hole hitter Rafael Ortega battled back from a 1-2 count to draw a bases-loaded walk, and the Cubs took a 4-0 lead with Contreras coming up for the second time in the inning.

Contreras’ grand slam was just the 10th first-inning grand slam by a leadoff hitter since 1901, according to mlb.com. And Contreras became the third Cubs catcher to reach 100 home runs with the franchise, joining Gabby Hartnett (231) and Jody Davis (122).

“Super happy with where he’s at right now,” Cubs manager David Ross said of Contreras over the weekend. “Feel like he’s in a good place physically, mentally. I think he’s doing a really nice job of handling the DH when he’s not catching.”

Suzuki and Happ also singled after Contreras’ grand slam, bringing the Cubs’ first-inning hit total to eight.

Cubs starter Wade Miley didn’t seem to be affected by all the down time he’d had in the dugout after a quick first frame when he climbed the bump again the next inning. In all, he retired the first 14 batters he faced.

Monday marked Miley’s second start as a Cub, after the club picked up the veteran lefty off waivers from the Reds this winter. He began the season on the IL with left elbow inflammation and had just one rehab start before the Cubs called on him to fortify their thin rotation in San Diego last week.

“I just got quick. I was a little too amped up,” he said after walking five Padres batters in three innings last Tuesday. “When the pressure went up, I went with it rather than staying calm and just making pitches. I let myself get frustrated, get angry. I’m not a good angry pitcher. I’ve got to find a way to have fun out there.”

Miley seemed to have found his cool on Monday, as he threw seven shutout innings, allowing just one base runner.

Between Miley’s performance and the Cubs’ early lead, the home team cruised the rest of the way to a win.

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Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons felt a little anxious taking the field in the ninth inning of a close game at Arizona on Sunday.

“As soon as I touch that ball, it’s like, OK, I’m back,” he said of the game-ending double play he started. “Honestly, still to this it takes me that first ball. It’s like, OK, I’ve done this before.’ I don’t know why.”

Simmons has done this plenty before, signing with the Cubs this spring a decade into his major-league career. But the ninth inning of the Cubs’ 3-2 win at Arizona Sunday marked his first regular season game as a Chicago Cub.

On Monday, as the Cubs opened a three-game series against the Pirates at Wrigley Field, Simmons was in the starting lineup for the first time.

“A little frustrating,” Simmons said Monday afternoon when asked to describe the past few weeks. “But I’m happy I’m here now. It was pretty exciting yesterday, especially getting in the game and getting a win.”

Simmons began the season on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation, an issue that flared up in spring training. He played only one game in spring training, getting two at-bats as the designated hitter against the Angels.

Simmons said his recovery took longer than he expected, describing his progress slowing as he neared his return.

“In order to feel like I’m good, it just didn’t get over the hump exactly,” Simmons said. “But it keeps getting better and better every day.”

Seeing how the Cubs’ middle infield was faring, however, Simmons also didn’t feel rushed.

“Nico [Hoerner] was doing really good,” Simmons said. “So, I’m like, I’ve got some room to improve. Should I try to jump back in, or do I try to keep getting better, as good as I can so I’m close to my best?”

Last week, Hoerner sprained his ankle in a collision with an umpire in San Diego and landed on the 10-day IL. The day before Hoerner’s injury, second baseman Nick Madrigal went on the IL with a low back strain.

Simmons was on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa at the time. By Sunday he’d joined the big-league team in Arizona. He said Monday that his shoulder felt “pretty good” but not 100 percent.

“He’s one of the better shortstops that’s been around for probably what the past 10, 15 years defensively,” said Cubs manager David Ross, who also played with Simmons in Atlanta at the beginning of the four-time gold glover’s career. “He’s got some hardware. There’s a lot of range up the middle, willing to do whatever we ask of him, good teammate, been doing it a long time, good baseball instincts, baseball IQ’s really high.”

Leadoff shuffle

Several different Cubs have shared the leadoff role this season, with Rafael Ortega shouldering the brunt of the load. But with lefty Dillon Peters on the mound for the Pirates on Monday, Willson Contreras slid into the leadoff spot for the fifth time this season.

“Having [former Cubs manager] Joe Maddon move me around I think helped me a lot,” Contreras said of hitting in all over the top half of the batting order this year. “Now that Rossy is moving me around, it doesn’t bother me. Every at-bat is important, that’s the way that I think of [it].”

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Ever wondered how a play gets made? How a stage musical finds its ultimate shape? There’s an interesting example of talent becoming skill, and skill aspiring to art, on the upstairs stage at the Biograph Theater in Lincoln Park.

The Biograph is now owned by Victory Gardens, whose focus is live theater, especially major new work by living playwrights, and to also host other companies, from local to international, which can make use of various performance spaces.

Annabelle Lee Revak’s “Notes and Letters,” a fledgling musical-in-miniature and still somewhat unfinished business,is now playing in that upstairs space. It’s the project of a vest-pocket incubator of new works called Underscore Theatre, which has been fashioning the show for several years, on and off, as COVID intervened.

Revak, who majored in musical theater and composition at Chicago’s Columbia College, moved on to complete advanced training at the University of Wolverhampton, in the so-called Midlands, several hours northwest of London.

But Chicago’s obviously in the lyricist-playwright’s heart: “Notes and Letters” is set in downtown Chicago in 1917. Revak writes that the idea for her musical came from letters she looked at, written by her great-great grandfather, indicating the existence of a loved one in an earlier part of his life, and in another part of the world, yet never spoken of.In Revak’s show, it’s clear fairly early that an engagement promise made by Joe back home in Bohemia is nagging at him, even as it seems to fade in memory. But it’s a promise that will have repercussions, sorted out in the end.

As it opens, the country’s not at war just yet, but inflation’s out of control. Three high-energy young adults with complementary talents are in the orbit of a custom piano shop in the heart of what’s now Chicago’s Loop. The shop’s owner is the show’s fourth character, and the compact scenic design of Rebekah Clark reveals a crammed piano store with walls that fold outward, giving the impression of a three-dimensional scrapbook with tattered pages. There is indeed some interesting local history here: Revak was also inspired by information she dug up about the Williams Piano & Organ Company, an icon once located near Washington and State.

The musical opens as immigrant Joe, a carpenter by trade back in Bohemia, is fresh off the boat. He’s befriended by the budding songwriter Olivia, who likes to spend time at the piano shop and at the Green Mill jazz club (also a real place in Broadway’s Uptown, once favored by Al Capone and still blowing cobwebs out of the ears).

Newcomer Joe (the immediately agreeable tenor Sam Martin) is soon taken in by Charlie, (baritone Michael Mejia) whose piano shop is in urgent need of a custom cabinetmaker to frame those keys in fancy woods that customers demand. A piano is furniture after all, we are reminded, so it’s handy that wood-working is Joe’s strength.

Meanwhile, Charlie’s girlfriend Nora tries to convince Charlie that she’s the one with the real talent for building his business. Caitlin Dobbins is delightfully spunky here, although Nora’s assertiveness comes as a surprise. These days such female aspiration would be no big deal, of course. But in 1917, when this play is set, it is the eyebrow-raising concern of “Independent Woman Blues,” one of Revak’s best songs, sung together by Charlie and Joe in bewilderment. Mejia nicely reflects the rising tensions that affable newcomer Charlie faces, as his two worlds and its women spin circumstance beyond his control.

The composer, as playwright also, writes one of her best scenes for Olivia and Joe as the two discover their mutual immigrant roots, evoking memories and finishing each other’s lines in the nostalgic “Redbird, Bluebird.” It’s a lovely number. Generally, however, Revak’s music throughout is stronger than the logic of her storyline, which can be puzzling.

The free-thinking familiarity of the women as they interacted with their male counterparts seemed likewise a time-out-of-joint challenge for director Leah Geis, and Revak in her writer role shares responsibility for these anachronistic tendencies, although there was nothing like the suspension of disbelief that is required in your average mid-century pirate movie.

One finds Geis’s strong direction in several of the complex scenes, notably Olivia’s piano lesson to Joe. The amenable student is soon involved with the others in a delightful ragtime transformation that takes over the place. Revak’s catchy spin on her tagline “and he goes and he goes and he goes” becomes a heady dance number for them all, and there’s nifty footwork in Ebrin R. Stanley’s choreography, too.

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The Chicago White Sox lost three of the four games over the weekend against the New York Yankees. However, the weekend losses were often decisive, lopsided games, starting with the 15-7 pummeling and capped off with a 5-1 pitching duel defeat.

The weekend not only was tough for the White Sox, setting them back in the division in an otherwise strong month. The loss spoke to the greater picture. How do the White Sox stack up against the elite teams in the American League? The Yankees are the best team in the American League and over the weekend, they prove why. Unfortunately, the team showed how far they are from a team like the Yankees as well.

White Sox rotation tested

The series started with Dylan Cease going up against Luis Gil and ended with Michael Kopech pitching against Nestor Cortez. The two starts contrasted how the top of a rotation and backend of a rotation can look and what a championship-caliber rotation is. Cease has emerged as the ace this season and pitched a respectable 11 strikeout performance on Thursday while Kopech threw six innings and allowed only one run on Sunday. However, both pitchers were outdueled at the end of the day, speaking volumes to the Yankees rotation.

Granted, Cortez has emerged as one of the best pitchers in the American League this season. With a .179 expected opponent Batting Average (xBA) and a .290 expected opponent Slugging Percentage (xSLG) led by well-located fastballs and cutters, Cortez is not a backend of the rotation starter. However, the game displayed the rotation gap. Even though Kopech stepped up, he was outmatched by a pitcher who threw eight innings with seven strikeouts and allowed only one run in his final inning.

Moreover, the best starters White Sox were outdueled in the weekend in Cease in Kopech but Friday and Saturday’s games didn’t fare much better. Dallas Kuechel put together another respectable start, pitching five scoreless innings in the White Sox 3-2 walk-off win, the only win of the series. However, Friday’s game was another drubbing, as the Yankees lineup attack Vince Velaquez for seven runs in five innings, resulting in a 10-4 game. In those games, the Yankees starters were Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery, two established pitchers in the middle of strong seasons. Essentially the weekend displayed the difference between a good rotation and a great one.

White Sox lineup vs Yankees lineup

Starting with the 15 runs on Thursday, it was clear the weekend was going to become a battle of batting orders. To the credit of the White Sox, they hung in at times. The lineup scored seven runs in the first game of the series, tying up the game in the seventh inning. Additionally, the lineup led a ninth-inning rally in the win on Saturday. However, the White Sox were outscored 32-14 in the series, failing to match the Yankees’ bats.

The lineup comparison displays two major differences between the Yankees lineup and the White Sox lineup. The first thing is the Yankees have two of the best sluggers in baseball this season, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. The White Sox have power at the top of the lineup but not the same type of power. Moreover, without Eloy Jimenez, the batting order has taken a hit, especially at the top. The second thing that stood out over the weekend was the depth of each lineup. The White Sox since the start of the season have struggled to find runs from the back half of the lineup. Over the weekend, it showed.

The White Sox lineup doesn’t fall apart after its top three or four hitters. Instead, the approach at the plate seems different. The Yankees have added plate discipline throughout their lineup and it has paid off tenfold, creating a juggernaut of a batting order. The White Sox, meanwhile, have power in the back half of the order in Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger, who is currently injured. Unfortunately, the plate discipline isn’t there. With only two batters possessing an On-Base Percentage (OBP) over .300 and the lineup as a whole possessing an OBP of .287, opposing pitchers can easily eliminate the lineup.

Where the two teams felt equal

Oddly enough, the weekend displayed parallels with their bullpens. The White Sox were outplayed in the series but the bullpen was still a strength of the team. Both the Yankees and the White Sox displayed two of the best bullpens over the weekend. At the same time, both pitching staffs proved susceptible to blowing games.

The White Sox relievers allowed nine runs in the final three frames against the Yankees in the first game of the series, fueling the 15-7 loss. The Yankees meanwhile tied the Saturday game up at two in the ninth inning only to lose the game with Aroldis Chapman failing to locate his pitches, thus allowing the 3-2 walk-off.

The bullpen carried the team early on in the season and has saved a lot of headaches. Moreover, the emergence of Matt Foster gives the team a luxury that will help them continue to make up ground in the standings throughout the season.

The series implications for the White Sox?

The White Sox are still going to compete for their division. The Minnesota Twins are having a strong season but the White Sox can and will push them for the American League Central Division. That’s not how the team will define this season. Rather, the measurement of success will be a deep playoff run in the American League.

The recent series against the Yankees didn’t just show the talent gap between the White Sox and their weekend opponent, it showed the gap in the American League. How do the White Sox stack up against the Toronto Blue Jays or Tampa Bay Rays? What about the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels in the west?

Based on the recent series, the White Sox are still a few pieces away from competing with those teams. The question is what does the team do to fix that? The answer at first is not much. Lynn eventually will return to the rotation and when he does, the team will have a better clue of how good the pitching staff is. Likewise, Jimenez will make his way back to the lineup. However, the team still lacks depth in the back half of the lineup and plate discipline. As a result, the trade deadline will be a critical part of their season.

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

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The Chicago Bulls have a big decision to make this offseason with guard Zach LaVine set to be a free agent. However, one of the biggest keys for their success next season may rest with the recovery of point guard Lonzo Ball.

The guard suffered a knee injury in early 2022 and missed the remainder of the season and is still recovering. With Ball, Chicago’s offense looked different and really struggled at times without a true facilitator or another three-point threat.

But now, the concerns are growing about Ball’s injury according to one local radio host and reporter.

David Kaplan of ESPN1000 and NBC Sports Chicago went on the radio Monday morning and reported that the Bulls are concerned with Ball’s knee injury. He said sources told him that the knee isn’t getting better and the front office is concerned that he has pain anytime he tries to ramp it up:

Well, that’s not good.

The 24-year-old guard is coming off his first season with the franchise and averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. He played in 35 games and shot 42.3 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from the three-point line.

Depth behind Ball is a concern as well for Chicago. While Alex Caruso has been good while healthy, Coby White has struggled in that role and appears to be better suited as a shooting guard off of the bench.

Chicago could look to make another move at point guard this offseason if Ball’s knee continues to bother him and he’s not ready to go for the start of the season. But at this point in time, it appears to be the worst-case scenario. And there is still a long ways to go here this offseason.

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

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The score is always 0-0 heading into the second quarter when I watch the Chicago Bears play. Whether it be quarterbacks Erik Kramer, Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Jay Cutler, Mitchell Trubisky, and now Justin Fields; or opponents like the Baltimore Ravens or the New York Giants, the score remains the same. Head coaches will come and go, but Bears games will be 0-0 to start the second quarter, pretty much every damn time.

This is the mark of a good defensive game plan, but also a sign of an inept offense. Bears fans are still hoping (for almost 40-years now) that the team can procure a stable enough offense to win a super bowl. Current Bears futures match the Dow Jones Industrial Average, even as some Bears insist a golden season in 2023 is somehow around the corner even if the Bears tread water without floaties this year.

Chicago Bears front office has failed to adequately address the offense

Roster moves like those new general manager Ryan Poles has made this offseason are not likely to improve the Bears’ chances of putting a positive integer in the first-quarter box score this or next season. Poles listens to Bears fans as well as the parents in the Oscars’ best picture winning movie CODA do with Ruby, except he offers no signs of change on the horizon.

Poles should be focused on getting an ace wide receiver this offseason and fixing the offensive line if the Bears want to compete for a championship in the next couple of years (during the magical-rookie-quarterback contract).

Some Bears fans and local media used to the sadistic torture of watching Bears ownership give us Canadian football schemes and an Andy Reid offensive-coordinator figurine, have looked at what Poles hasn’t done with the offense to help Justin FIelds, and have decided Poles is a genius putting together a scheme for the Bears super bowl window in 2023-24. Next year, the “2023” theory goes, Poles pieces some early draft picks and targets a top free-agent wide receiver. Fields then, after two years of zipping passes to mirages in the Mojave, can progress to what we hoped he’d be in the last draft.

This sort of wishful thinking won’t help Field’s develop for that window and it won’t help the Bears capitalize on building a championship team during Field’s rookie contract, and the national media is correct in being skeptical that the Bears front office is doing enough, if anything at all, to help Fields. There are a few reasons why stunting Field’s growth in 2022 makes the rookie-quarterback-contract-championship window harder.

Chicago Bears need to accurately access Fields potential

The Bears heavily invested in Fields by trading away two first-round draft picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. He signed up to play behind an offensive line that gave up 58 sacks last season and has had no major incoming help at wide receiver.

With Allen Robinson leaving to join the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, the current wide receiver core, now at 14 on the depth chart, is so weak no one knows who the alpha, the true number 2 receiver is. The offensive line is reminiscent of the group Marc Trestman would have coached the year before joining the Bears.

The roster pieced of many one-year patchwork contracts currently looks like it should face relegation to the USFL with early reports on their progress troubling. Poles has said those types of free agents breed competition, but the Bears don’t have an example on the field those athletes can work to level up to.

It will be hard to judge what Fields will need to be successful in 2023 if he has nothing around him this year. How are the Bears supposed to see what positions on offense or defense they can bring in to for sure make a run in January 2024 if everything needs to be “remodeled” again next year?

While I’m currently all in on Fields as the franchise quarterback, I’m also willing to hedge my bets. If Fields cannot improve with weapons around him, the Bears will need to move on. The Cleveland Browns brought in talent for Baker Mayfield and found he didn’t work out. Now the Browns look to be able to move on quickly knowing he’s not their guy.

Chicago Bears need to show improvement to recruit championship free agents

Winning in the modern NFL works similarly to college football. Teams that win championships have to recruit well. The Rams with Odell Beckham Jr., Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, and Kansas City Chiefs with Sammy Watkins; the previous three super bowl winners, all added premium talent to their roster to make their respective runs.

All three teams had one thing in common, they were able to show that their wide receivers and tight ends were going to produce good headlines and high numbers. In addition to offensive players, they were able to bring in defensive playmakers who wanted a chance to earn a ring.

The Bears don’t have a good history of keeping their best wide receivers. Allen Robinson and Brandon Marshall come to mind, both complaining about the quarterback and offensive play. Not a lot of elite talent annually looks to sign with the Bears during free agency because they’re worried about their production going down. The franchise has a history of sabotaging quarterbacks and relies on running and defense to win games.

For the Bears to add more top-tier talent in 2023, the team needs Fields and the offense to look like it’s capable of winning it with a few more pieces.

Chicago Bears need to keep Fields physically and mentally healthy

The Bears don’t have the luxury of pressing the simulation button on their “franchise mode” on Madden to wait for perfectly healthy Fields to automatically increase his overall skill a few points before the 2023 season.

Having a health hazard protecting him in a pass rush could do irreversible damage to Fields if he gets hit as often as he did in 2021. The Bears shouldn’t put him in a situation where he becomes the next David Carr. If he does have elite talent and isn’t being helped, it’s possible he won’t re-sign with the franchise. Punting on the 2022 season won’t help locker room morale.

Joe Burrow had a rough 2020 rookie campaign with a bottom-three offensive line. Burrow was tied for the second-most sacks through week 11 before succumbing to injury. In addition to supplying Burrow with 2020 second-round pick Tee Higgins and 2021 5th overall pick Ja’Marr Chase, the Bengals spent their second 2021 pick taking an offensive tackle, Jackson Carmon. Where did those Bengals go in February 2021 after going 4-11-1 in 2020?

Ryan Poles’ early roster decisions don’t look promising

Contrast the Bengals’ decisions to Poles. Poles took two players for the defensive secondary with his first two draft picks (think keeping the opponent’s first-quarter box score at zero). He then drafted Velus Jones Jr., a 25-year-old wide receiver project in the third round. Since the draft, and after a free agency bringing no elite talent, the Bears have spent a week and a half with a blatant public relations campaign praising Poles picks and spinning that Fields wanted Jones.

It’s likely Fields had Jones on a list he liked of wide receivers he watched with Poles. But how high was his name? If someone believes Fields had Jones as his top choice on the board when Kyler Gordon was chosen, please message me where your stash is so I can enjoy the Bears offense this season.

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy currently says he’s not worried about the wide receiver depth chart, but his experience minus Aaron Rodgers, starting the youthful Jordan Love, and leaving Kansas City with seven points, shows even he will have a learning curve this season with the Bears. Fields will need an improved wide receiver room to confidently show his skills this season.

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

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At 16, Seandell Holliday had big plans ahead of him: He wanted to provide for his family and, a drummer, he wanted to make his own music and open his own studio.

“If I make it to 21,” he added in a list of goals he drew up for a mentoring class at Gary Comer College Prep on the South Side.

“I asked him, ‘Why did you put that?'” said the teacher of the class, Vondale Singleton. “He said because there are a lot of things that happen in Chicago, you see so many kids lose their lives at early ages … He couldn’t even make it to 17.”

Seandell was shot in the chest during a chaotic scene in Millennium Park around 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Video shows him bleeding badly as he lay near “The Bean” sculpture, other teens screaming and running past him. He was pronounced dead at Lurie Children’s Hospital a mile and a half away.

A 17-year-old, Marion Richardson, was arrested as he ran from the scene and dropped a gun from his waistband. Richardson came to the park with a girl and began arguing with someone from another group who recognized him from an “altercation” at a previous mass gathering, a prosecutor said in court Monday.

Richardson quarreled with a girl in the group and, as he was being pulled away, Seandell jumped him from behind and punched him in the head, prosecutors said. Another boy came up and swung at Richardson, who took out a gun and shot Seandell once in his chest.

Richardson was arrested in the grass at Millennium Park by officers who were nearby, and allegedly told them, “You guys ain’t going do nothing anyways. A hundred (racial slur) walking towards me. What am I supposed to do? You all just sitting there, bro.”

A judge ordered him held on $250,000 cash bail on a count of second-degree murder.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot responded to Seandell’s murder — and the crowds of teens fighting each other — by banning minors from Millennium Park on weekend evenings unless accompanied by an adult.

Seandell was a freshman, “a pretty quiet kid, really sharp, always witty… Deep dialogue. I knew he had a lot in him,” Singleton said.

The teen spent much of the last year in the Champs Male Mentoring class within the high school, with Singleton his teacher and mentor. Singleton said Seandell helped him grow as a mentor.

“The biggest lesson I learned — from all of my mentees really — is that I don’t have all the answers,” he said. “I have a philosophy that we’re co-experts. You’re teaching me, we’re all getting better. Seandell taught me the authenticity of being yourself. He wasn’t a crowd follower.”

Singleton said he spoke with Seandell’s mother on Sunday. “She said, ‘The one time I let him out, he gets killed. He doesn’t go outside. He never goes outside. And the one time he goes outside, he gets killed.'”

On Monday, Singleton said he faced Seandell’s classmates, who are “heartbroken, just crushed.”

“I opened up (class) with tears in my eyes. I said this time is for anyone who wants to share,” Singleton said. “This time is about Seandell Holliday, who sat in this space with us as our brother. There was silence for a couple minutes, but then you couldn’t get them to stop talking and sharing their emotions, their feelings about him and their own lives.”

Singleton said the boy’s murder “impacts and affects everyone. Not just Seandell and his family, but his peers and people who live in the area. People who tried to make sense of it.”

“We all want to find clear cut answers, but it’s complex,” he said about the scenes of teens fighting in Millennium Park Saturday evening. There are financial issues in Black and brown communities, as well as lack of structure and true opportunities, he said.

Many children seek safe spaces they can’t find in their own communities, and downtown sometimes serves that purpose. Seandell’s murder is a lesson for the city “in terms of safety and creating structures to help organize our young people. They deserve to be downtown.”

The city needs to help children feel invested in the city, he added. “Businesses need to adopt interns… They don’t feel like they’re invested. They’re not taking care of the community because they don’t feel part of the community.”

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Right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto will make his season debut for the White Sox tonight in Kansas City.

The Sox on Monday purchased the contract of two-time All-Star from Class AAA Charlotte and optioned infielder Danny Mendick to Charlotte.

Cueto, 36, pitched 51/3innings of three-hit ball for Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday.

Cueto lacks velocity, but he makes up for it with crafty pitching, and he has been known to vary his tempo at extreme rates to keep batters off-balance. Cueto is 135-97 with a 3.45 ERA in 15 seasons with the Reds, Royals and Giants.

The move plugs a hole in the rotation with Lucas Giolito still on the COVID-19 injured list after a positive test Friday. On top of that, the Sox and Royals are scheduled to play a split doubleheader on Tuesday.

Juggling the rotation has been a constant theme for the Sox since the start of the season.

Lance Lynn hasn’t pitched because of surgery on his right knee. Giolito missed two starts in April because of an abdominal strain suffered in the season opener in Detroit, where he pitched four scoreless innings and struck out six. Jimmy Lambert made a spot start April 14 and started the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland after consecutive days of rainouts.

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