The NL Central Division is one of the most intriguing divisions in all of baseball. Every team seems to be pretty good besides the rebuilding Pittsburgh Pirates. However, as good as the other four teams are, none of them stick out as wildly better than the others. The Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Milwaukee Brewers are all teams that could win the division based on different things happening. Of course, illness and injury amongst other things could happen but you have to look at the rosters as they are right now.
We don’t know what is going to happen with some players who are near the ends of contracts but for now, the rosters are what they are. Obviously, if the Cubs lost any of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, or Willson Contreras, that will force their chances of winning to take a hit. Right now, it sounds like they are trying to compete with the best of them this season. We don’t know what will happen beyond 2021 but they look like a pretty good team going into the year.
The biggest question mark for the Cubs right now is their pitching. They have Kyle Hendricks who is awesome and could lead any rotation but there isn’t enough behind him. They traded Yu Darvish and lost Jon Lester and Jose Quintana to free agency. It is going to come down to the guys taking those spots elevating their play.
What are the Chicago Cubs’ chances in the division?
The big wrench in the division this year is the St. Louis Cardinals. They were already a pretty good team but they made the big trade of the offseason when they acquired Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies. He is one of the best players in all of baseball so that really gives them a boost. As we stand right now, you have to project them to be the winner of the division.
The Brewers have a player in the same stratosphere as Arenado in Christian Yelich. He struggled mightily in 2020 but in 2018 and 2019, you can argue he was right there with Mike Trout as the best hitter in the game. If he can get back to his elite level that we have seen, and there is no reason to think he can’t, the Brewers will get a major boost.
The Reds still have some really good players but it is hard to see them actually competing for the division as it stands right now. They have a chance because this division might be won by the team who reaches 85 games first but if the Cubs or Cardinals won 90, nobody should be surprised. The only team that has absolutely no chance is the Pirates.
The Nolan Arenado situation propels the Cardinals above the rest. The Cubs have some question marks but they still have some really good players. Milwaukee and Cincinnati will each be projected to have good years but it is hard to see them finishing on top. If the Cubs get bounce-back years from their star players they could make a run at the division but a lot needs to go right. At a minimum, this is going to be a very fun division to watch.
COLUMBUS, OH – FEBRUARY 23: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal during the first period of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on February 23, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
The Chicago Blackhawks might have one of the worst rosters in the entire National Hockey League in terms of the “on paper” mindset. Well, the games are played on the ice and that is good news because this team is on a role. The coach, Jeremy Colliton, deserves a lot of credit. He is probably in the running for the coach of the year right now because of how he has this group overachieving. Getting them to buy in, work hard, and grind out wins is no tall task, and he has done an admirable job.
Winning five games out of six is very hard in the National Hockey League and that is exactly the kind of roll the Hawks are on. They are very good at winning games in different ways. For example, they won a 2-0 shutout last night over the Columbus Blue Jackets. A few days prior against that same team, they defeated them in a shootout by a final score of 6-5.
One player that deserves the most credit is Patrick Kane. He scored the first goal of the hockey game in the third period to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. That goal would stand as the game-winner as Malcolm Subban recorded his first shutout of the season in an admirable game by him. Carl Soderberg put one into an empty net to seal the victory.
Kane’s goal to put the Hawks ahead was the 399th of his career. That big 400th career goal is coming up soon and that is a really nice milestone. He also has his 1000th game played coming up here soon so there is no doubt that some exciting times are ahead for him and the fans.
A lot of different people on this team are showing up to play. Of course, the goaltenders and Kane need to step up above the rest but there is plenty of help all around. If this continues, the Blackhawks are going to keep winning. It is being said a lot this season but it is so nice to see this team competing.
It makes it even cooler when they are just so fun to watch because of how much they have bought in and work. They are back in action against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. With two against the Wings at home, this team has some really nice opportunities to bank points. Jeremy Colliton has the boys buzzing and don’t expect it to stop any time soon.
The AL Central Division is very top-heavy. It has two teams that should be really good in the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. Then, there are the Cleveland Indians who are a big question mark. The Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals are both pretty early in the rebuilding stage so it will be interesting to see which of the top teams takes advantage of that the most. It is certainly going to be a fun division to watch all season long.
The White Sox have so much talent. Their rotation is as good as it has been in a very long time and an outstanding bullpen is going to back it up. Their offense is as good as any in the league as they pretty much have a stud hitter at every position. When we talk about the real World Series contenders in the American League, we are talking about the White Sox.
Are the Chicago White Sox the favorites to win the division?
The Minnesota Twins are right there in the race. As weird as it sounds, it feels like they could challenge for the division but not for the World Series. The White Sox have more high-end skills than the Twins but they still need to prove that they can go out there and take care of their business.
As for the Cleveland Indians, they are a good team that has taken a hit over the years. They traded Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the New York Mets to shed a whole bunch of money. That is a superstar shortstop and a very good pitcher out the door. They are a pitching factory so you know that part will be tough and they also have Jose Ramirez who is a superstar. They should be a good team but they have some work to do in order to be as good as the White Sox and Twins.
The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are both rebuilding. The White Sox, Twins, and Indians should beat up on them all season long. The Royals are a little bit farther along in terms of their MLB product but the Tigers have some outstanding prospects in the pool. It is only going to get better for them when they make another really high draft selection this year and next.
Pre-exhibition standings prediction:
1. Chicago White Sox
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Cleveland Indians
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Detroit Tigers
This has to be the year that the White Sox take home the division title. They fell just short in 2020 despite having an outstanding season and return to the playoffs. This is going to be the year that their young stars take yet another step and get this team to where they need to go. The Minnesota Twins are going to be great again and need to be played hard but the White Sox should be able to overcome it.
The Cleveland Indians are a good bet for third because of their pitching. As for the two rebuilding teams, the Royals are a little bit better right now and they have made some interesting moves this offseason. The Tigers will come in last but they might be the team the White Sox should fear the most in the long term. Hopefully, this is the way it shakes out and the White Sox are a powerhouse.
Rumors have been growing for a few weeks now. It seems absolutely ludicrous for the Seattle Seahawks to trade Wilson, but the more and more we hear coming from official, respected sources, the higher the likelihood is becoming.
Wilson has gone on record to say he’s tired of being hit in Seattle. He hasn’t expressed a disinterest in playing for the Seahawks, and maybe his comments in regards to getting hit were blown out of proportion.
He remains steadfast that he wants to play in Seattle. Wilson has not asked for a trade. However, things certainly got more interesting on Thursday.
Seahawks’ QB Russell Wilson has not demanded a trade, his agent Mark Rodgers told ESPN. Wilson has told the Seahawks he wants to play in Seattle but, if a trade were considered, the only teams he would go to are the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, Bears.
This is all it took; one tweet, and the entirety of the Bears’ fan base immediately erupted.
Imagine, just for a second, Wilson in a Bears uniform. It feels like a pipe dream. It sounds impossible.
But, if it happened, how quickly would the Bears become Super Bowl favorites? Let’s assume Chicago is able to keep Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks in town, for example. That’s the makings of a Super Bowl team.
The Cowboys and Raiders have more attractive draft capital than the Bears do, so Chicago would have to pay quite the premium in a trade for Wilson.
Ryan Pace and the Bears are interested, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo — as they should be. What would it take to get Wilson to Chicago? The Bears would have to risk it all, but one of these trades could end up being worthwhile.
We all know the Chicago Bears are going to need to make a move at quarterback this offseason. It’s just a matter of when the Bears front office decides to bite and make a move that would allow Chicago to officially move on from the Mitchell Trubisky era.
Thursday morning, was an ordinary day until news broke that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson wants out of Seattle. For a player of Wilson’s caliber, it’s no surprise he feels this way. Seattle has massively underperformed over the last few seasons and Wilson, who’s 32 years old knows his time to win multiple championships is running out.
The Chicago Bears and Russell Wilson are a perfect match for each other right now.
Chicago has been linked to nearly every quarterback this offseason. It’s no surprise considering the Bears have never had a true franchise quarterback and everytime the franchise takes a chance on someone, it never pans out.
However, General Manager Ryan Pace and Head Coach Matt Nagy know that their jobs are on the line heading into 2021. A big swing at the QB position needs to happen and Wilson makes more sense than anyone.
Wilson isn’t just trying to win, he’s trying to win now. He knows that as you get older, it’s harder to win championships when surrounded by a mediocre roster. Wilson needs to look no further than the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers, who’s long been considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL yet has just one Super Bowl to show for it.
Wilson and Bears make too much sense. Chicago has an exciting core on the offensive side of the ball that features David Montgomery, Tarik Cohen, Darnell Mooney, and Cole Kmet. Retain wide receiver Allen Robinson and the Bears are in a position to be one of the NFL’s best offenses in 2021.
But there is more: The Bears defense. Recall that Wilson had success earlier in his career in Seattle when the famed “Legion of Boom” was terrorizing offenses every week. Now look at the Bears defense. Despite being one of the older units in the NFL, Chicago’s defense has an elite pass rusher in Khalil Mack, a stud linebacker in Roquan Smith, and cornerback Kyle Fuller, among a handful of names.
Essentially, Chicago has a playoff-ready defense. For Wilson, it means that he wouldn’t have to play savior every single game, regardless of what the situation is. Any team that has Wilson is going to be tough to compete against, however, few teams can offer a defense the caliber of Chicago’s in a sales pitch to Wilson.
Chicago is in win-now mode and so is Russell Wilson. Wilson has more years left in the tank than most think and at least for the forseeable future, a pairing of Wilson and the Bears makes too much sense.
Junior wide receiver Taylor Grimes, who has five career starts, will be part of a bevy of new faces on the ISU offense. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
Plenty of new faces will be part of the Illinois State offense this spring.
But to starting quarterback Bryce Jefferson – who started three playoff games as a redshirt freshman in 2019 – none of the talent around him Saturday in the team’s season-opening home game against South Dakota (noon, ESPN+) is unfamiliar.
“They know the playbook and they know what needs to be done,” he said of the receiving corps, which includes projected starters Austin Nagel, Taylor Grimes and Kacper Rutkiewicz. “The offense is going to get a little more upbeat and fast paced, probably more pass than run. But at Illinois State, running is our calling card. That’s what we do.”
That run game has lost 93% of its yards from last season with All-American James Robinson moving on to the NFL and his backup, Jeff Proctor, entering the transfer portal earlier this year.
Redshirt freshman Pha’leak Brown is listed as the starting running back, and he will be backed up by fellow redshirt freshman Nigel White. The duo has combined for 10 career carries.
“We have some young running backs who are really talented and very quick,” said Jefferson, who is the top returning rusher at 124 yards. “We have some backs who can get outside and make people miss.”
The run game will certainly benefit from a veteran offensive line that boasts 68 career starts, including 35 by senior left tackle and preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection Drew Himmelman.
Jefferson also noted the team’s speed at wide receiver and athleticism at tight end, where junior Tanner Taula (seven receptions last season) is the starter and fellow junior Mitchell Lewis will be the top reserve.
“You’re going to see some guys having fun,” Jefferson said.
New-look secondary
The Illinois State defensive backfield will have three new faces – senior cornerback Jarrell Jackson, sophomore free safety Clayton Isbell and sophomore strong safety Iverson Brown – starting their first career games against South Dakota.
The lone starter returning is junior cornerback Charles Woods, who has compiled 18 career starts.
The newcomers aren’t new to being on the field, however, as Brown (18 career games), Jackson (16) and Isbell (15) all have been regular contributors.
Defensive transition
Along with the new faces on offense, the Redbirds lost their top six tacklers on defense from the 2019 season.
Middle linebacker Kenton Wilhoit and weakside linebacker Shannon Reid, a transfer from Tennessee, will be starting their first games in a Redbird uniform.
Also gone are the three top sackers from 2019, when Illinois State piled up an FCS-best 52 sacks as a team.
The defensive line brings back the most experience, with junior defensive end Jason Lewan (26 career starts) and junior nose tackle John Ridgeway (24) returning to the starting lineup.
Spack chases history
In his 12th season as head coach at Illinois State, Brock Spack is only three victories away from becoming the school’s all-time wins leader.
Spack’s teams have produced an 84-50 record (.627) during his tenure. The current record holder for wins is Edwin Struck, who coached the Redbirds for 20 seasons beginning in 1945 and put together an 86-78-14 mark.
Spack is the only coach in ISU history with a winning percentage of better than 60% who has coached more than one season.
About South Dakota
The Coyotes (5-7 last season) list three potential starters at quarterback in senior Tyler Tsagalis, junior Jakob Parks or freshman Carson Camp. Tsagalis was the backup the past two seasons, while Camp is returning home for the game. He is a graduate of Normal Community West High School a few miles from ISU’s campus.
Senior running back Kai Henry needs 81 yards to reach 2,000 for his career. Senior Brady Schutt was the nation’s fourth-ranked punter last season with an average of 45.1 yards. In the last five seasons, the Coyotes have five wins against Top 10 teams.
Where you can watch
The game will kick off at noon and be broadcast on ESPN+ online.
Blog co-authors Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun bring years of experience covering collegiate athletics. Barry has covered college athletes for more than two decades in his “On Campus” column, which is published weekly by Shaw Media. Dan has written four books about the state’s football programs–“NIU Huskies Football” (released in 2013), “EIU Panthers Football (2014), “ISU Redbirds” (2016) and “SIU Salukis Football” (2017).
Bill Becker and his wife Maureen (far right) during a trip to Hawaii with Oprah Winfrey. | George Burns / Harpo Inc.
He made a memorable appearance on her show. Winfrey was taking drive-thru orders at the Rock N Roll McDonald’s, where he complained unwittingly to his boss about her slow service.
Bill Becker’s career as a labor lawyer began with representing coal mines and grocery stores and culminated in helping Oprah Winfrey create a media empire.
He rose to become Winfrey’s trusted general counsel, heading a legal team of 25 employees. He handled employment matters ranging from hiring to severance as well as negotiating union contracts for Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.
“Bill Becker began working with me in the early days of Harpo and was a critical member of the team,” Winfrey said, “serving as general counsel and adviser regarding all things legal.”
Mr. Becker, 78, died Feb. 11 in Chicago. He had Parkinson’s disease and suffered a stroke in October, according to his daughter.
George Burns / Harpo Inc.Oprah Winfrey with an arm draped around Bill Becker, who stands next to her in the front row, center, in this photo of the legal team at Harpo Studios.
In addition to labor and real estate issues, he oversaw a variety of entertainment matters. With an eye toward Federal Communications Commission regulations, for instance, he’d warn producers away if he thought the show was at risk of dubious claims or deceptive guests. It also was his department that made sure Winfrey had clearance for all of the music heard on her show and that dressing rooms were furnished with the food and drinks specified in some entertainers’ contracts.
He helped with the mobilization of a legal team to investigate allegations of sex abuse at the girls’ school Winfrey founded in South Africa.
Organized and meticulous, Mr. Becker also helped Winfrey choose her private plane, according to his daughter Cathy. And as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” wound down in 2009, he helped plan an all-expenses-paid Mediterranean farewell cruise for 1,800 of her employees, their families and friends.
He made a memorable appearance on her show 20 years ago when Winfrey was taking orders at the Rock N Roll McDonald’s. Coincidentally, he rolled up in the drive-thru just then and could be heard complaining unwittingly to his boss, “Yes, ma’am, I gotta tell you this is the slowest service I’ve ever had here.”
Winfrey calls that moment “one of my all-time favorite memories of Bill.”
“I had agreed to do a story on working at McDonald’s,” she said. “And while I was there, fumbling my way through takeout orders, Bill pulls up and is blowing his horn and complaining about the slow service.
“ ‘Sorry, sir, it’s my first day,’ I said. I recognized his voice through the order speaker. When he pulled up to get his order, he was shocked to see ME in the takeout window handing him his Big Mac. He sent me an email apologizing right after and asked if there was anything he could do to make it up to me. We ended up putting him behind the McDonald’s counter taking orders, and he was a good sport about it.”
Working for Winfrey was “exciting in a new way every day,” Mr. Becker once told law.com. “Because she’s a creative butterfly, we never know where she’s going to land.”
He was born in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. His mother Catherine was a New Yorker from an Italian American family. His father William Ludwig Becker was from the town of Hochst, now part of Frankfurt, Germany. When Mr. Becker was a toddler, his family moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where his father — who served with the Army Corps of Engineers — worked on the top-secret Manhattan Project.
Later, the family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Becker was class valedictorian at Notre Dame High School. He attended Haverford College. For a time, his father worked in Germany as a watch company consultant. Young Bill landed a summer job at the company, where he “worked in a German beer garden and had to wear lederhosen,” his daughter said.
He went to law school at Washington University, where he met Maureen DeBlois, who was studying for her master’s degree in chemistry. She later worked for Monsanto. They were married for about 40 years until her death in 2007.
Griffith SmithBill Becker at a 2015 reunion of his Haverford College class.
They settled in Glen Ellyn after he was hired by the law firm Laner Muchin. He represented coal mines, Chicago grocers including Heinemann’s Bakeries and Stop & Shop and also WTTW-TV and WFMT-FM.
“He could do it all. He was extraordinarily ethical,” said his former law partner Arthur Muchin.
He said Winfrey hired their firm in the late 1980s for its labor expertise and Mr. Becker’s experience with broadcasting clients.
Mr. Becker told law.com he wasn’t very familiar with Winfrey when they met — but he remembered she liked his green-and-orange tie. Several years later, when she asked him to become her in-house general counsel, he retired from Laner Muchin and moved to Harpo.
“It’s hard to separate the success of the show from Bill,” said attorney Elizabeth Yore, who said she and other members of Harpo’s legal department admired his kindness and sense of humor. “He was the best boss I ever had.”
As a young man, he didn’t like having to wear his uncle’s hand-me-down suits. Once he started making some money, he bought some nice suits and ties at Mark Shale.
George Burns PhotographyBill Becker and Lauralea Suess, his second wife.
He met Lauralea Suess, a teacher who would become his second wife, when he responded to her ad in the personals in the Chicago Reader.
“He sent a long, beautiful piece about losing his wife that was very sincere,” she said. “It was, like, ‘I lost the woman I loved; I was married to her for 40 years. I’m just looking for companionship.’ It wasn’t, ‘I like to take walks along the beach.’ ’’
After several months of dating, they went out for dinner at the North Pond Cafe in Lincoln Park. She was looking over the menu when he told her she was missing the most important line. He’d had “Lauralea, will you marry me?” printed at the top.
“He got on his knees in front of everybody at the restaurant,” she said, “and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ ”
They were married in 2009 and lived downtown in a condo overlooking Millennium Park. They enjoyed theater, dining at Acanto restaurant and travel, including winter trips to Puerto Vallarta and a safari to Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, where they saw rhinos, elephants, giraffes and wildebeest.
A Zoom memorial was planned for Saturday. Mr. Becker also is survived by his brothers Robert and Christopher and a granddaughter.
Chicago firefighters surveying a garage destroyed by arson on Oct. 4 in the 2200 block of North Rockwell Street. | Provided
Arsons were up nearly 65%, a Sun-Times analysis finds. Hardest hit: the South Side and the West Side. Even during post-George Floyd riots, most arsons were linked to gangs. And it’s not just Chicago.
It was one of the searing images of the rioting in downtown Chicago last summer: a man wearing a Joker mask standing in front of a police sport-utility vehicle engulfed in flames.
The graffiti-strewn SUV was one of seven Chicago Police Department vehicles and one CTA vehicle torched in the Loop last May 30. More than 60 other arson fires were reported across the city over the next few days of anti-police rioting sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white police officer kept his knee on the neck of Floyd, who was Black.
The fires set downtown by rioters after Floyd’s death were only one element, though, in a year that saw a major increase in arson. Over the course of 2020, hundreds of other arson fires were reported in Chicago. The number of fires authorities deemed suspicious was up nearly 65% last year over 2019, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city crime data shows.
“With a 65% increase, you have a problem,” says Matthew Smith, executive director of the Washington-based Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia / Sun-TimesFederal authorities charged Timothy O’Donnell with setting fire to this Chicago police SUV last May 30 in the Loop while wearing a Joker mask.
Smith’s organization tracks arsons across the country, looking for patterns of fires set to collect insurance payouts. His group is doing a national study to see whether there’s a link between the coronavirus pandemic and fires set for fraudulent purposes.
“After the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009, we saw a dramatic spike occur in real estate fires and auto fires and autos ending up at the bottom of lakes and rivers,” Smith says. “In looking at the FBI’s statistics and what we are hearing, there is an increase in arson across the country.”
It’s unclear how much of a role insurance fraud played in Chicago’s sharp rise in arsons.
The police say they think many of the arsons last year were fires set by homeless people, by people who were angry and lashing out and by others involved in rioting or gang-related activities.
A Sun-Times review of 25 cases in which people have been charged with arson in connection with fires last year in Chicago didn’t find any fraud allegations.
Altogether, 583 arsons were reported last year in Chicago compared with 375 in 2019, 373 in 2018, 444 in 2017 and 516 in 2016. Chicago also saw huge spikes in the number of murders and shootings last year and in 2016.
Eleven of last year’s arson arrests involved people charged with setting vehicles on fire. Most of those cases appeared to involve suspects angry at the owners of the vehicles.
Jacob Fagundo, 22, appears to be the only person the Chicago police arrested on charges of torching a Chicago Police Department vehicle last May 30 in the Loop.
But federal authorities say another man, Timothy O’Donnell, 31, was the villain in the Joker mask. They’ve charged him with placing a lighted object in the gas tank of a Chicago police SUV that burned in the 200 block of North State Street on May 30.
Last year’s arson arrests also included four people accused of setting garage fires and four accused of starting fires inside buildings.
Two others were arrested for setting fires in businesses — including a Jewel-Osco store at 87th and State streets on July 30 and a convenience store at a Gulf gas station at 8649 S. Ashland Ave. on Nov. 28. Neither fire caused serious damage. Those fires don’t appear to be connected to any political demonstrations or rioting.
Four people were arrested on suspicion of setting fire to garbage cans.
Most of the nearly 70 arsons during the unrest in late May and early June didn’t happen downtown but in other neighborhoods.
Dozens of convenience stores and retail shops were hit by arsonists, along with five department stores, five groceries, two churches, a currency exchange, a car dealership, a bank, a bar, a barbershop, a carwash and a drugstore. Most of those fires were set on May 31 and June 1.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leading the investigation of the arsons that occurred in Chicago between May 30 and June 4. Police say they’re continuing to work with ATF on those cases and that there’s no evidence any of those arsons was the result of fraud.
During the rest of 2020, when there were no riots, the South Side and West Side were hit the hardest by arsonists. The police district with the most arsons was Deering, which includes Bridgeport and Back of the Yards, followed by the West Side’s Harrison District, which includes West Garfield Park. Police attribute many of those fires to gang activity.
One of the most potentially dangerous fires was in Homan Square on Feb. 20, 2020, when the police say 38-year-old Precious Hinton used lighter fluid to set fire to a row house in the 900 block of South Lawndale Avenue where she was squatting.
Chicago Fire DepartmentThree apartments were destroyed and a man was injured when he jumped from a second-floor window during a fire on Feb. 20, 2020, in the 900 block of South Lawndale Avenue that fire officials said was set by an arsonist.
A 63-year-old man jumped from a second-story window there to escape the fire, suffering minor injuries, and three apartments were damaged, officials say.
A neighbor recorded Hinton on a cellphone video saying she set the fire to get away from the devil, according to footage aired on WGN-TV. Court-ordered psychiatric services were ordered for Hinton, who’s in jail awaiting trial, court records show.
In another dramatic case, Luis Ramirez, 54, is accused of setting fire last Oct. 4 to boxes that were sticking out of a trash can in an alley in the 2200 block of North Rockwell Street. A garage caught fire, destroying a 2012 Audi Q5 SUV and causing gasoline cans and propane canisters to explode.
“It went off like a bomb,” says Matthew Denny, who ran out of his Logan Square home after his alarm system went off and saw flames he estimates were 30 feet high.
ProvidedA surveillance camera showed someone setting fire to Matthew Denny’s trash can in an alley in the 2200 block of North Rockwell Street on Oct. 4.
Ramirez was arrested Oct. 15 in Wicker Park after a city Department of Streets and Sanitation worker saw a man matching the description of the arsonist, Denny says.
ProvidedMatthew Denny’s Audi Q5 was incinerated in an arson in the detached garage of his Logan Square home on Oct. 4.
“I’m not giving this guy a pass, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody,” Denny says of Ramirez, who says he’s still willing to testify against him.
Denny says his insurance company replaced his car and rebuilt his garage for about $40,000.
Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-TimesMathew Denny in front of his garage, which was destroyed by fire that authorities suspect was the work of an arsonist.
Lincoln Park also was hit with a series of arson fires.
David Adkison, a lawyer, says a trash fire set about 5 a.m. on July 30 in the alley behind his Lincoln Park condo caused slight damage to his brick garage but destroyed a neighbor’s wooden one.
Juan Escobar, 44, of Palatine, is accused of setting that fire and others in the area to “calm himself down,” according to prosecutors. They say surveillance videos showed Escobar setting the July 30 fire and another one on June 29. He was arrested while riding a bike on a sidewalk near a dog park, according to a police report.
ProvidedPolice say an arsonist set a fire that damaged garages last July 30 in an alley in the 2600 block of North Orchard Street in Lincoln Park.
“It was just one of those crazy things that happens in the city,” Adkison says. “It’s concerning, don’t get me wrong. I was pretty happy when they caught the guy.”
The majority of last year’s arsons didn’t result in an arrest. Police say they made 55 arson-related arrests last year involving people suspected of arson or criminal damage to property as well as convicted arsonists who failed to register their addresses with the police department.
Eight people were shot, one fatally, Feb. 25, 2021 in Chicago. | Sun-Times file photo
A 28-year-old man was fatally shot Thursday night in the 200 block of North Leclaire Avenue, police said.
Eight people were shot, one fatally, Thursday in Chicago, including a man killed in Austin on the West Side.
The man, 28, was found unresponsive about 8:15 p.m. on the street in the 200 block of North Leclaire Avenue, Chicago police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to his chest and was taken to Loretto Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not yet identified the man.
In non-fatal shootings, a 40-year-old man was wounded on the Near West Side.
The man was shot in the leg about 6 p.m. as he walked down the street in the 1300 block of West 13th Street, police said. He was transported to Stroger Hospital for treatment, police said. His condition was not immediately known.
A 26-year-old man was seriously wounded in a shooting in Calumet Heights on the South Side.
About 2 p.m., officers found the man near his vehicle after a dark-colored Nissan Altima drove by and fired shots at him in the 1600 block of East 95th Street, police said.
The man suffered a gunshot wound to his buttocks and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt.
Troopers were called about 1:15 p.m. to a shooting in the inbound local lanes, Illinois State Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Clausing said in a statement.
Paramedics found the gunshot victim, a 24-year-old man, near 35th Street and Wentworth Avenue, according to Langford.
The man was shot at least twice in his leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, Langford said. State police said the wounds were not life-threatening.
About 12:45 p.m., a 22-year-old man was wounded after a gunman pulled up in a vehicle and fired shots in Bronzeville on the South Side.
The victim was inside another vehicle as shots rang out about 12:45 p.m. in the 4700 block of South Calumet Avenue, according to police. He took himself to Providence Hospital with a gunshot wound, police said. He was listed in fair condition.
Two people were shot Thursday morning at a gas station in Wentworth Gardens on the South Side.
The 42-year-old man was struck in his right arm and the 63-year-old woman was struck in her left knee, police said. They were brought to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment. The woman does not appear to be the intended target, police said.
In the day’s first reported shooting, a woman was wounded in Little Italy on the Near West Side.
About 12:25 a.m., she was found lying outside on the ground in the 2300 block of West 23rd Place, with a gunshot wound to her thigh, police said. The woman, thought to be in her early twenties, was brought to Stroger Hospital for treatment, police said. She was not able to tell officers details regarding the shooter.
Sox second baseman Nick Madrigal looks to throw to first base as teammates look on during a spring training baseball practice Wednesday. | Ross D. Franklin/AP
“Nick is a young guy you can trust in any situation,” La Russa said. Madrigal is similar to David Eckstein, a former player of La Russa’s who hit 35 homers in a 10-year career.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — In Nick he trusts.
As White Sox manager Tony La Russa put it, second baseman Nick Madrigal is a player who won’t hit many homers, but he’s one La Russa can win with.
“Nick is a young guy you can trust in any situation,” La Russa said. Madrigal is similar to David Eckstein, a former player of La Russa’s who hit 35 homers in a 10-year career.
La Russa acknowledged he has won with sluggers — see the 1983 Sox with Greg Luzinski, Ron Kittle et al, the Bash Brothers in Oakland and Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman in St. Louis — but “I’m just telling you the more guys you have in your lineup who know how to play the game of baseball,” the better.
“They know how to play the score and they know how to manipulate the bat and direct the ball to different parts of the field, and you can play whatever game you want to play with them. Then you can dictate a chance to win all kinds of games. You don’t have to win a game when the wind is blowing out. Nick, I mean, he’s an artist.”
La Russa’s emphasis in this camp is a two-strike approach, and Madrigal, who batted .340 in 29 games in his first season in 2020, hit .321/.357/.679 with two strikes and struck out only seven times (while walking four times). As a first-round pick out of Oregon State in 2018, he came to the Sox with a reputation as a heady player, but there were baserunning and fielding mistakes.
“[After] last year, just getting a little taste, I can do a lot more to help this team,” Madrigal said Thursday, “on the basepaths or in the batter’s box, on the defensive side. I didn’t even showcase what kind of player I truly am. I’m excited to go out there, especially being a lot healthier this year and feeling almost completely 100% at this point.”
Madrigal played through a sore thumb and had surgery on his left shoulder — stemming from an injury on a slide — after the season. He’s participating in defensive drills and taking live batting practice and is close to returning to game action.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be this Sunday [for the Cactus League opener against the Brewers at Camelback Ranch] or next week for the first game, but I’m thinking it’s not too far out,” he said.
Moncada close to full speed
Third baseman Yoan Moncada has held off from throwing because of normal spring arm soreness, but La Russa said he was surprised to learn Moncada might be ready to play Sunday or Monday, an indication he’s close to being full go.
“I’m definitely not going to push it,” La Russa said. “So we’ll see how he feels [Friday]. We’re taking legitimate infield relays and all that stuff, see how his arm feels.”
Going, going …
Thirteen of the Sox’ 14 Cactus League home games are sold out. Capacity is 2,400 because of coronavirus restrictions, with tickets available only for the March 2 game against the Rangers.
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