I just realized that it has been over 2 months since I have made an entry on my sports blog. That just means there is alot to talk about in Chicago sports.
The baseball season has not gone very well for either Chicago team. The Cubs are currently 47-65, which is only good enough for fifth place in the NL Central because the Houston Astros are just awful. Even with the Cubs' poor record this season, they are still 9.5 games up on Houston, which is really the only positive about this season for the North Siders. Just about everything has gone wrong this season, starting with their pitching staff. Zambrano has been up and down again, and I think it's safe to say that his days of being an ace starter are over. Dempster hasn't been any better. Lately, Matt Garza has pitched extremely well, however, he only has 5 wins on the year because when he pitches he doesn't get any run support. The back end of the rotation, which looked promising at the beginning of the season, has been a mess. Cashner has only pitched one game due to injury, and Randy Wells is terrible and needs to go. The bullpen has been poor as well. Marmol was replaced as closer for a few games after stumbling coming out of the all-star break. Marshall and Samardzija have been the most consistent pitchers for the Cubs on the season out of the pen, but their middle relief is bad. James Russell has gotten better out of the bullpen, but John Grabow is not worth anywhere near what his contract is, and the stable of aging right handers (Lopez, Ortiz) that the Cubs have tried throughout the season has just been embarassing.
The Cubs' offense has seen its ups and downs throughout the season as well. Castro seems to hit all the time, and Ramirez kicked it up a notch once the weather warmed up, but by then it was way too late. The team seems to lack the "clutch gene" as Skip Bayless would call it. They routinely leave runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs, and can't seem to string together enough hits to put up big innings when they have the chance. There have been bright spots though. Castro and Barney are really good, young middle infielders who the Cubs can build around for the future. That, and Marlon Byrd has been worth every penny of his contract. While the Cubs haven't played well this season, they have been winning recently. The are currently on a five game winning streak, which is the longest they've had this season. Hopefully they can keep it rolling.
Over on the south side, the White Sox have been extremely disappointing. There were several analysts at the beginning of the season that picked the White Sox to not only win the division, but go to the World Series on the strength of their offense. Their offense has been weak, and you can look no further than the free agent acquisition of Adam Dunn. Dunn was signed in the off-season to be the DH, and it looked like a good pick up at the time. A homerun hitting player in a homerun hitters park seemed to make good sense for both sides. It hasn't worked out that way. Dunn is hitting in the .160's, and only has 10 homeruns. He has definitely been the bust of this year's free agent class. The White Sox do have a better record than the Cubs (52-58), but they have played well below their expectations this season. It has definitely been a season to forget for both sides in Chicago baseball.
The Blackhawks have done some interesting things this off-season. It was obvious in the playoffs that the Hawks lacked toughness and depth of front. In fact, the only time that they could really keep the Canucks from taking the body on the superstar players was when John Scott (professional goon) was in the lineup. However, it was pain-stakingly obvious to everybody that John Scott should not have been on the ice due to his general lack of hockey skills, such as skating, passing, receiving the puck, shooting, and defense. So, the Hawks made several signings and trades in order to add that toughness. Dan Carcillo, Andrew Brunette, Jamal Mayers, and Sean O'Donnell all signed one year deals, and all should see a decent amount of playing time on the fourth line (or 3rd D-pairing in O'Donnell's case). I really like the Brunette signing. He is capable of scoring 20 goals, which gives the Hawks more depth and secondary scoring. He also is a big body, and plays physical, so I would expect to see him get a chance with Kane and Toews on the top line at some point during the season. The Hawks also made a couple of trades on draft night. They sent Brian Campbell to the Florida Panthers for Rostislav Olesz, a 25 year old winger who hasn't lived up to expectations thus far in his career. This move was basically a salary dump, which was important for the Hawks. They needed to get under that cap to be able to sign the depth and role players necessary to compete with the elite teams. The Hawks also traded Troy Brouwer to the Washington Capitals for draft picks, and also acquired defenseman Steve Montador from the Buffalo Sabres. Montador signed a 4 year deal after the trade as well. To me, the biggest signings were re-signings. I love the fact that Patrick Sharp got a 5 year extension, and Frolik and Crawford are back for 3 more years as well. Viktor Stalberg is back on a 2 year contract.
So going into next season, the Blackhawks have locked up all of their core players, and have added some good depth on one year contracts while they wait for their younger players to develop. They do have a great collection of young talent in the minor leagues too (Beach, Lalonde, Kruger, the Hayes brothers, McNeil, Saad, Danault are all great looking prospects who should all see time in the NHL soon). I am pretty excited about the moves the Hawks made. I think they should be right back in contention for a top 4 spot out west once the season begins.
The football season is right around the corner, thanks to the players and owners agreeing to a new CBA just before the preseason. The Bears had a fantastic year last year, which nobody expected. 11-5, and hosting the NFC title game is a great season, regardless of how it ended. However, they had too many question marks leaving that game. The offensive line was brutal the whole season, and eventually it did effect Jay Cutler, who had to leave that NFC title game with an apparent knee injury. That injury caused everybody to question his toughness, so Cutler has alot to prove going into the season. The Bears have made a couple of moves to try to improve the O-line (drafting T Gabe Carimi, and signing C Chris Spencer), but they released Olin Kreutz, who was their best and most consistent lineman for the past 13 years. He was also a leader in the locker room, so he should be sorely missed. The Bears also brought in a trio of former Cowboys (WR Roy Williams and Sam Hurd, and RB Marion Barber), while bringing in d-line help as well (DE Vernon Gholston, and DT Amobi Okoye). You know that the Bears' defense is the strength of the team, and has been for years. As long as they stay healthy they should be a top 5 defense again. However, the offense seems to be in a make or break year. Cutler needs to have a big season to justify the trade, and the Bears are obviously bringing in alot of new players to try to revamp the offense. Heck, they even traded away their best receiver (Greg Olsen) because they didn't believe he fit with their offensive philosophy. Hopefully they can put the offense together in time for the regular season, which opens with a gauntlet of tough games (vs. Falcons, at Saints, vs. Packers). There are an awful lot of new players learning a new and tougher system with a short training camp and no off-season activities to fall back on. I think the Bears are expecting alot from their offense this season, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them fall short of expectations again.
What do you guys think? What are your thoughts or predictions for any of Chicago's sports teams? Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.
