Beckham... He Gone?

Here's a story that's picked up steam again. The White Sox are interested in trading for Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez. And why wouldn't they be? All he's done in 4 seasons in San Diego is average 32 home runs and 100 RBIs, hit .285 with an OPS of .869. He's also collected 2 Gold Gloves and has made back-to-back All-Star games. Simply put, he's been a beast.
Now, imagine him in the 3-hole with Carlos Quentin, Paul Konerko and company hitting behind him. His power production would be a better lock to increase than Heidi Montag's plastic surgery count.
But at what cost? What would you be willing to part with for a 27-year-old power hitting, 2-time all-star and gold glove winning first basemen? (did I mention he's a lefty?) Jordan Danks? Daniel Hudson? How about last year's 1st round pick Jared Mitchell? They may all be promising and tempting but Padres GM Jed Hoyer wants someone else. Who does he want? None other than the south side's Lord and Savior Grodan Beckham.
It only makes sense that the Padres would want the Sox's best player in exchange for theirs. He's also going to be cheaper than Gonzalez. Adrian is signed through 2011 and will demand, and get, a hefty pay increase come contract time. Looking at the going rates for what he offers and Gonzalez is going to sign one of those $16 million/year contracts. Beckham is inked for another 5 years and carries a much lighter price tag.
What I think is more important than the financial side of the deal is what you are giving up and what you're getting in return. It is extremely hard to find the caliber of player Beckham projects out to be coupled with the baseball smarts and media savvy he already seems to possess at the tender age of 22. Throw in the fact that he's a middle infielder and it makes him that much more special. Beckham is already a fan favorite on the south side and after an impressive rookie campaign in '09 his fan base is sure to grow. It's only a matter of time until he is the official face of the Chicago White Sox.
If Kenny can bring Adrian Gonzalez over to the Sox then he should do it. Go ahead and trade Daniel Hudson, Jared Mitchell or Jordan Danks. Go ahead and package two of them together. You can part with those prospects because you really don't know what they are going to do on the big stage. You know what you already have with Beckham, and he's only going to get better. If I were in Kenny's shoes, I would veto any trade that included Beckham but would not be afraid to send them some unproven talent from the minors. Afterall, you have to give up something to get something, but you shouldn't give up the future face of your organization.

We know you have skills, just don't show us until after the All-Star break

Every Bulls fans' worst nightmare came to life Wednesday night at the United Center: Derrick Rose leaving the court in obvious pain after a hard foul by the Magic's Dwight Howard. The injury happened just a few minutes into the game when Rose was knocked to floor after driving hard to the bucket for a lay-up.
Thankfully for the Bulls an X-Ray and MRI showed "no significant injury" to his hip or lower back and he will be re-examined on Saturday by the team's physician.
If Rose was ever going to suffer an injury, this might be the best time for it to happen. This weekend is the NBA's All-Star Weekend which should provide him with some time off to recover, even if he is slated to defend his skills challenge title and play in the game for the first time in his career.
Even if he isn't in pain and feels healthy this weekend there is no way Rose should take part in the skills competition or the All-Star game. He is too valuable to the Bulls, even if they don't have a snowball's chance in hell at winning the title. With him they are a low seeded playoff team that will benefit from being in the playoffs two years in a row with him at the helm. Without him they are horrible and will struggle mightily to even make the playoffs in the very weak Eastern Conference.
There is no point in him going out and possibly hurting himself further for an exhibition game. It's not like this is going to be his only chance to play in an All-Star game or compete in the skills competition. Rose is a rising star in the NBA and should make many more All-Star squads in his career. He will have his chance to showcase his tremendous talent, but now is the time to use better judgement and be a fan this weekend so you can shine the rest of the season.

Shhh... be vewy vewy quite, we'we hiwing coowdinatows

In case you missed it, and that was probably the plan, the Bears announced the rest of their coaching staff Friday afternoon. They promoted Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator, named Eric Washington defensive line coach and Shane Day quarterbacks coach. They also announced Andrew Hayes-Stoker as offensive quality control coach and Mikal Smith (Lovie's son) as defensive quality control coach.
So this is the major change Ted Phillips was talking about? You completely clean house coaching wise on the offensive side of the ball and do nothing different defensively? Marinelli is still the assistant-head coach, was a contributing voice in play calling last season and will not infuse any new thoughts or ideas into a defensive scheme that has been painful to watch since midway through the Bears' Super Bowl season of '06.
Basically, what has happened is Lovie, once again, brought in his guys (Martz and Lovie worked together in St. Louis), guys that have not had success in the NFL in close to 10 years, to turn around a team that woefully disappointed last season and is positioned to do the same in 2010.
Next season the Bears are going to be led by an offensive coordinator (Martz) that was fired by the defensive coordinator (Marinelli) when they last worked together in Detroit. To makes things even more interesting, their offensive line coach, Mike Tice, believes running the ball is key to winning games. Why should we care what an offensive line coach thinks? Because Lovie said Tice will have significant input on play calling.
The Bears have set themselves up to be as successful next season as Elmer Fudd was in catching wabbits. The difference is Elmer was meant to make us laugh.

That's the Bulls we know and love

The Bulls came home after a long road trip feeling good. They became the first team in NBA history to win five consecutive games over above .500 teams on the same road trip. They were over .500 for the first time since Nov. 17. A win against the struggling Clippers tonight would have given the Bulls their longest winning streak in over 3 years. The Clippers had lost 4 straight as part of their current 8-game road trip when they arrived in Chicago. To the untrained eye it would appear to be a mismatch and an easy win for upstart Bulls.
So, of course, the Clippers took the initial lead on a Chris Kaman jumper, their first lead in almost 3 games, and outplayed the Bulls the rest of the way winning 90-82 at the United Center.
What went wrong for the Bulls? The obvious answer is they didn't score enough points. They shot 38% from the field and committed 19 turnovers. They looked sluggish and unmotivated and got outplayed by an inferior team. Basically, they were the Bulls we've become accustomed to watching the past few years.
What I don't understand is how Luol Deng could score 16 points in the first quarter and just two more the rest of the way. Head Coach Vinny Del Negro offered this nugget of wisdom on that stat, "I thought Luol was real active in the first quarter. We should have gotten him the ball more."
Ya think! Obviously Deng was feeling good and yes, you should have gotten him the ball more. As the head coach you should have emphasized that point throughout the game. Instead you added one more example for why you won't be back next season.
Derrick Rose also had an off night going for 16 points on 7-for-20 shooting with just 4 dimes. He was averaging 24.6 points per game during the winning streak.
So, the Bulls are back to .500 and hold the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Derrick Rose is progressing and deserves major kudos for being the first Bulls player to make the All-Star team since Michael Jordan. Joakim Noah is averaging a double-double per game and they have shown some signs of life this season.
Unfortunately for all you die-hard Bulls fans out there, this season is going to play out like last year, only not as exciting. Expect another low-seeded playoff series that will result in another 1st round exit.
But look at the bright side... you won't have to deal with Vinny anymore.

Keep that bus running Lovie, you're going to need it

I guess we should be happy that the embarrassment is over; at least the first part of the embarrassment. The Bears finally hired an offensive coordinator after nearly a month of being turned down, rejected, passed over and spurned.
And the man they hired is who everyone thought it was going to be the moment Ron Turner was fired.
Yep, the orchestrator of 'The Greatest Show on Turf' is coming to Chicago. Say hello to Lovie's little (kind of) friend, Mike Martz.
Now, Martz has done some really nice things in his coaching career. He was the offensive genius for the Rams when they were a scoring machine on their way to winning Super Bowl XXXIV (that's 34 for the Roman Numeral challenged). He even squeezed back-to-back 4,000 yard passing season out of Jon Kitna threw when they were together in Detroit. But with the good comes the bad, and the sacks.
Probably the biggest concern for a Mike Martz offense is how much the quarterback gets sacked. Marc Bulger was sacked 41 times in 2004, Detroit QBs 63 times in 2006 and San Fran gave up 55 in '08. The obvious concern for Bears' fans is the lack of a good, or even decent offensive line blocking for Jay Cutler, who was sacked 35 times last season. For Martz's offense to work, Cutler is going to have to be protected. That means Olin Kruetz and Co. are going to have to do a better job than they might be capable of doing.
If Jay does get some time to throw the ball, he is going to need someone to throw to. He is going to need some play makers. There are a couple of players out there that could fit that role.
First, you need an established #1 wide receiver. Someone that will be the anchor and Jay's go-to guy that he knows will make the right read and run the right route.
That man is Brandon Marshall. Josh McDaniels has all but kicked him out of Denver and the word coming out of Denver is they don't expect him back next year. Marshall was Cutler's favorite target when they played together. If the Bears are truly serious about winning and making a run in the playoffs then they need to go get Brandon Marshall.
Another interesting player will be on the field this Sunday representing the NFC. He has displayed his dynamic play making ability this postseason and has been rumored to be available this offseason. He's young and can take over a ball game with his incredible athleticism. Who is this mystery man? Why it's none other than Reggie Kardashian (I love easy jokes) Bush.
Think about it. He can return punts, would be a good compliment to Matt Forte as a second running back and can also line up as a wide receiver. In space he is almost impossible to tackle. For a quarterback that is going to be forced to get rid of the ball quickly it would be nice to have two options out of the backfield that you know can catch the ball. Oh yeah, he can also pick up a blitz without getting smushed.
Sure, Bush hasn't lived up to his hype when he came out of college and he's been bothered by knee problems, but a change of scenery often does a player good. There are so many weapons in New Orleans that Bush often gets lost in the bunch. In Chicago, he would be one of the top dogs, easily getting 15-18 touches a game, maybe more, and could rack up 100+ yards per game.
Martz doesn't care about a run/pass ratio. He's proven that he will throw the ball 60 times a game if he feels that will give his team the best chance to win. It will be interesting to see how he and Lovie mix, especially since Lovie claims every year that the Bears are a running team. One of his most famous lines is "We get off the bus running". If the Bears fail to be competitive again this year and the offense doesn't show any signs of life, Lovie will need that bus to be running because he will be the one fired at the end of season press conference.