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“We have to get battle-tested in some of these games,” Donovan said. “You just don’t have a lot of guys that have gone into this kind of experience, and I think it’s really, really good for us. … When you’re playing against good teams, you’ve got to have that consistency. We haven’t been consistent.”
If things were so “difficult” the last five years, why did owners splurge at a record pace before the lockout began Dec. 2, shelling out $2.16 billion in contracts in November. According to Spotrac.com, that was four times higher than the previous high for any November, the $577 million spent in 2012. MLB teams spent $1.4 billion in one day alone before the lockout froze all activities.
Fangraphs’ ZiPS projections, based on current rosters and a now outdated 162-game schedule, has the Cardinals claiming the division title with 89 wins, one ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs, meanwhile, are projected to finish fourth in the division.
“It’s just doing one action at a time and talking about, ‘Hey, you missed a strip attempt,’” Eberflus said. “Or, ‘That was a great strip attempt.’ Or, ‘Scoop and score, that was great. You guys went for 10 yards like we asked you to.’
A year ago, Poles was with the Chiefs as they plotted to overhaul their offensive line. The first of many moves was signing guard Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80 million, deal. The Bears are going to need a guard if they don’t re-sign James Daniels, who will be an unrestricted free agent and could command upward of $10 million per season, and they’ll likely look to provide competition for or replace center Sam Mustipher. There is a good crop of guards and centers slated to reach free agency , plus the possibility of left tackle options such as Terron Armstead, Orlando Brown and Cam Robinson.
“It’s always nice when you’re going to a match, you’re not (thinking), ‘Who do I have? Who do I have?’ … The young kids have done a good job, it’s not easy an easy position for those guys. Some of them maybe should’ve been playing more games down in Rockford in a perfect world, so they get those reps.”
“I’m sitting in a seat that there’s only 32 of these positions available,” he said. “And that’s a very fortunate place to be sitting. You know what? Have I worked hard to get to this point, yes. But I’m very young. I’m going to enjoy the position I’m in, and I’m going to enjoy the people that I work with. Because we’re really lucky, we’re really lucky to be doing what we do, and there is a lot of responsibility, there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Detroit Tigers fan Genna Perugini holds a sign outside of Roger Dean Stadium where negotiations between Major League Baseball and the players union continue in an attempt to reach an agreement to salvage March 31 openers and a 162-game season on Feb. 28, 2022. (Lynne Sladky / AP)
Triantos, who turned 19 in January, reclassified to be draft eligible a year earlier, and it paid off when the Cubs selected him in the second round in 2021 out of James Madison High School in Vienna, Va., in suburban Washington, D.C. He received an over-slot $2.1 million signing bonus to forgo his college commitment to the University of North Carolina.
It came through clear eyes and without emotional attachments. There were, after all, many reasons major changes were being made at Halas Hall. And Poles had no reservations about sharing his appraisal in a direct, detailed manner that immediately resonated with the five-person committee the Bears had assembled to run interviews for prospective general managers and head coaches.