More Moves Ahead for Cubs, White Sox?

December 11, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Thursday thoughts (or what passes for them around here) while wondering why neither the Chicago Cubs or White Sox made another major move Wednesday at baseball’s Winter Meetings:

Video below of Playboy September 2014 Playmate Stephanie Branton.

* No, I didn’t expect the Cubs or Sox to do much — if anything. Each team has made a splash with the Sox signing free-agent closer David Robertson and trading for Jeff Samardzija and the Cubs signing free-agent pitcher Jon Lester and trading for catcher Miguel Montero. That’s enough to placate most of each team’s fan base and keep interest alive going into SoxFest and Cubs Convention time. Even so, something says fans of each team will be disappointed if what transpired through Wednesday is the extent of the moves their team makes.

* Speaking of Lester, it appears he is responding to folks on Twitter by answering each of their tweets to him. Here’s hoping with his six-year, $155 million contract that he has hired someone to do the typing. Otherwise, Cubs fans should fear the left-hander at some point will end up on the disabled list with carpal tunnel syndrome.

* Still speaking of Lester, ESPNChicago.com ran a headline refer to one of its stories thusly: With Lester, Cubs’ Series odds soar to 12-1. I am the farthest thing from a gambling guru, but when a team’s odds to win the World Series go from 40-1 or more before Lester’s acquisition to 12-1 after it, aren’t that team’s odds actually dropping rather than soaring? I’ll hang up and listen for my answer. Yeah, I like to nitpick (although I don’t really think of the aforementioned as a nitpick but more of a misuse of the English language — OK, and also a mistake).

Video below of Emma Glover. For those who can (and even if you don’t).

* Speaking of placating fan bases (well, we were about three paragraphs ago), the Chicago Bulls had Luvabulls poster giveaway (to those 21 and older) at Wednesday night’s home game vs. the Brooklyn Nets. Oh, and the Bulls won the game 105-80. It was sweet 16 for Bulls forward Pau Gasol, who had that number of points and rebounds. He has a team-leading 13 double-doubles, including in each of his last seven games.

* Speaking of Bulls stats, the starters all shot 50 percent or better from the field. They totaled 29-of-53 (55 percent) and were 7-for-14 from three-point range with Mike Dunleavy going 4-for-6 and Derrick Rose 3-for-7.

* Speaking of Rose, he led the team with 23 points in 24 minutes. He also led the team in turnovers with five. “I just feel great,” he told media after the game. “My body is healthy. My mind is good. My spirit is good. Just trying to keep it going.” When he makes such statements, some of us may wonder whether he is trying to convince others of all that or whether he’s trying to convince himself.

* Bulls center Joakim Noah sat out the game because of injury. Something says the team would be better served to let his ankles or legs or anything else bothering him be close to 100 percent before he plays again.

* If today is Thursday (and the odds are incredibly overwhelming that it is because yesterday was Wednesday — provided that today actually is Dec. 11, 2014, or a subsequent Thursday), then it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central time on Talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. The highly acclaimed interview program (well, it is held in such high esteem in the Spada and Harris households, as well as reportedly elsewhere) has two guests on this week’s show: former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer and former Stanford and NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett. The program also will be available later Thursday (and presumably forever, if not longer) at the Talkzone.com web site.

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Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):