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Since nobody talks on Sundays, let's fan the flames.
The Chicago Bears made just an awful choice in the first round on Friday. It was a truly indefensible pick. O-Line matters. Of course. But there's a reason guards are very, very rarely selected in the first round (this year is a statistical oddity). That reason is: you can find guys to man this position in much later rounds of the draft. Scan any team's starting line. You won't find many first- and second-round picks starting at guard.
Add to that the fact that Long has a questionable personal background (kicked out of Florida State, my alma mater, which I can assure you is hard to do) and extremely limited experience (four major college starts. FOUR.).
If he's a starting tackle (he's the wrong physique for guard, for one, though he was moved there when he couldn't hack tackle at Oregon) in a couple years, then you might have something. But the entire defense is about to go over the age cliff with next to zero young talent and obvious holes. Win-now teams like the Bears don't need to be taking "projects" in the first round when you've got glaring holes and few draft choices.
To draw it back to baseball, this is swinging for the fences when you only need a base hit.
From Comcast SportsNet
- Draft decisions are coming for the Cubs (can't come soon enough, really). Most think it will be one of the two big pitchers.
- Changing his tune a bit, Dale Sveum says Ian Stewart will have to earn his way into the line-up whenever he is finally activated from the disabled list.
- Carlos Marmol wants the ball in the ninth inning.
- The team lets Dale Sveum run the show without interference.
From Cubs Den
- Despite noise from fans (I feel like I should name names), the Cubs' front office should stay the course.
- The team's next impact position prospect might be shortstop Arismendy Alcantara.
- This was a game preview, but it has some notes on draft prospects.
- Sources say the Cubs are down to two choices, and may be leaning one way, for their first draft pick. There's a good chance at least one of them will be available.
From Cubs.com
- Ian Stewart is trying to find his swing.
- Anthony Rizzo is hoping some home cooking will boost his batting average.
From ESPNChicago.com
- The Cubs keep wasting quality starts.
- (Insider article) Which Cub is an early trade candidate? Matt Garza, as long as he can throw a pitch in the bigs again.
- Anthony Rizzo answered fan questions in a Q&A.
- And much like Stella, Rizzo is getting his groove back.
- Luis Valbuena is starting to win people over. Heck, even Al had something nice to say about LV!
- The team's bad start is already fueling talk of a summer sell-off.
- (Video only) Dale Sveum talks about Matt Garza and other Cub issues.
From the Chicago Sun-Times (can read a paragraph, register to read the rest)
- This is about the last thing we need. Bud Selig wants to see the plans for renovating Wrigley.
- Hall of Famer, and former Cub MVP, Andre Dawson never thought he's see the Cubs with a small market payroll.
From miscellaneous sources
- Former Cub Kerry Wood thinks Wrigley Field needs to be spruced up to help attract free agents.
Today's food for thought
- Here's why we mentioned whale poop. Whale poop is a good thing for the environment. Really.