Blackhawks Land The Number 2 Pick

Good morning Chicago fans! I hope all of you mothers had an amazing Mother’s Day yesterday! My wife enjoyed celebrating her first Mother’s Day, so we all feel very blessed in this household.

Probably more blessed than the Bulls and Blackhawks as lottery luck evaded them. They can’t pull off a 2008 Derrick Rose heist every season, I guess.

TROPHY TRACKER

1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

Frequent reader question: What is the Trophy Tracker???

A: How close is this team to winning a championship? 1 is as far away as possible. 10 is a trophy in hand. This is my opinion, which factors in the front office, roster construction, coaching, recent seasons, young talent, competition, etc.

Results:

L - Padres 6, Cubs 3

Justin Steele returned from injury in front of the home crowd and extended the starting rotation’s streak of 4 consecutive games without allowing an earned run. Then the bullpen had to pitch 🙄

• Richard Lovelady and Daniel Palencia allowed 7 straight Padres to reach base and gave up all 6 runs before recording an out in the 6th inning

• The Cubs loaded the bases in the 8th inning with 0 outs and didn’t score

• Yan Gomes and Christopher Morel hit HRs

W - Cubs 3, Padres 2

Michael Busch hit a walk-off home run in the rain on the first pitch in the bottom of the 9th and Wrigley Field “erupted” (Great call, Boog)!

• Cody Bellinger returned from injury and had an impressive comeback game as the DH: 12-pitch AB flyout, solo HR, 2 singles

• Shōta Imanaga finished 7 shutout innings before being sent back out for the 8th with 95 pitches already thrown

  • He quickly gave up a 2-run HR in the 8th inning and was pulled

  • This was the official end to the Cubs 4+ game, 30 inning scoreless streak by the starting rotation (longest since 1971)

L - Padres 3, Cubs 0

Old (minor league) friend Dylan Cease made Cubs hitters look silly as the Padres took the series.

• Cease threw 7 shutout innings with 12 Ks and 24 whiffs

  • Yan Gomes had the Cubs’ only hit in the entire game, and it was an infield single

• Dansby Swanson sat out to rest a lingering knee issue - he ended up on the 10-day IL later in the week

W - Cubs 7, Pirates 2

Cody Bellinger put the team on his back against talented young starter Jared Jones to start their series in Pittsburgh.

• Bellinger went 4-for-5 with a HR in the first inning. The HR was on a 100.5 mph pitch, which is the fastest on a Cubs home run since pitch-tracking began in 2008 (via Sarah Langs on Twitter)

• Every Cubs position player who started recorded at least 1 hit as the team totaled 14 in the game

• Ben Brown was filthy in relief (3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)

L - Pirates 10, Cubs 9

The highly anticipated debut of Pirates prospect RHP Paul Skenes turned into a trademark 2024 Cubs game - a wild inning, a blown lead, and a back and forth shootout ending with a heartbreaking loss.

• Skenes was OK in his debut (4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and out-pitched Justin Steele (4.0 IP, 6 ER)

  • Skenes threw 17 pitches at least 100 mph 😲

• 5th inning: Cubs scored 7 runs - 2 of which came after a 2-hour 20-minute rain delay

  • They drew 6 bases loaded walks in the inning - the first time this has ever happened in Cubs history 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♂️🚶‍♂️🚶‍♂️🚶‍♂️🚶‍♂️

W - Cubs 5, Pirates 4 (F/10)

The Cubs stole another series victory in their fifth extra inning game of the season. They are on pace for 20 extra inning games by the end of 162 😬

• Kyle Hendricks returned from injury and gave a strong effort (5.0 IP, 1 ER)

• Patrick Wisdom (3-for-4) and Morel (2-for-4) hit home runs

• Adbert Alzolay pitched the bottom of the 10th…and gave up a homer! And recorded the save!

Week Record: 3-3

Season Record: 24-17 (2nd place - 0.5 GB)

Star of the Week: Cody Bellinger

Belli is 8-for-22 (.363 BA) since returning from injury last Tuesday with 2 home runs and 4 RBI.

This lineup desperately needed their 3-hole hitter back, and he has delivered.

Play of the Week: Michael Busch Walk-Off HR

Alternate fan view with a lightning strike at Wrigley:

Roster Moves:

• Monday: Justin Steele was activated from the IL and Keegan Thompson was optioned to AAA

• Tuesday: Cody Bellinger was activated from the IL and Keegan Thompson was almost immediately recalled

  • Daniel Palencia was placed on the 15-day IL with shoulder stiffness, and Alexander Canario was optioned to AAA

• Friday: Dansby Swanson was placed on the 10-day IL with a knee sprain, and Seiya Suzuki was activated from the IL

• Saturday: Yency Almonte was placed on the 15-day IL and Jose Cuas was recalled

• Sunday: Kyle Hendricks was activated from the IL and Jose Cuas was optioned to AAA

• Veteran David Peralta opted out of his contract - he had been playing at AAA

News & Notes:

• Christopher Morel hit 50 HRs with the Cubs in the 3rd fewest amount of games (255) in franchise history

  • 1) Kyle Schwarber (216)

  • 2) Kris Bryant (231)

• For the baseball nerds out there (including me), Baseball Savant now has Statcast bat tracking data. One of the metrics is Bat Speed, and a certain Cub shows up on the leaderboard:

• Jameson Taillon was supposed to start on Friday but felt back tightness - he should return this week

• The new All Access video is on YouTube here focusing on Cody Bellinger and his return from injury.

  • This was shocking to watch ➡ the day he got injured, Cody was at a season ticket holder event and said he would stay away from the wall that night 😲😲😲

TROPHY TRACKER

1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

• Rookie mini-camp was Thursday through Saturday at Halas Hall. The full roster is listed here. As you can see above, the vibes were high!

  • Matt Eberflus confirmed that there was no conversation needed regarding starting quarterback - Caleb is the starter

  • DC Eric Washington said he believes the back 7 of the defense is the best in the NFL 📢

  • 3rd round pick OT Kiran Amegadjie is not practicing in the offseason program due to a quad injury from last season

  • 1st round pick WR Rome Odunze missed Saturday’s practice due to hamstring tightness

  • Bears legend Charles Tillman spoke to the rookies on the first night of mini-camp

  • Anyone still doubt Caleb Williams’ maturity or leadership skills?

• Signed nine undrafted free agents:

  • Brenden Bates, TE, Kentucky

  • Theo Benedet, OL, University of British Columbia

  • Carl Jones Jr., LB, UCLA

  • Jamree Kromah, DE, James Madison

  • Peter LeBlanc, WR, Louisiana-Lafayette

  • Keith Randolph Jr., DT, Illinois

  • Austin Reed, QB, Western Kentucky

  • Reddy Steward, DB, Troy

  • Ian Wheeler, RB, Howard

• Albert Breer covered every step of the Bears’ evaluation process on Caleb Williams, and it is fascinating. Read it here.

TROPHY TRACKER

1-❌-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

🏒 NHL DRAFT LOTTERY 🏒

The Blackhawks will select #2 in the 2024 NHL Draft.

They came up short of their second consecutive 1st overall pick and will miss out on the consensus top prospect, center Macklin Celebrini.

However, staying at #2 was almost as impressive as winning the lottery last season. They had a 72.4% of moving below #2, even though their lowest allowable slot was #4.

San Jose had the worst record in the NHL and will be picking at #1.

Surprisingly, the draft order will match the exact final standings and expected draft positions for each team.

Since they have such a high pick, let’s dive into possible selections. Early reports indicate two top options for the Blackhawks at #2:

RW Ivan Demidov, SKA St. Petersburg

RHD Artyom Levshunov, Michigan State University

Others potentially in the mix:

C Cayden Lindstrom, Medicine Hat Tigers

LHD Anton Silayev, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod

LHD Zeev Buium, University of Denver

✍ Scott Powers wrote an article asking 9 draft experts who the Blackhawks should select at #2: 8 said Demidov, 1 said Levshunov

I’ll write on this more as the draft approaches, but it comes down to best overall talent for me. Is Demidov an elite offensive player who will transform the Top 6? Will Levshunov turn into a #1 defenseman, a role that may not be filled by the multitude of talented defenseman prospects in the system?

News & Notes:

• Re-signed Lukas Reichel to a 2-year extension at a $1.2M cap hit 💰

  • Reichel had a very disappointing season after flashing his skill in 2022-2023. This looks like a typical prove-it deal that could end up being a bargain for the Hawks if he produces anywhere close to his potential, and it allows Reichel to reach free agency soon if he plays well and earns more money.

  • This puts him on the same timeline as Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Kevin Korchinski. They will all be up for new contracts after the 2025-2026 season.

• The IIHF World Championships began this weekend!

  • Participating Blackhawks: Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic (USA), Connor Bedard (CAN), Philipp Kurashev (SUI), Petr Mrazek (CZE), Lukas Reichel (GER)

  • Seth Jones was named an Alternate Captain for Team USA

• Prospect Roman Kantserov is a finalist for the KHL Rookie of the Year award

• Old friend D Nikita Zadorov has 4 goals in 8 games for the Canucks in the playoffs - if you ever watched Zadorov on the Hawks, that’s shocking

• The Blackhawks and their AHL affiliate Rockford IceHogs agreed to a 3-year contract extension with their ECHL affiliate Indy Fuel

TROPHY TRACKER

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🏀 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY 🏀

The Bulls will select #11 in the 2024 NBA Draft.

They stayed at their pre-lottery draft position based on record.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta Hawks jumped up from #10 to #1. The same Hawks that the Bulls beat in a meaningless Play-In Tournament game. If only the Bulls had finished one spot lower in the standings 🙄

Here are the NBA Draft Lottery results:

The last time the Bulls picked #11? 4-time champion Will Perdue in 1988

News & Notes:

• Bulls fans sit at home watching Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards dominate in the NBA Playoffs…

  • Brunson was signed as a free agent ($104M) in the 2022 offseason when the Bulls signed Zach LaVine ($215M) to a giant extension

  • Edwards was the #1 pick in the 2020 draft. In that draft, the Bulls selected Patrick Williams at #4

• DeMar DeRozan announced his upcoming memoir Above The Noise, which releases on September 10th.

• 🚨 BULLS, BLACKHAWKS, AND WHITE SOX TV NETWORK NEWS 🚨

  • It seems we had conflicting reports. Or maybe a source-off? It may be best for us to wait until official news gets released from the teams, BUT the latest update is that Stadium WILL be the new network. Standard Media Group will be an investor. You can read the latest here.

Michael Jordan

The 🐐 continues to give.

Michael Jordan funded a new medical clinic in his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina with a $10M donation. This is the third clinic he has opened in North Carolina. His goal is to help those who are in need, including people who are uninsured.

He got emotional at the opening:

The Cubs should not trade for a reliever yet.

Early trades in the MLB season are confusing. For one, they’re rare. The Padres’ recent move to acquire 2B Luis Arraez came out of left field. Not many teams typically sell off after one month, and trading players away before the market develops is strange. The most value is available when demand goes up near the deadline and teams urgently want to make a move, right?

The Cubs are a half game out of first place. They’re one of six teams in the National League with a winning record. They’ve had a CVS receipt instead of an injured list all season long. And they are getting by.

I agree with everyone else that the bullpen has been bad. Hector Neris is severely underperforming and is nowhere near his 1.71 ERA 2023 season. Alzolay is a home run machine. Almonte and Merryweather are both hurt. Leiter is most likely being overused again. And there isn’t a single lefty Craig Counsell can trust at the major league level.

But there is variance in pitching. Certain guys will improve. Healthy players will return. Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski can be major contributors out of the bullpen when all the starters are healthy. Remember when Craig Kimbrel couldn’t get any outs after he signed here? Remember the ups and downs of every Cubs closer we have ever watched? Things can change in a hurry.

Trading for a warm body may be necessary if the injured list grows even more. But otherwise, it’s not worth trading a prospect just to make a move for another mediocre arm. And overpaying for Mason Miller or another elite talent this early in the season? It just doesn’t make sense. Trades involve so much precision with timing and value, and I don’t expect Jed Hoyer to pull the trigger on anything yet.

Thank you for reading! Please reply to this email if you have any thoughts or feedback!

Keep an eye out for the NFL schedule release on Wednesday! Not like it matters, the Bears are going 17-0 no matter what.