Is it any wonder that the offensive and defensive lines have been completely worthless during the Bears current 4-11 season? They were constructed poorly from the start. Instead of assembling a group of guys with proven track records, they found a pack of guys that can’t finish games they start, don’t show up to play at all and play out of position.

Everybody believed the team would do well this season because they put together an all-star collection of skill players. A local writer pointed out that of the players with 5+ years of experience, none had been on winners. Hmmm, maybe that wasn’t on the back of their football cards. The highest paid defensive lineman hasn’t played all that well either. We may find out he’s played the season sans spleen, a ruptured kidney and chicken pox, but that won’t exculpate the rest of the non-sackers.

While comparing bad teams is no fun, the 2024 Bears are probably a bigger disappointment than the 2024 White Sox, the worst team in history. These Bears were supposed to compete for the playoffs-even with a rookie quarterback. Jim Finks is rolling over in his grave.

When predicting the success of teams and individual players we default too much to the backs of baseball cards. We think we can project how the team and player will do-of course always skewing to the positive. In general, we project players more positively without considering the highs and lows that make up an average. Case in point the Cubs and their sluggers.

After some clever “negotiating” Cody Bellinger ended up where he always wanted to be-in NY with the Yankees after collecting a nice chunk of change from the Cubs after a disappointing season. Whether he couldn’t make it as the best offensive player or he just flopped we’ll never know. Some fans are sorry to see him leave and yet they’ll admit he didn’t earn the money despite the Belli bombs. Likewise, some folks believe that Seiya Suzuki is the better slugger when in reality, he’s not and neither qualify by my standards.

Whether you choose OPS (on base+ slug) or Slug which I prefer as a measure of slugging. OPS is a better measure of a complete hitter in my mind. I also factor in HR/RBI related to slug even though those are more reliant on teammates successes or failures.

By the numbers the two are very similar with Suzuki being more consistent (smaller sample in ML) and Bellinger’s highs and lows being more dramatic. Suzuki career .824OPS and .470slg, and Bellinger .818OPS and .484slg. However, Bellinger had 3 seasons with .500+ slugs and that translated into 2seasons with 90+ RBI. Whereas, Suzuki has leveled out at 20 and 21 homers and 71 and 73 RBI despite a few historically strong OPS surges. Maybe the addition of Kyle Tucker to the Cubs lineup will boost Suzuki’s power numbers. Regardless, I’m not expecting much beyond 20/70 in 2025.

I’m sure the Yankees believe Bellinger will excel in a lineup where he’s not expected to carry the load. Judge, Goldschmidt and Stanton should make life easier as should the short porch in right field. Again, I’m not taking the over on any Bellinger bet although this season could be a high rather than a disappointment.

Back to the Bears for a minute, it’s better to draft healthy players not coming off injuries regardless of their position.