GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

I hope you enjoyed your weekend! I have to say…I LOVE draft week. All the drama, the production, the trades, the dreams come true. Even the awkward on-stage interviews. But the best part is finding out who we will see play at the United Center for the next decade!

CHICAGO CUBS

L - Cardinals 8, Cubs 2

And the wheels all fell off

• Ben Brown gave up FOUR 2-R HRs from the 4th to 6th inning. He kept missing right over the plate in what was his last start in the majors for a while…

• Matthew Liberatore threw 7 strong innings (2 ER, 5 K) as the Cubs offense couldn’t get going

L - Cardinals 8, Cubs 7

The HR bug lingers

• Jameson Taillon struggled again, giving up 3 HRs and 8 ER in just 4.0 IP

• Pete Crow-Armstrong lost track of the number of outs in the 4th (cough cough Milton Bradley flashback) and allowed a runner to score from 2nd on a flyout to the wall

• Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner each had 3 hits and a HR (Nico’s 1st of the year!!)

W - Cubs 8, Cardinals 0

Matthew Boyd stops the bleeding!

• Boyd threw 6 shutout innings (3 H, 0 BB, 3 K) to give the rotation a much needed lift

• Ian Happ’s 1st pitch HR to start the game was 1 of 3 Cubs HRs (Tucker, McGuire)

W - Cubs 3, Cardinals 0

The Return of Shota!!!

• Second consecutive shutout thanks to Shota Imanaga’s return from injury (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K). The Cubs REALLY needed him back!

• Michael Busch hit a HR…at Busch Stadium

• Daniel Palencia put 2 runners on in the 9th before striking out the side. He hit Willson Contreras with a pitch, and the former Cub was ridiculously yelling at Palencia the rest of the inning. Benches cleared out after the game!

L - Astros 7, Cubs 4

Cam over Cade

• Cam Smith started his revenge series by going 2-for-2 with a 3-R HR

• Cade Horton had his worst start in the big leagues (4.0 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K)

W - Cubs 12, Astros 3

King Tuck back on his throne

• Tucker went 4-for-5 with an electric 3-R HR in his old stomping grounds

• Lance McCullers retired 8 straight Cubs between the 1st and 4th before the Cubs exploded for a 7-run 4th

• 4 Cubs hit HRs, and Cam Smith hit another HR

L - Astros 2, Cubs 0

Framber Valdez masterclass

• Valdez threw a gem (6.0 IP, 0 ER) to lead the Astros to a shutout victory

• Cubs struck out 11 times, only managed 5 hits and 2 walks, and went 1-for-9 with RISP

Star of the Week ⭐ Nico Hoerner

10-for-25 (.400 AVG), 3 HR (after having 0 all season!), 4 RBI

Play of the Week 🎥 Ian Happ diving catch

Selected RHP Michael Fulmer from AAA then DFA’d him, optioned Nate Pearson to AAA

Activated Shota Imanaga and Porter Hodge from the 15-day IL, optioned Ben Brown to AAA

• Brown will continue to work as a starter in AAA, but the organization will strategically limit his workload while he’s down there. Hopefully he returns later this year and fires shutdown innings in the playoffs!

Kyle Tucker, PCA, and Carson Kelly are All-Star Finalists! Vote for them to be starters!

Cubs went 13-13 in a difficult June. 4 tough series coming up before the All-Star break!

SCHEDULE 📅 T/W/TH/F/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Training Camp begins July 19th!

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

OFFSEASON

NHL DRAFT

Round 1, Pick 3 ➡️ Anton Frondell, F, Sweden

Round 1, Pick 25 ➡️ Vaclav Nestrasil, F, Muskegon (USHL)

*Traded the 34th pick, 62nd pick, and a 2027 5th round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for the 29th pick

Round 1, Pick 29 ➡️ Mason West, F, Fargo (USHL)

Round 3, Pick 66 ➡️ Nathan Behm, F, Kamloops (WHL)

Round 4, Pick 98 ➡️ Julius Sumpf, F, Moncton (QMJHL)

Round 4, Pick 107 ➡️ Parker Holmes, F, Brantford (OHL)

Round 6, Pick 162 ➡️ Ashton Cumby, D, Seattle (WHL)

Round 7, Pick 194 ➡️ Ilya Kanarsky, G, AKM Tula (MHL)

*Traded the 197th pick to the Florida Panthers for a 2026 7th round pick

Anton Frondell

After months of speculation, hopes of the Islanders taking their hometown hero James Hagens, and reports of the Sharks being interested in Frondell instead of Michael Misa, the draft fell as expected. The Hawks landed the top player of the second (or 1B) tier of prospects according to most analysts.

Frondell is a 6’1” center/winger with a strong, two-way game. He plays tough and has drawn many comparisons to Panthers star Aleksander Barkov. With Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar penciled in as the long-term top-2 centers, finding a bigger forward to complement them was essential. He should play an important role as the agitator - the relentless, big-bodied, hard-to-play-against top liner.

After returning from an injury, Frondell had 25 points in 29 games in Sweden last season. He produces on both ends of the ice and has quickly ascended. His shot is impressive, so the scoring should only increase. He was the general consensus out of the available players at #3, and I think the Hawks found another foundational piece to their core.

Others

Kyle Davidson drafted SIZE. After years of focusing on speed and motor, this year’s focus was big boys. All 8 players are 6’1” or taller, and Frondell is actually the shortest of the bunch. Nestrasil and West are both 6’6” giants who have sky-high potential to be game-changers on the wing.

West is a high school quarterback and will play one more season of football before fully focusing on hockey. The Hawks now have a wide receiver (AJ Spellacy) and QB in the system. Oh, and Connor Bedard said he’d be a running back if he was in the NFL 😂.

Holmes had 1 point in 21 games last season and is definitely an enforcer. He was teammates with Hawks prospects Nick Lardis and Marek Vanacker!

For a team flooded with high-level defensive prospects, a forward heavy draft made too much sense. Davidson has now drafted ELEVEN players in the 1st round in just 4 drafts, and he has done an excellent job taking a multitude of swings to find a future team. The whole picture is starting to come together.

Before the draft, I wrote about how successful Kyle Davidson has been in his 3 years as GM and ranked his Top 10 Trades. Read here:

Duncan Keith is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!!!

The Blackhawks legend gets the honor he deserves.

It was a joy watching Duncan Keith play hockey. He was the toughness, the rock, and the ironman of the 2010s championship teams. Watching him gut out 30+ minutes of ice time each night in the 2015 playoffs was incredible, and seeing him keep every puck in the offensive zone was a work of magic.

We would not have witnessed 3 championships without him, but he would still have a full mouth of teeth. Congrats to Duncs and his family! Always a Blackhawk!

Traded the rights to Ilya Safonov to the Vancouver Canucks for future considerations

Old friend Luke Richardson joined the Nashville Predators as an assistant coach 👏

Up Next ➡️ Free Agency begins on Tuesday, prospect development camp begins today and will be off-ice again

CHICAGO BULLS

OFFSEASON

NBA DRAFT

Round 1, Pick 12 ➡️ Noa Essengue, F, France

*Traded the 45th pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 55th pick and cash

Round 2, Pick 55 ➡️ Lachlan Olbrich, F, Australia

Noa Essengue

This could be Matas Buzelis 2.0.

Amidst rumors of trading up, the Bulls stuck at #12 with a few good options on the board. My top choice for them, Khaman Maluach (Duke center), went off the board 2 picks before them, but plenty of forwards and centers were available.

Essengue is a young, high upside player from France who played in Germany last season. He was the second youngest player in the draft (18) and will have to adjust to a new country and league. At 6’9”, Essengue is an athletic wing with impressive playmaking abilities.

Similarly to Buzelis, Essengue is athletic, has a high motor, has good ball skills for his height, shows effort on the defensive end, and needs to mature into an NBA body. He also struggles with his jump shot and only scored 10.7 points per game last season. Either he’ll remain a positionless, athletic, non-shooter like Arturas Karnisovas loves to collect, or he’ll follow in Buzelis’ footsteps and show potential to become an all-around player for the Bulls.

The Bulls need stars, so a shot at a young wing was worth taking.

Oh, and the last Noa(h) the Bulls selected with ties to France turned out pretty well 🤷‍♂️

Lachlan Olbrich

Olbrich is a 6’10” forward, but he’s a bigger power forward-type player. He excels at rebounding and passing, but he isn’t overly athletic or explosive. It seems like he can become a solid bench player who is a reliable rebounder on a team that has sorely lacked rebounding toughness down low.

Chicago found itself another Australian after Tory Taylor and Josh Giddey arrived last year! Plus, he’s a 2nd rounder who was drafted while commercials were airing on TV. Probably going to become an MVP like Nikola Jokic!

🚨 Traded Lonzo Ball to the Cleveland Cavaliers for F Isaac Okoro 🚨

I hoped the Bulls would make more trades this offseason to continue shaking up the roster, but I didn’t really believe they do would anything. In Arturas Karnisovas’ classic 1-for-1 trade framework, they helped clear out the overflowing guard rotation in exchange for a desperately needed wing.

On one hand, when they re-signed Lonzo for 2 years/$20M ahead of the Trade Deadline, it was clearly a team-friendly deal that could be moved in future years. On the other hand, the Bulls talked him up as the “perfect” player to keep around as they shifted towards a younger roster. His professionalism, work ethic, and defensive prowess were all traits they wanted to see inherited by the rest of the roster.

Due to the extension, I was confident they wanted to keep Lonzo around as their backup PG to run the 2nd unit behind Josh Giddey. I was wrong…

Okoro is a defense-first, athletic wing who has improved his shot since entering the league in 2020. He was the 5th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, selected one spot behind Patrick Williams. His $11M/year contract is comparable to Lonzo’s, but he is under contract through 2026-2027, which is the season the Bulls were planning on having financial flexibility.

This isn’t a home run move, and it isn’t a disaster. They had to address the positional imbalance. There is a scenario where Okoro continues to improve and this turns into a Giddey-for-Caruso type deal where a capped-out veteran lands the Bulls a player who turns into a talented starter. In the big picture, this deal doesn’t matter much, as they still don’t have a good plan to build a winner. But I hope Billy Donovan gets the best out of Okoro!

Before the draft, I wrote about Arturas Karnisovas’ 5-year tenure with the Bulls. His plans have changed multiple times, and his current plan isn’t even feasible. Read here:

Jevon Carter opted in to his $6.8M player option for next season

Up Next ➡️ Free Agency begins tonight!

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Cade Horton

After a brutal showing against a talented Astros team, Horton acknowledged that he let his emotions get the best of him.

As a young player, he has excellent self-awareness and the maturity to use this as a learning experience. He already knows “that experience right there will help me get better in October”. That’s what you want to hear from a rookie pitcher! Read more here:

MILD TAKE

Michael Busch is an elite first baseman.

Busch is having an amazing first half.

With the spotlight fixed on Tucker and PCA, Busch’s production keeps flying under the radar. It just so happens that all 3 of those players were trade acquisitions by Jed Hoyer, and they’re all producing at an unbelievable clip.

This is Busch’s 2nd full season in the majors, and he’s playing like he’s been around for 5+ years. Here is his current stat line:

.275 AVG, .364 OBP, .514 SLG, .878 OPS, 14 HR, 49 RBI, 147 wRC+, 2.6 WAR

His strikeout rate has dropped from 28.6% last season to 22.0% this season.

His wRC+ and OPS are 2nd on the team behind Kyle Tucker despite PCA and Seiya having monster offensive seasons.

94th percentile xSLG, 87th percentile Barrel %, 88th percentile Chase %

He’s on pace for a 5 WAR season with approximately 28 HR, 98 RBI, and elite defense. His plate discipline is also better than most first basemen in the league.

We’ve missed Anthony Rizzo in Chicago, but Busch is proving to be the next fixture at 1B for many years to come.

HITTING THE LINKS

Mark Lazerus - Duncan Keith’s Hall of Fame election puts him in rarefied company — exactly where he belongs (The Athletic)

Kevin Fishbain - How Bears LB Ruben Hyppolite II went from no combine invite to fourth-round draft pick (The Athletic)

Joe Cowley - Bulls trade Lonzo Ball in hopes of being the hunters, not the hunted (Chicago Sun-Times)

Sahadev Sharma - Cubs’ Nico Hoerner can thrive on team full of talent by just being himself (The Athletic)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

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Thanks for reading! Here’s to an exciting week of free agency with no big Chicago signings!