Cade Horton Lands on the IL As The Cubs Offense Struggles

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

Why can’t we have nice things in Chicago?

Injuries are truly the worst part of sports. They’re uncontrollable, heartbreaking, and season altering. Mirroring shades of Justin Steele’s past, Cade Horton went down on Friday with a nightmare trainer visit on the mound. Let’s pray it ends up being minor!

This was me looking at Horton as a Cy Young candidate before the season:

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

L - JETS 4 BLACKHAWKS 3 (F/OT)

BERT BLITZ

• Tyler Bertuzzi scored 2 goals (30 & 31 for a career-high on the season) as the Bertuzzi-Frondell-Mikheyev line produced all 3 Hawks goals

• Anton Frondell scored his first NHL goal!!

• Hawks didn’t allow a single high-danger chance in the 1st period but gave up 3 goals in a sloppy 2nd period

L - OILERS 3 BLACKHAWKS 1

FEW AND FAR BETWEEN

• Hawks only had 18 shots on goal but missed on some high quality chances

• An Andre Burakovsky turnover led to the Oilers first goal

• Spencer Knight stopped 31 of 32 shots (Soderblom allowed a goal after Knight had an equipment issue) to give the Hawks a chance

W - BLACKHAWKS 4 KRAKEN 2

THE SACHA SHAKE

• Sacha Boisvert scored his first NHL goal to give the Hawks a 2-goal 3rd period lead

• Hawks finally played sound hockey and limited chances (27 shots against)

• Teuvo Teravainen snapped a 15-game goal drought

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Tyler Bertuzzi

3 goals (3 points) on 6 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Tyler Bertuzzi spin-o-rama goal

Anton Frondell switched from #15 to #16 and subsequently scored a goal vs. the Jets! The number is in honor of Marcus Kruger, the Blackhawks legend who was Frondell’s former teammate.

Frondell became the 3rd Blackhawks player in the last 15 years to record 5 points in his first 5 NHL games

Signed G Adam Gajan, 2023 2nd round pick, to a 2-year entry-level contract ($1.05M cap hit). The contract begins next season as he intends to leave Minnesota-Duluth after his current sophomore season.

Artyom Levshunov and Matt Grzelcyk were officially ruled out for the rest of the season

Troy Murray was added to the inaugural Blackhawks Hall of Fame class

Fighting practice? We reached the part of the season where the Hawks had their pro scout Wade Brookbank teach the team’s enforcers how to properly defend themselves when they throw the gloves.

Only 5 games left this season!

SCHEDULE 📅 M/TH/SAT

CHICAGO BULLS

L - SPURS 129 BULLS 114

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

• Spurs entered play with the 2nd best record in the NBA, controlled the game, and led by as many as 29 points

• Victor Wembanyama (41p/16a) was out there playing pickup basketball against some kids

• Tre Jones (23p), Leonard Miller (21), and Collin Sexton (20) scored over half of the Bulls’ points

L - PACERS 145 BULLS 126

A SWEEPING PACE

• Pacers’ 18th win of the season was their 4th against the Bulls as they swept the season series for the first time since 2019-2020

• Bulls allowed a season-high 83 points in the 1st half

• Pacers had 49 assists (1 less than the franchise record) and shot 57%/42%/90%

L - KNICKS 136 BULLS 96

EMPIRE STATE OF SLEEP

• Bulls never got off the bus as they started the game down 20-1 and allowed 78 1st half points

• Bulls missed their first 11 shots and only had one 15+ point scorer (Sexton)

• OG Anunoby scored 31 points on 7/10 3PT

L - SUNS 120 BULLS 110

SEVENTH LOSS FROM THE SUN

• Bulls put up a fight but lost their 7th straight game and are now 6-27 in their last 33

• Tre Jones scored 29 points on 12/20 FG

• Bulls shot 26% (10/39) from 3PT but had more points in the paint (62-52)

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Tre Jones

20.0p/4.5a per game, 65.% FG

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Matas Buzelis fakes out Victor Wembanyama

Waived Jaden Ivey “due to conduct detrimental to the team”. Ivey was essentially acquired for Kevin Huerter at the trade deadline and theoretically was going to audition for a couple months as a restricted free agent. Thanks to knee injury complications and an Instagram fiasco, he only suited up for the Bulls in 4 games. Great trade, AK.

There are circulating reports that the Bulls MIGHT make real changes in the organization. It really felt like Michael Reinsdorf was going to stick with the status quo for at least another few years. Arturas Karnisovas has had such a comfortable yet unwarranted cushion to this point, but he would potentially be on the way out! Billy Donovan has also been linked to the University of North Carolina coaching vacancy.

Mac McClung was named the NBA G League MVP

Only 4 games left this season!

SCHEDULE 📅 T/TH/F/SUN

CHICAGO CUBS

W - CUBS 7 ANGELS 2

EDWARD AND ONWARD

• Edward Cabrera earned the win in his first Cubs start and was nearly unhittable (6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)

• Ian Happ hit a HR in his 3rd consecutive game

• 8 different Cubs recorded a hit, and they walked more than they struck out (7 BB to 5 K)

L - ANGELS 2 CUBS 0

THE COLD BOTHERS ME ANYWAY

• Cubs were shutout for the first time this season and only collected 4 hits

• Jose Soriano mowed through the Cubs lineup (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K)

• Cold and windy Wrigley Field sparked some shaky defense and lifeless bats

W - CUBS 6 ANGELS 2

BOYD IN 10K

• Matthew Boyd struck out 10 and had 20 whiffs in a brilliant 5.2 inning start

• Alex Bregman, Mike Trout, and Zach Neto all made uncharacteristic errors as they battled the elements

• A 5-run 3rd inning is all the Cubs needed as seeing-eye grounders kept getting through the infield

L - GUARDIANS 4 CUBS 1

DEJA VU NIGHTMARE

• Cade Horton left the game in the 2nd inning after feeling forearm discomfort…right around 1 year after Justin Steele was seriously injured

• Cubs only had 5 hits and struck out 10 times

• Colin Rea saved the day with 3.1 innings of 1-run ball, but Hunter Harvey allowed 3 runs in the 7th inning to break the tie

W - CUBS 1 GUARDIANS 0 (DOUBLEHEADER GAME 1)

UNO AMAYA

• Miguel Amaya drove in the only run in the 8th inning

• Cabrera, Thielbar, Milner, and Palencia combined for a 1-hit shutout

• Both teams combined for 3 hits, and each 9-hole hitter had a hit

L - GUARDIANS 6 CUBS 5 (DOUBLEHEADER GAME 2)

POWER VS. PEN

• Ben Brown and Jacob Webb allowed all 6 runs to score after Shota Imanaga left a scoreless game in the 6th inning

• Shaw, Swanson, and Happ all hit a HR as the offense discovered some slug

• Cubs scored a run with a 2-out 9th inning rally but stranded 2 runners to end the game

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Edward Cabrera

1 win, 11.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 6 BB, 9 K

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Ian Happ assist to home

Cade Horton was placed on the 15-day IL with a right forearm strain. He is still getting imaging done, so we don’t know the full extent of the injury. During his start, he felt it in his wrist before the discomfort moved to his forearm. There seems to be some optimism, but I’m sooo scared after all of the major elbow injuries around the league…

Recalled LHP Riley Martin from AAA

Seiya Suzuki is on a rehab assignment and will rejoin the team on Friday! The Cubs already need an offensive spark, so his presence in the lineup should provide a huge boost.

SCHEDULE 📅 M/T/W/F/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BEARS

OFFSEASON

Compensatory Picks - The NFL made the official ruling that the Bears will NOT receive draft picks for losing Ian Cunningham…George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and Ryan Poles recently flew to New York to visit with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and make their appeal. This version of the Bears operates differently - they took the PJ just for the chance at a couple mid-round draft picks!

NFL Draft ➡️ April 23-25

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Moises Ballesteros

Ballesteros bought birthday flowers for his new teammate, Alex Bregman!

MILD TAKE

Replacing Arturas Karnisovas is the only way forward.

With whispers of potential Bulls changes, it needs to be said that the only productive result would be a new front office regime.

Seeing Billy Donovan return to the college ranks would be a bummer, but it would just give AK the chance to handpick a second coach who would be stuck with his middling rosters over the course of their new contract.

Keeping everyone, which I fully expected as recently as a week ago, would have left the Bulls on a decade-long collision course with the Play-In Tournament and no plan to build a contending team.

I believe Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis are worthwhile members of a future core, but AK cannot and will not build a formidable team around them. I also have to mention his unwillingness to search for a superstar. With 1 or 2 1st round picks this summer, a sizeable number of expiring contracts clearing the books, and a solid cap situation in the future, someone else should be given the keys to construct a new version of the Bulls.

Without any change, there will be more Patrick Williams-esque draft picks and an overall devaluing of draft capital. There will be no steps forward. AK has changed his team building plan every couple years, and his current plan isn’t gaining any steam.

HITTING THE LINKS

Ben Pope - Jeff Blashill is right to use Blackhawks' final games for experimentation (Chicago Sun-Times)

Tony Andracki - Who Should Cubs Extend Next? Evaluating the Most Intriguing Candidates (Bleacher Nation)

Mark Lazerus - Jonathan Toews comparisons don’t faze Blackhawks rookie Anton Frondell: ‘I’m far away’ (The Athletic)

Scott Powers - Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard, Anton Frondell, Frank Nazar could pack a 1-2-3 center punch (The Athletic)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Go hit the cages in case the Cubs need your bat in the lineup!