Some Guys Have All the Luck

How does Ryan Pace keep his job as Bears’ general manager?  Is he a secret McCaskey or something?  I just don’t get it.

 

On Friday, Pace cut tight end Trey Burton, a big free-agent signing in 2018.  Now, he’s gone, replaced by Jimmy Graham, who just happens to be five years older.  Oh, and Burton was never a starter with his previous team, the Eagles.  Not that that stopped Pace from signing him to a four-year contract worth $22 million guaranteed.

 

Burton was good, a solid B, his first year as a Bear, then got injured in the playoffs in January 2019 (right before the Munsters were to play the Eagles, no less).  And last year he was a forever-injured bust, and now he’s gone.  You can put his signing right up there alongside that of Mike Glennon, another scrub signed to be a starter who couldn’t.  And Nick Foles?  It makes you wonder.

 

At the risk of apples and oranges, consider what happens with other Chicago franchises in similar situations.  Kenny Williams signed Adam Dunn, and that pretty much got him kicked upstairs with the White Sox.  The two-headed monster in the Bulls’ front office formerly known as GarPax was finally put to rest earlier this month after giving fans the likes of Rajon Rondo, Dwayne Wade, Jabari Parker…Did Jim Hendry ever live down signing Milton Bradley for the Cubs?  He sure didn’t get another GM job.  But Pace is the Energizer bunny who just keeps going no matter the mistake.  We could talk drafting Mitch Trubisky here, but won’t.

 

You want to find underutilized talent?  Fine, then study how the other guys do it.  Again, apples to oranges, I know, but the White Sox sure did well with Adam Eaton.  It basically cost them Hector Santiago to get him and netted Rick Hahn Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez when it came time for the rebuild.  Anthony Rizzo batted all of .141 with the Padres in 2011, but that didn’t keep Theo Epstein from going after him.  Why?  Because Epstein and Jed Hoyer did their homework, that’s why.

 

If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that Pace could learn from his mistakes, at some point, in what looks to be a job for life.  One can only hope, about the learning, not the duration.