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HOST: This is… THE SWEET SPOT, a show about the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona.
I’m your host Sam Eddy.
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Kevin Durant makes his Suns debut/Spencer Cihak (Reader)
HOST INTRO: Kevin Durant made his Suns debut on Wednesday night, Spencer Cihak has more on the former MVP’s first game playing for Phoenix.
CIHAK: The future of Phoenix basketball looked bright Wednesday night as the Suns defeated the Hornets 105-to-91 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. After being out for nearly two months with an MCL sprain, Kevin Durant started on limited minutes for the Suns and finished with 23 points and six rebounds. Devin Booker was the top scorer of the night with 37 points and had 7 assists along with six rebounds. The Suns improved to 34 and 29 and sit as the four seed in the West with 19 games left in the regular season.
For Cronkite Sports, I’m Spencer Cihak…
HOST OUTRO: The Suns will head to Chicago to play the Bulls Friday night. Tip off at the United Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Rumors of Bears trading the #1 pick/Harris Hicks (Interview)
HOST INTRO: As the NFL Draft is coming up in April, there is speculation about what the Chicago Bears should take with their overall number one pick. Should they trade their promising quarterback Justin Fields? Or should they consider trading the pick altogether? Cronkite Sports’ Harris Hicks and I got a chance to sit down with former NFL tight end and Chicagoan Clay Harbor at Super Bowl Radio Row.
HICKS: In a breaking news report on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter disclosed that the Bears are “leaning towards” trading their number one overall pick. With this development, the burning question on every Bears fan’s mind is: What course of action will the Bears take? In a bid to get a pulse on the situation, we reached out to Clay Harbor, a former NFL tight End hailing from Chicago and a respected voice among the Bears’ faithful. Here’s what he had to say.
<<CLAY HARBOR: I think you gotta trade down, but not too far. I think you trade down to the second, fourth pick. Maybe if you can, you go from one to two and you go from two to four, but I don’t want to get past four because I think if you get past four, you’re gonna miss on Will Anderson and Jaylen Carter. I think those are two guys that are generational talents that you really don’t want to miss on.
I think those guys can really change the game and they’re, they’re the two best defenders in the league and coming outta the draft. And, and for the Bears, what do they need? They need defense. They had the worst defense in the league. Worst run defense. Worst pass defense. The worst- defense of getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. So for me, you gotta get two of those guys, but you got a lot of holes to fill, so you need to get more draft capital so you can kind of fill this roster out too.>>
HICKS: During the offseason, there was a flurry of rumors circulating in NFL circles that the Bears should trade quarterback Justin Fields and pursue Bryce Young in the upcoming draft. However, Clay Harbor was resolute in his position on this speculation.
<<CLAY HARBOR: I’m all in on Fields, baby. You don’t trade Fields for Bryce Young. That’s not happening. -I will lead a riot in Chicago if the Bears trade Justin Fields for, and draft Bryce Young, they can’t happen. That won’t happen anyways. Basically, his receiving corps was us three right here. I mean, he didn’t have much to throw the ball to. He didn’t, he didn’t have a great offensive line and he wasn’t perfect throwing the ball far from it actually held the ball way too long for sure. But what he did show me was he improved. He got better, and when a guy’s improving, you can give him more time to improve. It’s like Jalen Hurts before this season.
Everybody’s saying, “Ah, Hurts can’t do it. Hurts isn’t the guy. If Hurts doesn’t perform this year, we’re drafting a new quarterback.” Guess what? They put players around Hurts. Hurtsended up showing him what he could do, and I think that’s exactly what Fields is gonna do.>>
HICKS: There’s no doubt Justin Fields was a human highlight-reel last season, but like a lot of young quarterbacks, there’s room for improvement. Harbor listed some areas where he thought Fields could improve.
<<CLAY HARBOR: Definitely can improve with decisions. Getting the ball out quicker. He held the ball longer than any quarterback in the league, and he held the ball longer in the pocket than any quarterback in the league. So those are two things, you wanna get at least to the middle of the league, the middle of the pack there.
That’s why a lot of his sacks happened. His offensive line wasn’t great, but they weren’t as bad with as many sacks as they, they’ve given up, because Fields needs to get rid of the ball on some of these occasions. But he also needs to improve a little bit on his deep ball. He’s shown some flashes with deep balls.
But then again, who’s he throwing the ball to? He’s throwing deep balls to Equanimeous St. Brown, Darnell Mooney, when he was healthy. Byron Pringle, he didn’t have big name receivers. He’s not throwing it to A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith or, or guys like that. So you gotta get him more players to throw the ball to.>>
HICKS: With Chicago being rumored to trade their pick, there’s a lot of different directions the Bears could go. Not only is Chicago rumored to trade down, but trading their number one overall pick for an established NFL player is a possibility. And Harbor had a player in mind he thinks his hometown team should target.
<<CLAY HARBOR: I like the Tee Higgins. Bears Twitter, a lot of people are talking about Tee Higgins and the Bears, but I think it makes sense. They gotta sign Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase to long-term deals. They’re not gonna be able to sign Tee Higgins to a long-term deal. They’re gonna want to get rid of him and get something in return. So if the bears can trade back, you know, get a second and third. Now you, you, you package together a second and third round pick and you get Tee Higgins. I think that’s what they need to do. And then you can, then they have the cap base to sign Higgins to a big deal.
You know, they can sign him to 15-plus million a year and, and they got that space. So I think that makes too much sense for the Bears. This guy’s had a thousand yards the past couple of years. He’d be a good number one receiver for Field to throw the ball to. But you, you can’t just go into battle with Claypool and, and Mooney, one of those guys go down and you’re right back to where you were this year. So I think you gotta invest in the wide receivers.>>
HICKS: With all of the attention on what the Bears do with their number one overall draft pick, what the Bears could do in the later rounds has gone under the radar. But in these rounds, Clay Harbor still has his sights set at wide receiver.
<<CLAY HARBOR: Michael Wilson from Stanford is a late round guy that I think can really make a play. He was injured a lot in college, but he’s explosive. He’s a big guy. He’s 6 2, 210 and really impressed me at the Senior Bowl. Jalen Reed from Michigan State. Tank Dell, I think will be gone, but maybe their second round pick, Tank Dell. There’s a lot of players at the Senior Bowl that really impressed me.>>
HICKS: In terms of what Clay Harbor wants the Bears do, there’s two stances of his that noticeably stick out: Keep the faith in Justin Fields and give him wide receivers. For Cronkite Sports, this is Harris Hicks.
White Sox Black history/Jake Brown (Wrap)
HOST INTRO: In early ’90s Black baseball players represented almost fifth of major leaguers, which was roughly 18 percent. Currently Black players make up just 7 percent of Major League Baseball Teams. Cronkite Sports’ Jake Brown has more on the state of racial makeup in baseball today.
BROWN: MLB used to be headlined by Black ballplayers such as Hall of Famers Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr. and Cy Young award winners CC Sabathia and David Price. Since then Black participation in Major League Baseball has dwindled due to the changes in the inner cities and suburbs. Baseball is also an expensive sport to play and there are considerable disparities between the average net worth of Black and white families.
Outfielder Billy Hamilton is a member of the Player’s Alliance. The organization goes into Black communities and introduces opportunities to young Black ballplayers.
<<HAMILTON: You gotta want it and have the desire to do it, and like us just playing every single day and continue to try to be great, and just showing these guys that it’s a possibility to be at the next level.>>
BROWN: The goal, according to Hamilton, is to help the kids to understand that there is a future for them in baseball. All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson says he feels special to be a part of the 7 percent of African American players in the Major Leagues.
<<ANDERSON: To be right there in the middle of a low percentage, it such a, it means a lot. I’m just going to continue to keep going, keep putting on, representing and being the best version of myself unapologetically and, you know, continue to have fun.>>
BROWN: Anderson says the best way for MLB to attract more Black players is to find the players that are marketable.
<<ANDERSON: You had those players in the ’80s and ’90s that was cool, rocking hats backwards, being real cool, chains out. They bring something different to the game. They bring some cool, bring some swag, bring some personality and just ultimately making the game better as a whole.>>
BROWN: According to Hamilton, MLB actively markets itself to the Black community.
<<HAMILTON: They, they look and see how many, the percentage that there is in professional baseball and they feel like, OK, now if I want to play football or basketball I have a better chance because MLB does their job.>>
BROWN: You can learn more about the Players Alliance at playersalliance.org. I’m Jake Brown, Cronkite Sports…
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Giants twin pitchers/Kaitlyn Parohinog (Wrap)
HOST INTRO: GIANTS FANS ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE DEJA VU ALL SEASON LONG. IDENTICAL TWIN BROTHERS, TAYLOR AND TYLER ROGERS, ARE NOW BOTH PLAYING FOR THE GIANTS. OUR REPORTER KAITLYN PAROHINOG WENT TO SCOTTSDALE TO TRY AND DIFFERENTIATE THE TWO HERSELF.
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PAROHINOG: THE ROGERS TWINS. THE FIRST PAIR TO PLAY TOGETHER IN 33 YEARS AND THE FOURTH IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HISTORY TO DO SO. THIS IS ALSO THEIR FIRST TIME BEING ON THE SAME TEAM SINCE THEIR HIGH SCHOOL DAYS.
<<TY ROGERS: “It’s different now because you guys talk to me a lot more now. But no, when we’re playing catch and stuff like that it’s like we’re just little kids again in the front yard.”>>
PAROHINOG: WHILE THE ROGERS SPEND TIME WORKING IN THE BULLPEN, GIANTS PLAYERS AND FANS TRY TO TELL THE TWO APART. CATCHER BLAKE SABOL NOTES THAT SOMETIMES HE HAS TO DO A “DOUBLE TAKE” TO MAKE SURE HE KNOWS WHICH ROGERS TWIN IS BY HIM.
<<SABOL: “I’m getting better at it, there’s still some times I have to double-take.”>>
PAROHINOG: PITCHER SEAN HJELLE (GEL-ee) IS STILL LEARNING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BROTHERS. HE’S USING THIS SPRING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TAYLOR AND NAILING DOWN WHICH ONE IS WHICH.
<<HJELLE: “I’m trying to be really good about differentiating and not just saying ‘hey Rog’ and that’s kind of my fail safe, just looking at them you can see, you know, which one’s Taylor, which one’s Tyler, but when they’re by themselves, it’s a little bit harder.”>>
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PAROHINOG: FANS SITTING IN THE FIRST BASE SEATS AT SCOTTSDALE STADIUM DURING MORNING PRACTICE ALSO HAVE TROUBLES TELLING THE TWINS APART.
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PAROHINOG: AS THE ROGERS THREW WARM-UP PITCHES TO EACH OTHER IN RIGHT FIELD, THE CROWD SMILED AND CRACKED A LAUGH WATCHING THE BASEBALL GO BETWEEN THE MIRROR-IMAGE TWINS. I INTERVIEWED A FEW FANS IN ATTENDANCE, PHIL GARCIA, BOB BIDDLE AND JASON BEHESHTI, AND ASKED WHAT DIFFERENCES THEY COULD SPOT BETWEEN THE TWO.
<<GARCIA: “One throws left-handed one throws right-handed, that’s the only way I could tell.”>>
<<BIDDLE: “Tyler has a brown glove and Taylor has a black glove, other than that it’s pretty tough.”>>
<<BEHESHTI: “I haven’t seen them up close enough together to tell them apart, so maybe as the season goes on we’ll figure it out.”>>
PAROHINOG: AND THERE’S A BIG CHANCE THEY WILL FIGURE IT OUT. WITH TAYLOR SIGNING A THREE-YEAR CONTRACT, PLAYERS AND FANS WILL HAVE A FEW SEASONS TO TELL THE TWO APART.
KAITLYN PAROHINOG, CRONKITE NEWS.
New rules for 2023 MLB season/Sam Eddy (Wrap)
HOST INTRO: MLB spring training is underway and there are a bunch of new rules in place that teams must get used to. I was able to talk to the managers and players from the Chicago Cubs and White Sox and hear talk about how the new pitch timer, the defensive shift limits and the bigger bases have impacted their spring training so far.
EDDY: For Cubs manager David Ross, his staff made sure to thoroughly go over the rules so everybody in the organization was on the same page.
<<DAVID ROSS: Yeah we’re going to just lay out, again, talk through the the new rules with the group we’ll have a couple presentations making sure they can get all their questions out of the way and we’ll do some, uh, we’ll have pitch clocks on the fields and work ing some drills into that. The bullpens are already kind of timed at times, just making sure we have anybody that is an outlier that stands out that we may have to speed up a little bit. But we’re going to work with intent, we ‘re going to work with to execute. We don’t want to change we don’t want to when all of a sudden rush through everything because of a clock. We got to find a new cadence to how we do things and I think athletes will adjust really fast. The baseball players will adjust really fast. But seeing it, feeling it, being a part of it will help them.>>
EDDY: Similar to the Cubs, the White Sox are also spending quite a bit of time reviewing the rules so they are prepared for Opening Day. White Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolioto explains how the team has been learning the rule changes.
<<LUCAS GIOLITO: So, you know, we’re doing our due diligence like we had an hour-long meeting today, kind of discussing all the new rules that we’re going to have to deal with. And we’re getting that practice in. You know, we had the clocks out for the live BPs. We have the clocks out of the bullpen. So we’re just kind of day by day learning more and more and then implementing it in our practice.>>
EDDY: The White Sox’s new manager Pedro Grifol wants his team to make mistakes with the rules during spring so they can learn from them.
<<PEDRO GRIFOL: So what we don’t want is, you know, to go through a fairly clean spring and then all of a sudden, you know, here we are and we get a few things pop up that we didn’t go through in the spring, but we’re trying to do our best with coming up with different type of scenarios for every one of those rules. And hopefully they, you know, they come up in the spring. I mean, I rather see it here than see it there in the season.>>
EDDY: While the rule changes have been a hot topic entering the season, the Cubs’ new star shortstop Dansby Swanson is just looking forward to seeing how the rules play out.
<<DANSBY SWANSON: I mean, it’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. I mean, I think the intentions are good. It’s just I hate that we have to have rules to make things how the game probably should be played. So I’m just kind of excited to see what it looks like in spring, how you can use those to your advantage, whether it’s the bases, whether it’s, you know, the pitch clock stuff. So it’ll be interesting to see. I’m sure there’s a lot of ideas being brainstormed and collaborated on in the coaches office, so we’ll kind of see what pans out from herethe stands.>>
EDDY: Despite this year being the first quote-unon-quote normal MLB season since COVID hit, there are still some abnormalities with the rule changes. The Cubs and White Sox have plans in place this spring training so that by the end of March they are ready to go.
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HOST: That’s all for this week. The Sweet Spot is produced by Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau. I’m Sam Eddy.
Thank you to all the sweethearts out there listening. Make sure to find and subscribe to The Sweet Spot on any podcast platform of your choice.
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