There 17 minutes where we were all pretty certain that the Cubs were going to sign Anibal Sanchez to a 5 year, 75 million dollar contract. Those were some great times… Obviously, we know what happened next (or at least have a pretty good idea). Sanchez’ agent took the deal back to the Tigers and played the Cubs up against …
Better Know a Cub: Travis Wood
Travis Wood is traveling in the wrong direction. Wood made his debut in the majors in 2010, throwing 102.2 innings of 3.51 ERA ball. He wasn’t lucky, either: his FIP was 3.42. As an age-23 season, it was quite impressive: he even threw a 3.31 K/BB ratio in there for good measure. He hasn’t repeated his good fortune since. In …
Better Know a Cub: Darwin Barney
Darwin Barney is an odd duck. He doesn’t get on base all that often (.299 OBP last year, .305 career). He has no power (7 HR last year is more than double the amount he has hit in any other year of his professional career). He doesn’t walk (5.6% last year, 2.4% less than the league average). He doesn’t steal …
Fixing the 2013 Cubs
In my last post, I detailed the 10 places (what a high number!) that the Cubs could stand to upgrade by merely getting an average player. Those 10 places were: 1. Centerfielder2. Third baseman3. Ace Pitcher4. Rightfielder5. Ace reliever (closer)6. #2 pitcher7. #3 pitcher8. Fireman reliever9. Utility infielder10. Utility outfielderWhat have the Cubs done to fix these positions?1. CenterfielderLast year, the …
Anatomy of the 2012 Cubs
C 2.0 [1.2]1B 2.0 [1.8]2B 2.5 [2.5]SS 2.5 [3.3]3B 2.8 [0.9]RF 2.7 [1.7]CF 3.0 [1.0]LF 2.5 [4.0]C2 [0.5] [0.5]O4 [0.5] [0.6]O5 [0.5] [-2.1]I5 [0.5] [0.7]I6 [0.5] [0.0]Position: 22.5 [16.0] SP 4.5 [3.3]SP 2.7 [2.1]SP 2.0 [1.4]SP 1.3 [1.2]SP 0.6 [0.7]RP 1.5 [0.7]RP …
Anatomy of an Average Team
In FanGraphs, a “replacement-level” team would win 43 games. That is to say, a team that is only comprised of AAA fodder, talent freely available to any team, would expect to win that amount. I wondered, then, how a team could take that and be average. I looked at the FanGraphs leaders at each position this year and took adjusted …
Where Will the Cubs' Wins Come From?
Let’s take a closer look at the Cubs in 2012. I’m going to include the projected starters for 2012 (if they are still on the team) in green, and the players no longer expected to make the opening 25 in red. Bench players are in blue.CCastillo 1.2Soto 0.5Recker 0.2Hill -0.1Lalli -0.4Clevenger -0.7 1B Rizzo 1.8LaHair 0.7 2B Barney 2.5Cardenas -0.2DeWitt -0.4 SSCastro …
Better Know a Cub: Hector Rondon
The Rule V draft affected the Cubs likely more than any other team in baseball this year. Theo & Co. lost Starling Peralta in the major league portion, and Michael Burgess/Matt Cerda/Alvy Jimenez in the minor league portion. However, it wasn’t all bad for the Cubs, as they landed a flamethrower in Hector Rondon. Will he stick? I think the chance is very …
How much value does Alfonso Soriano have?
News broke yesterday that the Cubs talked about swapping Alfonso Soriano for Domonic Brown. At first blush, it seems like a steal for the Cubs. After digging into the numbers, now I’m not so sure… First, I’d like to try to determine Fonzie’s worth. He had an OPS+ of 121 last year, following years of 114 and 104. Soriano only plays around …
Better Know a Cub: Anthony Rizzo
Anthony Rizzo has packed a lot of bags. Drafted in the 6th round out of Stoneman-Douglas HS, Rizzo has been a part of 3 different organizations in 6 years, being traded in both 2011 and 2012. He was an early riser, spending only 24 PA in Rookie Ball and only a season or so in A and A+ combined. His …