Christian Villanueva was acquired by the Cubs for Ryan Dempster at the trade deadline in 2012. He wasn't the top prospect we all wanted (Randall Delgado), but I was fairly excited by the pickup. I almost always prefer positional prospects to pitchers; partly due to TINSTAAP, but mostly because successful position players are (on the whole) usually more beneficial to …
Better Know a Cub – Edwin Jackson
Edwin Jackson used to be the #4 prospect in baseball. Getting his first taste of the bigs in 2003 (as a 19-year old, no less), Jackson had a huge reputation to live up to early on in his career. For a long, long time, he never lived up to it. 2004 20 LAD NL 2 1 .667 7.30 8 5 …
Better Know a Cub: Alfonso Soriano
On November 19, 2006, Alfonso Soriano signed the 5th-largest contract in Major League History (to that point, by total dollars). Coming off a season in which the Fonz hit .277/.351/.560 and joined the 40/40 club, the deal looked like a pretty good sized overpay, but the cost of doing business with a premier free agent (and no mistake, averaging 36 …
Better Know a Cub: Scott Feldman
The offseason following the 2012 has been relatively busy for the Cubs, almost of which has been trades and signings they didn’t make. One of the signings they did make, however, was bringing over Scott Feldman on a one-year, $6 million deal. I don’t really get it. Scott Feldman is a fair injury risk, missing a good chunk of time …
Better Know a Cub: David DeJesus
David DeJesus is an interesting player. Although he’s never hit more than 13 home runs in a season, he’s always been a pretty useful player. He is not a prototypical RF because he has little power, but he’s not a prototypical leadoff guy because he has no speed. He’s a true #2 hitter; David will put the ball in play, …
Better Know a Cub: Luis Valbuena
Luis Valbuena came to the Cubs in 2012 off of the waiver wire, one of a dozen or so pickups the Cubs’ had during the infancy of last season. Unlike most other wire pickups, though, Valbuena was a position player, and one that would see quite a bit of action in a Cubs’ uniform in 2012. Originally from the Mariners …
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 …
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 …
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 …