I know I said I probably wasn't going to do these this year, but I am going to change the format a little bit. I won't be combining 5, 6 or 7 projections to create an average. I will just stick to two: CAIRO and ZiPS. I doubt the average between these two will be that much different than they'd …
2012 Cubs Catching Defense
One of the things I noticed this season with Welington Castillo was that about any time he had an opportunity to make an error, he did. I'm not being serious of course, but it was pretty bad. Only 6 catchers made more errors than Castillo and he only caught 413.2 innings. It also seemed he allowed a lot of passed …
Hoyer: we will have financial flexibility
“We will have financial flexibility,” Hoyer said. “We’ve been diligent to make sure we do have flexibility and we’re efficient going forward. We’ll obviously be active in the free agent market. That’s a big part of our research and work now is evaluating free agents. We have some money to spend and we’ll focus on it heavily.” – Jed Hoyer …
Starlin Castro’s Lineup Spot
Contest reminder: Don't forget to enter our contest to win The Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs DVD set. It runs through Sunday. This has nothing to do with talent, as Castro has as much of it as anyone in baseball. This comes down too mind frame and plate approach. In my mind, Starlin Castro is as good a 2 …
The Cubs probably won’t be taking many walks for some time
The Cubs 6.5% walk rate prior to last night's games was the lowest in baseball (league average 8.1%). The following Cubs with 150 PA or more are or were above league average: Geovany Soto (9.6%), Luis Valbuena (9.8%), Ian Stewart (10.4%), David DeJesus (10.6%) and Bryan LaHair (11.2%). One of those players is now with the Texas Rangers. Another is …
Worst Cubs offense ever?
I was checking out Starlin Castro's disappointing offensive season on Fangraphs and thought I'd check to see where the Cubs rank offensively as a team. I didn't realize it had gotten so ugly. Their 77 wRC+ is dead last behind the Mariners at 81. The two offense's may actually be equal if we eliminated the pitcher in the NL, but …
New Cub Arodys Vizcaino
I was getting ready for bed last night when all these trades happened and I assumed I'd make it to bed at my bedtime. Then I saw Arodys Vizcaino's name surface as one of the two players the Cubs were getting in return for Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm. At that point I knew I was going to be up …
New Cub Jake Brigham
Last night Geovany Soto was traded to the Texas Rangers for Jake Brigham. Brigham is a 24 year old right handed pitcher who has spent each of 2011 and 2012 for AA Frisco. His ERA over 2 seasons has basically been 4.5 and his FIP not much better. His FIP sits at 4.58 this year, his second time through the …
Geovany Soto traded to Texas Rangers for Jacob Brigham, Johnson and Paul Maholm traded to Braves for Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Capman ***UPDATED***
According to Tim Brown of Yahoo, Geovany Soto has been traded to the Texas Rangers. Soto has been traded to Rangers. — Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) July 31, 2012 Not sure how accurate this is, but it figures the Cubs would pull this shit when I'm about ready to go to bed. This trade is not related to the Reed Johnson …
Reed Johnson traded, Geovany Soto too ***UPDATED***
Reed Johnson has more than likely been traded. He was pulled from tonight's game and was shaking hands in the dugout. More on this later (probably tomorrow morning for me). UPDATE: Geovany Soto was shaking hands in the dugout and was pulled at the same time. Brett Jackson was pulled from Iowa and would likely be recalled. Can't imagine the …