The Cubs have gotten off to a good start on this 9-game home stand. They need to get as close to .500 as they can during this stretch because June is a very tough month for the Cubs. The Cubs have the right teams coming to town in the Pirates and Astros, but the Cubs have also had their troubles …
It’s never too early to look ahead to next year
A few years ago I wouldn’t have considered writing something about looking ahead. The Cubs had the pieces in place to contend for as long as they were willing to supplement the roster when it was needed. Following the 2009 season the Cubs refused to do that and what they basically agreed to do at that time was a much …
Cubs Need Brett Jackson
Normally, I am not someone who wants to rush players to the big leagues. I wasn’t a fan of bringing Corey Patterson up so quickly. I didn’t even love it when Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were brought up so fast. I usually want players to develop skills in the minors that will be harder to learn while under the …
Welington Castillo to Chicago?
It could be nothing, but I couldn’t help but notice that moments after Soto was out of the game that the Iowa Cubs pinch hit for Welington Castillo. Castillo began the season rehabbing in High-A Daytona and has hit a combined .244/.324/.400. This is his 14th game for the Iowa Cubs and he played 12 for Daytona prior to getting …
Grades so far: Infield
The Cubs are 33 games into their 2011 season and it seems a good time to check on how players are doing. I’ll break it into four parts. Click the link below to read more.
Cubs rWAR and fWAR
Most of you are at least somewhat familiar with WAR and how it works. I’d bet most of you are familiar that Fangraphs publishes their own WAR (fWAR) and Baseball Reference publishes their own. BRef’s WAR is based on Rally Monkey’s formula and it’s been referred to as rWAR for a few years now. There are some key differences between …
Cubs compared to their projections
I wrote this on Friday morning so it’s updated through Thursday’s games. I’m too lazy to update it to include Friday’s blowout loss. This is something I’ll try to update once a month just so we can see where players are at compared to their projections. It’s something SG has done on RLYW a few times over the last couple …
Obstructed View Opening Day Roundtable – part 2
Your fearless Obstructed View Executive Chairmen got together to discuss various topics related to the 2011 Cubs season. We looked at the offseason and the new additions to the club in part one. Here’s part two, which focuses on our predictions for the 2011 season. Ryan Theriot [mb21] : How many times will Theriot get a standing ovation when the …
How bad is Koyie Hill?
Over the last two seasons Koyie Hill has posted a 51 wRC+ (weighted runs created, adjusted so that 100 is average like ERA+ and OPS+). wRC+, you may remember, uses wOBA. Oddly enough, it’s only 11th worst over those two seasons among players with 200 or more PA. It’s bad. It’s downright terrible, but he is a catcher so he’s …