With all the doom and gloom surrounding this year's offense and the intense focus on Castro and Rizzo, Luis Valbuena's fantastic season seems to have fallen through the cracks. Valbuena currently has a line of .248/.361/.421* on the year, good for a .339 wOBA and about 1 WAR through two months of the season. What the hell? *Today's game, in which …
Series Preview: New York Mets (15-23) at Chicago Cubs (17-23)
The Mets have lost seven of their last ten games, including a sweep by the Pirates and a near-sweep by the Cardinals. Luckily for the Mets, they have the Marlins in their division so it will be difficult to drop into last place. I was surprised to read that they've placed foruth in the division for four straight years – …
Cubs under contract for 2015
With the Anthony Rizzo signing, I thought it'd be sweet to show you the "Cubs Core;" players under team control for 2015 (when we should EXPECT a competitive team instead of just hoping). Anthony Rizzo: 2021 Starlin Castro: 2020 Welington Castillo: 2017 Edwin Jackson: 2016 Luis Valbuena: 2016 Travis Wood: 2016 Darwin Barney: 2016 Jeff Samardzija: 2015 James Russell: 2015 …
Postgame Thread: Cubs 5, Braves 1, Cubs Bullpen -5
The Cubs got a good start from Carlos Villaneuva, who struck out 6 and gave up one run in 6.2 innings. Rizzo and Valbuena homered off of Braves starter Julio Teheran, and Nate Schierholtz was inches from adding one of his own. The Cubs were prepared to pour even more on, loading the bases in the top of the eighth …
Starlin Castro to bat 2nd
You know that news is rather light when you're writing about what you figured would happen all along: Starlin Castro will bat 2nd. If everybody lives up to their capabilities, hopefully we don't have to do anything [different]," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Sunday of his projected lineup in which David DeJesus will lead off and be followed by Castro, …
Has Junior Lake passed Josh Vitters on the depth chart?
Ian Stewart is injured. It's not his wrist this time, but he'll be out a few weeks. Luis Valbuena has already made the team. Josh Vitters is also out an other 2-3 weeks, but I thought this was interesting. The Cubs do face some decisions regarding Stewart. His $2 million contract is non-guaranteed, which is not unusual for an arbitration-level …
Cubs players who are out of options
There are 6 Cubs players who are out of options meaning they cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. They would have to be placed on waivers instead. Those players are: Michael Bowden, Welington Castillo, Rafael Dolis, Jeff Samardzija, Luis Valbuena and Travis Wood. There are no concerns that Jeff Samardzija would need to be optioned to the minors, but …
2013 PECOTA Projections
The 2013 PECOTA projections are out and I thought I'd post some of the Cubs below. Since you have to be a subscriber in order to download the spreadsheet, I'm only going to include PA and wOBA, which I calculated using the basic formula. For pitchers I'll only show IP and FIP (I calculated this too). 2013 PECOTA Projections for …
It’s time to get excited about the 2013 Cubs
Spring training is just around the corner and the 2013 Cubs are set to kick off their Cactus League schedule on February 23rd. It's a split squad game and the game against the Angels will even be televised on WGN. It's not until April 1st that non-practice games will be played, but it's time to get excited. They might be …
Cubs signed Jeff Samardzija and James Russell
It was reported yesterday that the Cubs signed Jeff Samardzija and James Russell to avoid arbitration. The Cubs signed Matt Garza yesterday and earlier this week they signed Luis Valbuena. Those were the only four players the Cubs had eligible for arbitration. The Jeff Samardzija contract is worth $2.64 million and they signed James Russell for $1.075 million. Totals for …