Baez debuted at A in May 28, 2012. In his first month, he “struggled,” hitting .298/.330/.500. Sure, his career line at A was .333/.383/.596, but you have to stretch pretty hard to get struggling out of that. His strikeout rate was 21.7% and his walk rate was 6.6%. He was eventually promoted to A+, and he absolutely struggled when promoted. …
Patrick Newman and The Japan Times on NPB posting fees
The Japan Times published an article yesterday about how the new posting system agreement puts Rakuten (Masahiro Tanaka's team) in an unfavorable position. The Eagles were widely expected to post Tanaka this offseason, but the newly agreed upon system, complete with a $20 million cap on posting fees, seems to have the team rethinking things. “First of all, discuss it …
The Babe Ruth Lineal Champion
I was bored today, so I invented something: the Lineal Championship. It's easy; take a player that led his team in WAR for any year, and follow that player every year until he DOESN'T lead the team in WAR anymore (a caveat: only positional players. You could do something similar for pitchers, or include them in your calculations, but I …
Series Preview: Anaheim Angels of Disneyland (43-45) at Chicago Cubs (39-48)
On June 9th, the Cubs (25-35) and Angels (27-36) had very similar records, and things weren't looking so rosy for the Angels. Since then they've begun digging themselves out of their hole, going 16-9 over that span including two road series sweeps…and climbed into third place in their stacked division. Angels Cubs wRC+ 109 (5th) 89 (23rd) BSR -2.8 (17th) …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (23-32) at LA of AAA Angels (25-33)
The Cubs head to LA for a short 2 game series against the Angels, who are fresh off being swept in a four game series by the Astros. I’m not kidding. Seven of the Astros’ twenty-one wins this year have come against the Angels, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about how their season has gone. …
The worst Cubs of 2012
In a season that has mostly sucked it seems appropriate to pay tribute to those who helped them suck even more than they would have otherwise. I haven't looked this over so I'm doing the work as I write along. We'll start with the position players and if I feel like I'll do one for the pitchers tomorrow. Joe Mather …
Bruce Levine thinks Marlon Byrd will be traded
I rarely read Bruce Levine’s chats, but for some reason that’s what I did with the one he had yesterday. One of the questions was asked about why Marlon Byrd was still with the Cubs considering the rebuild they’re undergoing. There are a couple reasons Byrd has not been traded and in my opinion, likely will not be. He’s provides …