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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Michael Bowden

In Projections by dmick8927 Comments

Yesterday the Cubs traded Marlon Byrd to the Red Sox for Michael Bowden and a player to be named later. Bowden was drafted in the 1st round (47th overall) in 2005. He was the last of the 5 draft picks the Red Sox had in the 1st round that year. In 2006 Bowden established himself as one of the best …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Backups

In Projections by dmick8977 Comments

We've already published the projections for some of the backups along the way. Jeff Baker's was posted with the infield backups and the two possible back-up catchers were published in another article. Without commentary, the others are below. Projection Name PA H HR BB SO avg obp slg wOBA Guru Blake DeWitt 351 82 5 26 55 .256 .313 .376 …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Chris Volstad

In Projections by berselius104 Comments

It looks like Chris Volstad has the last rotation spot locked up. If you looked up "serviceable" in a dictionary there would probably be a picture of Volstad next to it. He's been in the bigs for most of four seasons, and made 87 starts in his last three years with the Marlins. Perhaps one of the reasons that Thoyer …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Right Field

In Projections by dmick8928 Comments

The Cubs signed DeJesus on November 30th to a 2-year guaranteed contract with a 3rd year option. He's guaranteed $10.5 million over the contract. I think a couple of the reasons the Cubs chose DeJesus is quite simple and I mentioned them in that article. DeJesus played RF for 116 games last season and played 8 games in CF. He’s …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Left Field

In Projections by dmick89159 Comments

We've yet to show the projections for any of the outfielders and since I've been going around the horn, we'll start with left field. I'm breaking this into four posts: one for each position and then one for the backups. Despite a .289 OBP last season, Alfonso Soriano managed to post a .325 wOBA, which was good for league average …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Ryan Dempster

In Projections by berselius84 Comments

We haven't looked at any of the pitcher projections yet, so we might as well start with the longest tenured starter on the squad. Last year, Dempster looked utterly awful in the first month of the season. He had some terrible BABIP and HR luck but was generally being hit hard. However, after his first 6-8 starts or so he …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Shortstop

In Projections by dmick8927 Comments

Shortstop is the last infield position we have to look at it and it's without a doubt the most exciting position. If you look at Starlin Castro's fWAR you can't help but be impressed, but if you look at his rWAR he looks much less impressive. Whereas UZR sees Castro as a well below average fielder, Total Zone sees him …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 3rd Basemen

In Projections by dmick89150 Comments

So far we've looked at catchers, 1st basemen and 2nd basemen. 1st and 2nd base appear to be very weak for the 2012 Cubs and I can tell you before you read further that 3rd base is no different. The Cubs lost Aramis Ramirez to free agency who had been at 3rd since midway through the 2003 season. Before we …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 2nd Basemen

In Projections by dmick8968 Comments

I don't really know why, but whenever I think about Darwin Barney I want to pronounce his name with a Boston accent. I guess it makes it more fun to think about Dahwin Bahney rather than what Barney is actually capable of producing. He returns for his 2nd full season though he's probably not the one who should be starting. …

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Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 1st Basemen

In Projections by Obstructed View Staff43 Comments

Bryan LaHair turned 29 years old in November and he's set to take over 1st base for the Cubs in 2012. LaHair was drafted in the 39th round of the 2002 Draft. Until a few years ago teams could do what they called draft and follow which meant they could draft a player, not sign him, but they retained his …