As was done in days of yore, dm and I are rolling out projection posts going into the season. We are not doing anything too complicated – just doing some simple averaging of the systems out there with some tweaks of our own if we see them. There will be inherent flaws in this – each system presumably makes different …
What a time to be alive
BP used to have KG, Parks, Rubio ect. Now we are reading about how front offices need to be like Darpa. *makes wanking motion until I die — Dylan Jones (@Dylanj85) January 28, 2016 This made me laugh, if only because of how much I and others here disliked Parks and especially KG back when they were writing for BP. I never …
NL Central offseason transaction roundup
The offesason obviously isn't over yet, but I thought I'd take a look over what everyone in the division has been up to. Before the Heyward signing my baseball-related focus was pretty much on what the Cubs would do (and bafflement at what they were doing), after it's pretty much just been lining up plans for spring training. I'll list …
Cubs sign 37 year old pitcher coming off best season since 2007
The Cubs and Lackey have agreed to a 2/32 deal, paying Lackey $16m each season. Lackey is coming off his best season since 2007, posting a 2.77 ERA with a 3.57 FIP, along with a ludicrous 82.6% strand rate. If only the Cubs played in a large market and could afford the likes of David Price or Zack Grienke, but alas. …
OV Sesquiannual Facepalm 11.18.15: Cubs opening a hardware store
Cubs pulling in some serious hardware In a move that shocked no one outside a few BFIB and Edinson Volquez backers, Kris Bryant was the unanimous winner of the NL Rookie of the Year award. Joe Maddon won the Manager of the Year award, and the only disappointment was that he was live at his bar for the announcement rather than …
NLCS Game 2 Thread
To-day's base ball squadrons Cubs Fowler Scwharber Bryant Rizzo Castro Coghlan Montero Baez Arrieta Metropolitans Granderson Wright Murphy Cespedes Duda d'Arnaud Conforto Flores Thor Sadly, I am going to be at 39,000 feet for the start of this game.
NLCS: Cubs and Mets Series Preview Part 2 + Game Thread
Part one dealt with the pitchers. This part will focus on the position players, primarily the Mets, though I'll come back around to look at some splits and stuff for the Cubs batters at the end. I'll rank the likely position players in decreasing wOBA: OF Yoenis Cespedes (.287/.337/.604, .394): The Mets picked up Cespedes at the trade deadline, and …
Cubs 6, Cardinals 4 (10/13/15)
Thousand word summary: Three Eight up: 1. I am not sure which Cubs rookie is having a more amazing playoff run, Schwarber or Soler. This is probably recency bias talking, but Scwharber's bomb is probably the most memorable moment in the playoffs so far. Here is a shot that captured where it landed: Seriously though, the ball must have just missed clearing …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (97-65) vs St. Louis Cardinals (100-62)
Welp, here we go. Time to see how much devil magic is left. Position player team leaders Cubs R+RBI: Rizzo (195) CERA: Ross (2.68) H: Rizzo (163) HR: Rizzo (31) OBP: Rizzo (.387) SLG: Rizzo (.512) wOBA: Rizzo (.384) BSR: Bryant (7.1) Defense: Russell (17.1) Helmet Rubs: Herrera fWAR: Bryant (6.5) Cardinals R+RBI: Carpenter (185) CERA: Molina (2.80) H: Heyward …
NLWC: Cubs 4, Pirates 0
OSS: As I watched Jake Arrieta mow down the Pirates, I was reminded of the line from the Bhagavad Gita: I am become death, destroyer of worlds. Three Six up (it's the playoffs!) 1. This Jake Arrieta guy might be pretty good. A complete game shutout with 11 strikeouts, and he didn't even seem to have his best stuff tonight. I don't …