The Athletic (I think it was Evan Drellich) published a piece today about owners complaining that Steve Cohen is a rich bastard, and for those of us blocked by the paywall, this was the snippet that was being floated around: It actually is kind of hilarious when we basically know that there are something like 20 owners (including the bottom …
Roster Check in Advance of Rule 5 and Free Agent Additions (If Any)
Most of the stuff I was tracking was in the previous post, but the official list is out with no DFAs (yet) since the Cubs had room: The Cubs will therefore roll the dice on the other Rule 5 eligible guys, but since most rosters are still stuffed to the gills, they’ll probably be okay for the most part. Now …
Sports and Sustainability
I’ve been on a sustainability kick, what with driving my gasoline-powered car way less (we’ll probably sell it at some point) and switching over to my electric car. It’s been disappointing to realize that maybe only 10% of the stuff I throw in the blue bin actually gets recycled, and if only a few billionaires pooled their resources to set …
MLB Future Power Rankings (ESPN)
Cubs in a landslide. The Cubs arrived a year earlier than expected, and they're not going away any time soon. This offseason they'll put the finishing touches on what should be a championship-caliber club in 2016. Team president Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer are committed to building a strong rotation after Arrieta and Jon Lester this offseason to improve their playoff chances, …
Castro: Ramirez Called Me After Benching
Despite the fact that many Cubs fans (and mustachioed commentators) love to hate Starlin Castro in the same, definitely-not-racist-at-all way they hated Aramis Ramirez, they're two of my favorite players. So I got a little emotional when I read that Aramis reached out to encourage Starlin after his demotion to the very deep Chicago Cubs bench. I love what Ramirez …
BP Wrigleyville with a great Wildcard preview
So that’s what Cole’s been up to. Before we go much deeper in hitter-by-hitter analysis, though, I think we can narrow things down just a bit. Jackson has never faced Cole, has a .655 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2015, and until his last two games has really struggled in a Cubs uniform. He’s a quality defensive outfielder, though, so it …
The 2015 Chicago Cubs: This Won’t Be a Nice Season
2015 had a chance of being a feel-good season for the Chicago Cubs, but that can’t happen now. Back when Kris Bryant was making a long-shot case for an All-Star berth and Kyle Schwarber was pretending he could destroy American League pitching when given the chance to DH, Near the end of July, the Cubs were 5 games over .500, …
Kris Bryant Grand Slam
Your browser does not support iframes. Kris Bryant's 9th-inning HR was calculated at 452 feet, the 3rd-longest HR at Progressive Field since 2009 pic.twitter.com/HVSKXZR2l4 — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 18, 2015
OV Fantasy Baseball 2015 discussion
Fantasy Baseball was what turned me from a casual baseball fan into the fan I am today (with some help from Sammy Sosa), but I lost interest in it 5-6 years ago. Daily lineups, the long season, and relatively large rosters (compared to FFL) led to way more micromanaging than I had time for, and the only thing I really cared …
Cubs Playoff Windows in 2014
If you follow any Cubs blogger on twitter, you’re almost certain to have come across the following stat in the past 7 weeks: “Ever since <date>, the Cubs have been <record that is close to .500>!” That’s cool, but I want to take it one step further. I want to find the dates that satisfy this criteria: If the season …