One of the first things I do when I get the Bill James Handbook is look at what's called The Manager's Record. It includes several statistic that the manager controls and it's a good way to compare a manager to what the league average manager did. There are some issues though. The personnel on the team makes a huge difference …
Projecting the 2013 Cubs: Bill James
I enjoy looking at the projections for the upcoming season when they're released. Sometimes I enjoy it more than others. If the Cubs are going to be good I'm excited. When they aren't, not so much. This is one of those years. Despite that, Berselius and I have posted projections for the Cubs going back to 2007 so we'll do …
What we know about the potential Dan Haren trade
I've been a bit under the weather the past week so I have read very little Cubs related news with the exception of what's been posted on this site. I know Berselius mentioned something about people on his twitter feed being upset at the Cubs for failing to complete another trade. If I understood him correctly, they argue that this …
Cubs Trade Marmol to California Angels of Disneyland for Dan Haren?
There are multiple reports that the Cubs and Angels have traded Carlos Marmol for Dan Haren.The Angels seemed reluctant to keep Haren on a $15.5m option year. Per Robothal, the Angels might kick in the $3.5m that they would have had to pay for Haren's buyout. Bruce Levine has confimed the deal, however there are conflicting reports that another team …
Season in review: Darwin Barney
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. …
Cubs putting out some feelers about leaving WGN
Brett over at Bleacher Nation has a story up about the Cubs surveying random fans on their opinions of WGN, buried amidst a bunch of more boilerplate marketing questions (concessions, etc). Two questions in particular, as reported by one of his commenters look to be gathering data to use in a future push for a new TV deal, as the WGN …
Cubs offseason begins now
The end of the World Series marked the start of the baseball offseason. We'll hear tons of rumors over the next few month, some of them may even have to do with the Cubs. Most of them won't and most of them will be nonsense, but it's still fun. In the past this time of the year was quite busy. …
Roster Reshuffling update
The Cubs have transacted half a zillion minor moves in the last week. We'll take a page from Phil Rogers and use the +/- system, because it actually means something in this context (i.e., how many roster spots are open). Outrighted to Iowa (i.e., off the 40-man) RP Blake Parker SP Justin Germano OF Joe Mather RP Marcos Mateo SP Jason …
Season review: Starlin Castro
Starlin Castro was one of four players to play in all 162 games in 2012. Adam Jones doing it is not all that surprising. He's relatively young. Ichiroi is a bit surprising considering his age and poor performance while in Seattle. Even more surprising is Prince Fielder. Despite playing in 4 more games this season, Castro had 24 fewer plate …