Now that Jeff Samardzija's season is over, let's take a moment to look back and express amazement that for about half the season Samardzija was the guy you most wanted to see on the mound for the Cubs. Well, assuming you weren't rooting for the Cubs reverse standings position. Here's his final numbers on the season. Player GS IP …
The Cubs will probably avoid losing 100 games
The Cubs currently sit at 58-89 even though 2 weeks ago it looked like a sure thing that they would lose 100. But after the Cubs have won 7 of their last 11 games it's now looking unlikely. Baseball Prospectus has the Cubs going 6-9 over the rest of the season which would put them at a cool 64-98 on …
Season in review: Ian Stewart
During the Winter Meetings the Cubs traded Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu to the Rockies for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers. Stewart would replace the departed Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base and would instantly be an upgrade defensively. That much we were sure of. Whether or not he would hit the ball much was something we'd learn throughout the season. …
A question about pitch counts and innings limits
This is posted in the Commentary and Analysis category that we have here at Obstructed View, but it really should be posted in a category called Questions. Since we don't ask these questions very often, this category will have to do. It makes no sense to set up a new category for one stinking post. Anyway, this will be short. …
Daily Facepalm – 9.12.2012
The Cubs lost to the Astros 1-0 in what quite possibly could be the worst game of baseball ever played. Between the two teams there were ten hits, six errors, and one meager run. The only reason the otherwise merciless crapfest ended was because Starlin Castro couldn't outrun Dave Sappelt's stupidity, preventing Castro from scoring the tying run before Sappelt …
If The Sun-Times Were a Decent Newspaper, Gordo Would Likely Be a Pulitzer Candidate
I know we like to try to convince people that Alfonso Soriano is a better player than people give him credit. We don't like when boos cascade down on him for every single ball that lands in front of him in the outfield that the fat guy on the sofa thinks should have been an easy catch, or when the …
Season in Review: Matt Garza
Following the 2010 season the Cubs decided to trade a bunch of players to acquire an overrated middle of the rotation pitcher in Matt Garza. Then he surprised many of us by having the best season of his career. His average WAR was 3.7 (5.0 fWAR, 2.5 rWAR, 3.7 WARP). His fWAR in 2011 was 1.9 higher than his previous …
Alfonso Soriano is overpaid
The other day The Hardball Times wrote that Alfonso Soriano is not overpaid. I'm a big fan of anyone who doesn't talk about Soriano in a way that makes him seem like he's a lazy, overpaid player. However, THT relied on fWAR, which uses UZR as its defensive metric. His 2007 UZR is so high that my iPad probably won't …
Top Ten Formerly Unwritten Rules for Cubs
There has been much talk in recent nadirs on the Cubs' undulating saga of suck years about the unwritten rules of baseball. Don't steal when you're up by ten runs. Don't steal when you're down by ten runs. Don't swing at 3-0 pitches when you're up by five runs. So, since it's Friday and I haven't put up a daily …
Alfonso Soriano, Gold Glover?
Everyone has been focusing on Darwin Barney's record breaking errorless streak, but yesterday was the first that I had heard of Soriano's. He hasn't made a single error all season and even noted Soriano critic Bob Brenly has praised his defense this year. So does he really have a shot? The thing that helps him the most is that the …