I try to stay away from Cubs-oriented mailbags or “ask the expert” features because they often are littered with questions from people who should probably thank God every night that breathing is an automatic response, since if it wasn’t they would probably have a hell of a time learning how to do it. I’m talking about people who make Todd …
Top. Men.
I don’t think anyone featuring as many as two functioning brain cells actually thought James Russell’s start would go well. I’d be willing to bet that Russell himself probably told his family not to bother DVRing it. Yet, somehow, some way, the Cubs managed to reveal their one true talent and let it shine for all to see as they …
TGIF Is A Replacement Level Restaurant
I hope I don’t get fired by Tim, Adam and Berselius for writing a post that is only loosely tied to sports, but after reading a couple threads on the fantastic The Book Blog over the last week, I’m going to do it. The first thread I’m not going to bother looking for as it was mostly about fast food. …
The Stats We Use: FIP
Evaluating pitchers is tough. Most of the traditonal batting stats are based on discrete, context-free events that mostly have to do with the offensive player’s skill – Home Runs, hits, stolen bases, batting eye, etc. There are still stats like RBI and R that depend on the players around the batter, but generally the quick and dirty thing that were …
Pitcher Usage
The table below shows the number of pitches thrown in each outing. SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT Ryan Dempster 103 Carlos Zambrano 85 Matt Garza 102 114 Randy Wells* Casey Coleman 90 Andrew Cashner* Carlos Marmol 24 17 Sean Marshall 24 25 Kerry Wood 16 James Russell 74 John Grabow 23 11 21 Jeff Samardzija …
Series Preview: Nationals (41-36) at Cubs (32-44)
The Cubs close out this homestand with a four game set against the Nationals, including a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday and a day off on Sunday. The off-day is to accommodate the city’s Pride Parade, which brings a ton of people into the greater Lakeview area. No word on whether Wrigleyville residents are shocked to discover that this is happening. …
Yankees 4, Cubs 2 (Warning: House of Cards Spoilers)
Did The Cubs Win? OSS: Hector Rondon blew his first save on a DARWIN BARNEY ERROR, and Joe Truth shat the bed in the 13th. Three Up 1. Jeff Samardzija was awesome (again). He didn’t get the win (again). The Cubs lost the game (again). 2. Junior Lake! He did really well today, notching 3 singles and raising his season …
John Sickels’ Top 40 Prospects, by position
John Sickels whittled his Cubs prospect list from 49 to 40. Here's the list, not sorted alphabetically or via actual ranking, but just by what position they play. First Base Rock Shoulders Daniel Vogelbach Second Base Arismendy Alcantara Gioskar Amaya Logan Watkins Shortstops Javier Baez Gleyber Torres Third Base Kris Bryant Jeimer Candelario Mike Olt Christian Villanueva Josh Vitters* Centerfield …
“Daily” Facepalm 11.26.13
Anything happening with Samardzija? Tom Loxas reported that the Cubs and Jays might be close last weekend, but since then nothing as happened, and other sources (i.e. Julie's) say not much is happening. I don't really see much happening either. Still, Loxas's sources seem to think that the Cubs want to get some resolution on Samardzija before Thanksgiving/the Winter Meetings Cubs …
Why the Cubs Can’t Wait
I'm starting to hear whispers that the Cubs are already going to punt on 2014. I really, really don't get it. Let's rewind the clocks to 2011, when Theo Epstein was hired. He inherited a really poor team and a really poor farm system. There was no chance that the Cubs were going to be good in 2012, and no …