Dale Sveum says Jeff Samardzija is close to locking down a spot in the rotation. “Obviously, that lock’s getting a little closer and closer to being finalized,” Dale Sveum said Sunday, one day after Samardzija’s four innings against the Rangers. The right-hander gave up one run on three hits. He has not walked a batter over six innings this spring. …
2012 Cubs Playing Time Projections
Many of you who have been reading this blog or ACB before it are familiar with the playing time projections we've set up each year. Back in 2008 and 2009 we had a lot of people filling the surveys out. There was a lot of excitement among Cubs fans before each of those seasons and it led to many more …
Ask OV: Questions About Bleachers, Breasts, Beer, and, For Some Reason…John Elway and the 1979 Royals
Today we are excited to start another new feature where we will answer our readers' questions. Of course, since this is the first installment, we haven't had any questions actually submitted to us. That would be a problem for a lesser blog, but not for one as discredited as we are. Occasionally, people will find their way to our …
Daily Facepalm 3.16.12 – Too Much Chalk Edition
Was there a Cubs game yesterday? I was so in shock at Wisconsin's ability to score more than 60 points that I failed to pay attention to yesterday's games. It looks like it was probably a good thing. In the Dbacks game, Ryan Dempster gave up eight hits and a walk in three and 2/3 innings, but shocklingly only three …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Matt Garza
We move to the last member of the Cubs pitching staff who has a rotation spot locked down. As we all know, the should-have-been-rebuilding Cubs swapped three baseball players (and Sam Fuld) to the Rays at the beginning of last season for the getting-expensive Matt Garza. Garza went on to have a much better year than anyone expected, completely changing …
Daily Facepalm 3.15.12 – Calling in Sick with March Madness
Practice Game recap Travis Wood probably punched his ticket to Iowa yesterday, giving up six runs while only recording one out. Bullpen/tenth starter hopeful Casey Coleman also had a rough day, giving up four runs in less than two innings. The only particularly positive result of the day was that Randy Wells had three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and …
Lower Demand Won’t Hurt Cubs or Ticket Brokers As Much As You’d Think
A couple of days ago, Doc Blume wrote an interesting post about the obvious lack of demand for Cubs tickets this year. There are still tickets available for every game on the schedule, including Opening Day and the Red Sox series. There are large numbers of tickets available for most of the other games on the schedule. That is all …
Position Battles: Back-up Catcher
The Cubs roster is mostly set with a few exceptions. Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger are battling it out for the back-up catcher spot. There's been this invented competition for the rotation, which I think is mostly nonsense. You've got Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm who are guaranteed spots in the rotation. Certainly deserving of a spot is …
Daily Facepalm 3.14.12
Practice Game recap Chris Volstad pitched three strong inninngs yesterday, extending his spring training scoreless streak to six innings. As with Samardzija and the other starter candidates, small sample size abounds, but I think he's got a good shot making the rotation. Tom Ricketts seemed to think so too during his brief time in the booth with Len and Mick. …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Center Field
Marlon Byrd is entering the final year of his contract and will earn $6.5 million in 2012. He's been a very good producer for the Cubs relative to what he's been paid. He's contributed 6.4 fWAR so far. 4.4 of that came in his first season in a Cubs uniform and last year he was worth 2 fWAR. It's worth …