The only Cubs news is that the team has brought back Kerry Wood on a 1-year deal. The contract includes a club option for $3 million in 2013. Since there’s not much to talk about regarding the Cubs, I thought I’d post the 10 best pitching seasons in my lifetime as measured by rWAR. I was born in 1974, but …
Cubs Con 2012
I figured I would set this up as a thread to document my experiences at Cubs Convention 2012. Had to deal with tons of loud obnoxious Cubs fans and huge crowds for a few moments of “oooh, look at that guy” but I did get to meet and talk to Pat Hughes and that was pretty cool. Here’s the first …
Cubs and Bloomberg create new player evaluation system
The Cubs and Bloomberg Sports have parterned to create a new player evaluation system, which I would think would be similar to the one Theo had in Boston (Carmine). The Cubs are using every potential avenue to improve their club. Chicago announced Thursday that it will partner with Bloomberg Sports — a company already allied with MLB.com for fantasy baseball …
Another shitty Cubs season in review: Geovany Soto
After a sophomore slump in 2009, Geo made progress in putting the Rick Wilkins comparisons behind him by posting a .385 wOBA in 2010, even better than his ROY-winning season in 2008. Unfortunately, 2011 turned out to be more like 2009. Soto was projected to be the best hitter on the team with a .363 wOBA. He finished the year …
Platoon Splits Projections
A couple of years ago berselius used the information in The Book on splits to create a splits projeciton tool. I'm pretty sure this is the tool that SG used on RLWY to provide splits projections. He may have modified it since, but I thought we should look at the Cubs splits projections to see how many possible platoons we …
Payroll Update
Tom Ricketts had said that the overall baseball expenses would remain the same this season, but that seems difficult to accomplish at this point. The payroll was around $140 million last year and if you add in the draft, international free agent signings, front office employees you’re up to over $180 million. The Cubs front office has gotten larger and …
Big Splash Before Cubs Convention Is A Myth
There’s one thing I can guarantee that you hear every single year: the Cubs will want to sign this guy or that guy to make a big splash before the Cubs Convention. I have no idea where people get this idea. Baseball teams do not care about making big splashes before fan events. Do you know why? Because the people …
A comparison of two prospects: Brett Jackson and Anthony Rizzo
The Cubs recently acquired top prospect Anthony Rizzo and some thought he may be the top prospect in the Cubs organization. I didn’t see how that would be possible when you consider their positions and John Sickels agrees with that. Both Brett Jackson and Rizzo were the top prospects of their organizations according to Baseball America prior to Rizzo joining …
Taking a closer look at the Cubs supersized rotation
The Cubs currently have 6 starting pitchers on the roster*. Those 6 include Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Travis Wood, Chris Volstad and Randy Wells. Jeff Samardzija is also going to be stretched out in spring training, but may return to the bullpen when the season begins. The Cubs also have Andy Sonnanstine and Casey Coleman. If Trey McNutt …