With Jeff Samardzija's "transformation" I thought it would be fun to find other Cubs player who have transformed this spring. Joe Mather: With a .412/.455/.745 batting line through today, he's established himself as a completely different ballplayer. We know this because he's had 55 plate appearances and that's absolutely enough to know whether or not a transformation has taken place. …
Did the Cubs really add that much depth?
Over on Cubs Den (a really good blog), John talks about how the Cubs have quietly built depth to give them trade flexibility. I want to look at his bullets one by one because I just don't agree with the conclusion that John is reaching. John is attributing this depth to Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer too, which is another …
Daily Facepalm 3.23.12 – Too many DUIs edition
Practice game recap The Cubs pounded the rangers 11-4. Soriano, Mather, Jackson, and Ian Stewart all homered. Matt Garza threw 81 pitches in five innings, but could have gone deeper had Darwin Barney not committed two errors in the fourth inning. Marcos Mateo left the game with an injury and there's no word on how serious it could be. They …
OV’s Projected Playing Time for the 2012 Cubs
On Saturday I published this year's playing time survey and more than 50 of you took the time to fill it out. Thanks for taking the time. I'm going to go ahead and publish the results here. I didn't make any adjustments to the batters because you guys pretty much nailed it as far as position and team totals go. …
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 …
Ballhawks can take 2012 off
One thing I've noticed while looking over the projections the past couple months is just how little power the Cubs have. Their starting lineup is practically filled with singles hitters. Alfonso Soriano still has some pop and so does Geovany Soto, but the rest of the lineup has none. I was wondering when the last time the Cubs starting lineup …
Daily Facepalm 3.5.12 – Random state laws edition
This week in state laws Lots of discussion in the comments this morning about state liquor and marriage laws yesterday. Apparently WaLi tried to get drunk and marry his cousin yesterday, and needed to make sure what states he was allowed to do that in. Is there a Cubs game today? The Cubs play an A's split squad today at …
What’s all this Jeff Samardzija starting crap?
I paid so little attention to Cubs baseball after the first few weeks that it's hard for me to believe that Jeff Samardzija threw 88 innings a year ago. I did know that however many innings he threw that they weren't the typically bad Jeff Samardzija innings. I also knew he got lucky. I probably paid no attention to Samardzija's …
Carroll’s Team Health Reports
For several years now Will Carroll has published Team Health Reports. He previously did so at Baseball Prospectus and now does so at SI. I've never been the biggest fan. It seems far too random. Let's take a look at this year's. 2B Darwin Barney Darwin Barney doesn't sound like a 2B, but he sure played like one last year. …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Shortstop
Shortstop is the last infield position we have to look at it and it's without a doubt the most exciting position. If you look at Starlin Castro's fWAR you can't help but be impressed, but if you look at his rWAR he looks much less impressive. Whereas UZR sees Castro as a well below average fielder, Total Zone sees him …