Sources: cubs have deal to bring back Brian Duensing. $7M for 2 years. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 17, 2018 Brian Duensing really acquitted himself well in the second half of last season after starting out in somewhat atrocious fashion. There was a significant amount of time when I thought the Cubs would be better served by simply releasing him, …
What is Giancarlo Stanton’s trade value?
Some interesting news came out today – namely, the fact that Stanton would only accept a trade to the Dodgers, Cubs, Astros, and Yankees. With that in mind, the Cubs would be pretty foolish not to consider kicking the tires on a trade for Stanton. That said, the "value" in his contract is pretty non-existent. Let's take a look. Stanton …
Quick Hit: Walks vs Strikeouts
I thought it might be interesting to track the difference in walk rates and strikeout rates for the Cubs that had meaningful AB for the team both this year and last (Schwarber excepted – I used his 2015 numbers). The upper left quadrant is good (increased walks, decreased strikeouts), and the bottom right quadrant is the worst (decreased walks, increased …
NLDS Preview: Chicago Cubs vs. Washington Nationals
Playoff baseball never really gets old. Confession time: I've seen maybe 30 games this year. Maybe less. Part of that is having a 1-year old (and a 4-year old), but most of it is the fact that Cubs already did the damn thing. Furthermore, we pretty much all knew in the back of our minds that we were going to be …
Cubs 89, Milwaukee 83, St. Louis 82
View PostCubs 39, Mets 14 (9/12/2017 – 9/14/2017)
Cubs 14, Mets 6 (9/14/2017) Three Up 1. Anthony Rizzo leads baseball in WPA. Did you know that? Don't lie. You totally didn't. Seriously, admit it. You didn't know that. … … Why do you always do this? It's ok to admit when you don't know something. Nobody is going to think less of you if you don't know that …
Cubs 8, Mets 3 (9/13/2017)
OSS: Cubs finally score more runs than they allow. Three Up: 1. Kyle Schwarber went 3-3 with a HR and a walk. If only he stopped doing so much god damn charity work, he might have went 4 for 3, right Alvin? 2. Kris Bryant hit a 3-run bomb and silenced all of Cubs RISP Twitter. I get the impression …
Cubs 3, Pirates 4 (9/5/2017)
OSS: That fucking 8th inning. Three Up 1. Kyle Hendricks was pretty solid today. He didn't walk a single batter (only 2 strikeouts, so lots of balls in play). He made one bad mistake to David Freese, but allowed no other runs on the day. 2. Ian Happ had a 2-run single that would give the Cubs a 3-2 lead …
We have to talk about Dillon Maples
Baseball can be an exceedingly cruel game. The best hitters are defined as the ones that fail merely 60% of the time they come to the plate. Throwing the ball means always being a pitch away from the disabled list and an uncertain future. The path to success is littered with the failures of near-identical men and the smell of …
Series Preview: Pittsburgh Pilates (63-68) at Chicago Cubs (69-60)
That joke in the title is a bit of a stretch. /dadjokes The Pirates have been a hot and cold team this year, but they've been cold lately. After climbing to 58-58, they've been 5-10 in their last 15 with many of those games being non-competitive. Furthermore, the Cubs miss both Cole and Taillon, instead getting the pitchers on the …