2013 Cubs ZiPS Projections

In aside, Projections by dmick894 Comments

The Cubs ZiPS projections for 2013 are available on Fangraphs now. The Cubs are projected by ZiPS to have, in shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, to have a pair of basically All Star-type players who are also just 23 years old. Those are good kinds of players to have — especially for a team that isn’t likely …

How many games will the 2013 Cubs win?

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8931 Comments

Over at The Cub Contrarian, Kyle used an estimated WAR for players to get a team win total. I thought I'd do the same thing, but I'm going to do it two ways: projections and my wild ass guesses. Wild Ass Guess Catchers: Welington Castillo (1.0), Dioner Navarro (negative infinity) I could easily see Castillo being a 2 WAR player, …

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The Flagrant Fan on Alfonso Soriano's Contract

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick891 Comment

Most of the time when you read an article about Alfonso Soriano's contract, it's about how the bad contract is a reflection on Soriano. The Flagrant Fan writes a nice piece and here's the part that I and others have tried to hammer home for years: What a player makes is the team's problem and purview. The team either takes …

Cubs offseason begins now

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8926 Comments

The end of the World Series marked the start of the baseball offseason. We'll hear tons of rumors over the next few month, some of them may even have to do with the Cubs. Most of them won't and most of them will be nonsense, but it's still fun. In the past this time of the year was quite busy. …

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Season review: Starlin Castro

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8950 Comments

Starlin Castro was one of four players to play in all 162 games in 2012. Adam Jones doing it is not all that surprising. He's relatively young. Ichiroi is a bit surprising considering his age and poor performance while in Seattle. Even more surprising is Prince Fielder. Despite playing in 4 more games this season, Castro had 24 fewer plate …

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Season in review: Alfonso Soriano

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8921 Comments

Alfonso Soriano's projections entering the season (below) weren't anything special. It was a slightly below league average wOBA with expected poor defense and baserunning skills. Overall, he was expected to be about as close to replacement level as possible. Projection PA H HR BB SO avg obp slg wOBA CAIRO 463 106 18 34 100 .249 .308 .446 .326 Guru …

AL Scout on A-Rod: I can't believe anyone would be interested

In Commentary And Analysis, Major League Baseball, Projections by dmick8980 Comments

AL scout on arod: "I can't believe anyone would be interested." #114MIL plus #30MIL in milestone HR bonuses — Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) October 19, 2012 Every single year we hear about this. Player makes lots of money. Same player isn't worth what he's paid. Not even close. People say this player can't be traded. Every. Single. Year. Yet every single …