The Cubs have signed Luis Valbuena for $930,000, which is about $930,000 more than he deserves. Then again, the Cubs have few options at 3rd so maybe Valbuena is worth $930,000. Valbuena hit .219/.310/.340 in 303 plate appearances with Chicago this past season while playing second base and third base. The 27-year-old was first time arbitration eligible as a super …
Nick Cafardo on the Cubs and a Matt Garza non-rumor
MLBTR led to me this article by Nick Cafardo, which talks a bit about the Cubs. “We’re certainly farther along than we were last year at this time,” said Epstein. “When we got here, we identified one core player [Starlin Castro] and now we can look around and see Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Jeff Samardzija , and others. We do …
How many games will the 2013 Cubs win?
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, …
2012 in Review: January – When We Were Stupidly Kind of Optimistic About Stuff
2012 was pretty painful to live through as a Cubs fan, and even more so as a Cubs blogger who felt obligated to pay even more attention than is normally considered safe for human beings in an effort to bring you our non-classy, confidence-lacking, reundiscreditationalness that you all expect from us. So we're going to make you re-live the pain all …
Cubs pitchers kwERA since 2000 and Happy Christmas
The other day GW wrote an article after Edwin Jackson signed with the Cubs. I was curious why he thought 2012 was a down season and I should have known. GW only looks at strikeouts and walks (and groundball rate). The reason for this is simple: Strikeouts and walks have proven to be very accurate predictors of future ERA. FIP …
An updated look at the 2013 rotation
The Cubs finalized contracts with Edwin Jackson and Carlos Villanueva today, which gives the Cubs something like 18 starters. I lost count. The good news is that Edwin Jackson is actually good unlike the other 22 starters they signed this offseason. Jackson has been underrated for some time and that's in part to how miserably he performed when he reached …
Edwin Jackson Signs
Patrick Mooney was first with the news, and the usual suspects seem to be in agreement, though we at Obstructed View reserve the right to retract any and all free agent signing stories up until opening day. The deal is 4 years, $52 million and does not include a no-trade clause, per Heyman. Brief thoughts on the deal, in the …
The Cubs' 40 Man Roster
This is the Cubs’ 40-man roster. Links to individual player posts (when available) are included. The Cubs’ Player Page is used if I don’t have a Better Know a Cub post up yet. Last Updated: December 16, 2012 Pitchers # Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB Scott Baker R-R 6’4″ 215 Sep 19, 1981 28 Michael Bowden R-R 6’3″ 215 Sep …
Who Plays for the Cubs?
Let’s take a look at the current 40-man roster: Pitchers (21)Scott BakerJeff BeliveauMichael BowdenAlberto CabreraShawn CampLendy CastilloGerardo ConcepcionRafael DolisScott FeldmanKyuji FujikawaMatt GarzaCarlos MarmolTrey McNuttBrooks RaleyHector RondonChris RusinJames RussellJeff SamardzijaArodys VizcainoRob WhitenackTravis Wood Catchers (3)Welington CastilloDioner NavarroSteve Clevenger Infielders (8)Darwin BarneyStarlin CastroJunior LakeAnthony RizzoLuis ValbuenaChristian VillanuevaJosh VittersLogan Watkins Outfielders (7)Tony CampanaDavid DeJesusBrett JacksonDave SappeltNate ScheirholtzJorge SolerAlfonso SorianoMatt Szczur The first thing …
An early look at the 2013 rotation
Assuming health, the Cubs rotation appears to be set with Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Travis Wood, Scott Baker and Scott Feldman. I was curious what we could reasonably expect from this group next year and decided to use the CAIRO projections to calculate percentile forecasts. Before that, there's been some recent talk about how this rotation is better than last …