Yesterday Joe Maddon talked a bit about what the Cubs might do if they beat the Pirates on October 7th. Jon Lester would start Game 1 against the Cardinals and then what? Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks haven't exactly pitched great down the stretch. The Cubs have had a couple bullpen games recently due to double-headers that have turned out …
Addison Russell vs. 2010 Starlin Castro
In 130 game and 486 plate appearances, rookie Addison Russell has hit .238/.301/.389. His wOBA is .302 and his wRC+ sits at 88. As a 21 year old who is now firmly planted at shortstop, those are some pretty good numbers. As a Major League hitter, they're below average, but the age and position matter a lot. He's hit 13 …
Cardinals at Cubs Game Thread (9-20-15)
The Cubs go for the sweep against the Cardinals. I fully expect some retaliation on the part of the Cardinals today. Lineups Cardinals Matt Carpenter, 3B Tommy Pham, CF Jason Heyward, RF Jhonny Peralta, SS Stephen Piscotty, LF Kolten Wong, 2B Yadier Molina, C Brandon Moss, 1B Carlos Martinez, P Cubs Dexter Fowler, CF Kyle Schwarber, LF Chris Coghlan, RF …
Kris Bryant’s 2015 is one of the best rookie seasons in Cubs history
Kris Bryant has had a fantastic season. He's probably going to win Rookie of the Year in the National League as he's hit .273/.367/.490 with a .370 wOBA and 135 wRC+. He's struckout a ton, but also has a very good walk rate for a rookie (11.7%) and he's hit 24 home runs while driving in 93. UZR rates him as …
fivethirtyeight on Jake Arrieta’s release point
Rob Arthur has a really good article up on fivethirtyeight.com on Jake Arrieta's emergence as an ace and it discusses the change in his release point at length. Most of the time, the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a pitcher’s release point are fairly constant, determined largely by mechanics learned long before he made the majors. In Arrieta’s case, however, his …
Jake Arrieta’s Innings Increase
Jake Arrieta has had a fantastic season this year. Actually, he's been fantastic since he joined the Cubs, but I find myself being a little bit scared about his workload right now. He's thrown 191 innings so far and has about 5 starts left this regular season. He's averaged roughly 6.8 innings per start. That puts him on pace to throw …
Looking at the potential NL Playoff rotations
I thought I’d take a look at the potential playoff rotations in the National League for fun. Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks and Dan Haren haven’t not been performing too great for the Cubs and it’s begun to feel as though it’s a weakness for the team, but there aren’t many teams that are five deep in their rotation. Hammel hasn’t …
A look at the Cubs rest of season rotation *UPDATED*
I was taking a look at how many days of rest Jake Arrieta may have come October 7th if the rotation stays on schedule. The Cubs are likely to play in Pittsburgh that day. I was curious whether or not Joe Maddon would have to tweak the rotation a bit down the stretch, but it appears he’s already done his …
A brief look at the rest of the season
The Cubs have lost four in a row and are now 6 games behind Pittsburgh for the 1st wild card spot. They’re still 4.5 games ahead of the Giants. More importantly at this point in my opinion, they’re 5 losses better than the Giants. You can’t really make up a loss, but you can make up the win. They’re 9.5 …
Should the Cubs sign Dexter Fowler to an extension?
Dexter Fowler has had arguably his best season in the big leagues in the year prior to becoming a free agent. The Cubs acquired Fowler from the Astros in January for Luis Valbuena and Dan Straily. Valbuena was surprisingly productive as a Cub from 2012-2014, but hasn’t been quite as successful this season with the Astros in large part because …