It's assumed by many that Matt Garza's trade value is high enough that he will almost certainly be traded. As I was last year, I remain unconvinced. Before we get into his actual trade value, the Cubs have three options with Garza. Trade Qualifying offer at the end of the season Sign extension The first two are connected and the …
What the hell am I missing? Can the Cubs contend in 2014 or 2015?
Over the last two or three days, I've read a few articles that have mentioned that the Cubs could contend as early as next season. I don't want to single anybody out, because I have a lot of respect for both of these writers. The first time I read it, I thought "what the hell?". The second time I read …
Server Migration Today
Just a heads up that Hostgator, our web host, is migrating us to a newer and better server today. There could be some downtime, but there should not be a lot of it. This post will self-destruct once we are on the new server.
Starlin Castro’s season is so bad it reminded me of Ronny Cedeno
The other day I happened to think of Ronny Cedeno and how awful he was in 2006. I couldn't help but wonder how Starlin Castro's 2013 season compared to Cedeno's 2005. Year Name PA BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ Fld BsR WAR 2006 Cedeno 572 3.0% 19.1% .094 .296 .245 .271 .339 .263 47 -4.4 -0.8 …
Cubs DFA Carlos Marmol, release Ian Stewart
The Cubs have DFA'd Carlos Marmol and released Ian Stewart. They've also called up Brian Bogusevic. Marmol had been terrible and Ian Stewart didn't know how to tweet. It says quite a bit about Marmol that the Cubs didn't even wait until mid-July to see if some team might trade for him, but they do have 10 days to work …
Cubs trade Brent Lillibridge, Hisanori Takahashi and other notes
Yesterday the Cubs traded Brent Lillibridge to the Yankees for a player to be named later or cash. Lillibridge had only 24 PA for the Cubs before being sent to the minors. He managed a .042/.042/.042 batting line and provided -0.5 fWAR. The city of Des Moines is thankful the Cubs have traded him. The Cubs also traded Hisanori Takahashi …
Alvin’s open letter to Theo Epstein after a content editor gets through with it
The other day, Alvin Yellon satisfied many of us with a classic example of his stupidity. Like many, Ryno has had a lot of fun with this. Here here is (the rest of this is from Ryno). Just for fun, I decided to look at Alvin’s open letter as an editor. All bits and hyperbole aside, I wanted to see …
If you had Luis Valbuena in the office pool, raise your hand
It’s June 19th and the Cubs are 69 games into their season. You and I probably picked Anthony Rizzo as the most productive position player on the team through this many games, assuming he remained healthy. I think most everybody would have taken Rizzo and almost no one would have taken Luis Valbuena. Well, Valbuena has had a surprisingly good …
2013 Midseason Top Cubs Prospects
Prior to the start of the season, Uncle Dave and I published our 2013 top Cubs prospects. We borrowed the system from Hockey's Future, which looks at both upside and floor. The rankings never really interested me, but there's a nice way to create a ranking because that's what people like. You can read the explanation of the system if …
Cubs Prospects on the Rise, June edition
Myles already posted the Cubs prospects who have fallen so now it's time to look at the ones who have risen. We'll also have an updated Cubs top prospects list for you. 3. Pierce Johnson – The 22 year old supplemental first round pick from 2012 is probably a little too old for his level, but he's been dominating. He …