He's [Brian Bogusevic] been the Joe Mather of camp so far — Dale Sveum I'm pretty sure Dale Sveum meant this as a compliment, but saying someone is the Joe Mather of anything is kind of the opposite. I'll just repost what I already did about Mather. Joe Mather was the worst player in baseball last year. Baseball Reference only thought …
2013 Cubs Projections: Starlin Castro
Before we get to Starlin Castro's 2013 Cubs Projections, I wanted to talk a little bit about something else in regard to Castro. An awful lot has been written about Starlin Castro over his young career. It seems that most of this has been at the two extremes. We've heard and read countless times about how Castro is a future …
Has Junior Lake passed Josh Vitters on the depth chart?
Ian Stewart is injured. It's not his wrist this time, but he'll be out a few weeks. Luis Valbuena has already made the team. Josh Vitters is also out an other 2-3 weeks, but I thought this was interesting. The Cubs do face some decisions regarding Stewart. His $2 million contract is non-guaranteed, which is not unusual for an arbitration-level …
What’s wrong with the 2013 Cubs Oliver projections?
I noticed yesterday on Fangraphs that they had published the 2013 Cubs Oliver Projections. Actually, they'd posted all the teams in their projections section, but I was interested in the Cubs. Here they are. Name PA AVG OBP SLG wOBA Fld BsR WAR Starlin Castro 647 .302 .346 .449 .343 8.6 -0.3 5.4 Anthony Rizzo 592 .278 .349 .532 .374 …
2013 Cubs Projections: Ian Stewart and Luis Valbuena
Our 2013 Cubs Projections series continues with a look at 3rd base. The starting job is Ian Stewart's according to Dale Sveum, which leaves Luis Valbuena as a back-up, but even that job may be in question. It's hard to see both Valbuena and Brent Lillibridge making the roster. I wrote a little bit about Ian Stewart a couple weeks …
Baseball America Top 100 Prospects
Don't forget to check out the OV Bunt Tournament Contest if you haven't already entered. The Baseball America top 100 prospects are out today and Javier Baez is the highest ranked Cub, at 18. Albert Almora is 33rd and Jorge Soler 34th. Arodys Vizcaino is the final Cub in the top 100 at 83. This is an improvement over last …
Cubs trade Tony Campana to Arizona
Don't forget to check out the OV Bunt Tournament Contest if you haven't already entered. The Cubs and Diamondbacks completed a trade that sends recently DFA'd Tony Campana to Arizona while the Cubs acquire two 17-year old pitching prospects. The Cubs dealt popular speedster Tony Campana to the Diamondbacks for a pair of 17-year-old Venezuelan right-handed pitchers: Erick Leal and …
Kyle Lohse on the arbitration process
MLBTR ran a great feature today about the arbitration process. It was kind of cool getting the perspective of the player (Kyle Lohse). It would also be nice to get a perspective from a GM. Hopefully they'll do that. “It’s not a pleasant thing,” Lohse said. “It’s hard to sit there and listen to the lawyer say how bad you …
Cubs players who are out of options
There are 6 Cubs players who are out of options meaning they cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. They would have to be placed on waivers instead. Those players are: Michael Bowden, Welington Castillo, Rafael Dolis, Jeff Samardzija, Luis Valbuena and Travis Wood. There are no concerns that Jeff Samardzija would need to be optioned to the minors, but …
Brett Jackson discusses his new swing
Brett Jackson discusses his new swing in this video from ESPN. Last season was his worst season as a professional and hpefully the change in swing will put him on the right track. If the Cubs could get an above average CF in Brett Jackson for dirt cheap it would go a long way toward their rebuilding process.