CAIRO's latest projections have the Cubs winning 73 games. I'll quote SG's title here: CAIRO 2013 v0.4 and Still Slightly Early and Somewhat Useless 2013 Projected MLB Standings So don't put a whole lot of weight into them yet. Same with any other projections at this point.
Cubs Playoff Odds
The 2013 Cubs playoff odds are now available on Baseball Prospectus. These odds are based on preliminary depth charts, with teams still having many roster moves to make before the season starts. Thus, they aren’t etched in stone, they’re etched in sand. And these are PECOTA’s estimates of what would happen if the season were played thousands of times. PECOTA …
Carrie Muskat: Prospect Jackson takes hitting session to heart
Best shape of his life? An intense week of hitting in November may help Brett Jackson become the hitter the Cubs think he can be. Jackson and teammate Darwin Barney spent time with Cubs manager Dale Sveum, hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coach Rob Deer at Fitch Park. After striking out 59 times in 120 big league at-bats …
Last year Joe Mather, this year Brent Lillibridge?
Last season Joe Mather was signed to a minor league contract and then made the team. Joe Mather was not any good. Not before he signed with the Cubs and especially not with the Cubs. Despite this, he still had nearly 250 plate appearances. Joe Mather was the worst player in baseball last year. Baseball Reference only thought he was …
Scott Feldman will be the 4th starter
Dale Sveum said yesterday that Scott Feldman will be the 4th starter for the Cubs. He also confirmed what we already knew in that Scott Baker won't be ready to start the season. Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Scott Baker, coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, most likely will not be ready by Opening Day, and that Scott …
2013 Cubs Projections: Darwin Barney
Continuing our series, it's time to look at the 2013 Cubs Projections for Darwin Barney. Last spring Barney talked about hitting for more power. We knew he wouldn't be a power hitter or anything, but it was clear he and the Cubs wanted him to hit for a little more than he had. He did to some extent. He hit …
2013 PECOTA Projections
The 2013 PECOTA projections are out and I thought I'd post some of the Cubs below. Since you have to be a subscriber in order to download the spreadsheet, I'm only going to include PA and wOBA, which I calculated using the basic formula. For pitchers I'll only show IP and FIP (I calculated this too). 2013 PECOTA Projections for …
2013 Cubs projections: Anthony Rizzo
A little over a week ago, we started our 2013 Cubs projections series by looking at Welington Castillo. The plan is to just go from catcher to 1st to 2nd and so on. Up today is Anthony Rizzo. For more than half a decade the Cubs got a .385 wOBA out of their 1st baseman. Derrek Lee was traded midseason …
2013 Cubs projections: Dioner Navarro and Steve Clevenger
Neither of these players are very good so I'm not going to discuss them. Here are the 2013 Cubs projections for Steve Clevenger and Dioner Navarro. Clevenger PA H 2B 3B HR SB avg obp slg wOBA CAIRO 385 92 21 2 5 2 .260 .323 .376 .312 ZiPS 357 86 20 2 3 1 .261 .309 .361 .291 Average …
Curt Schilling: ‘Members of the [Red Sox] organization’ encouraged me to use PEDs
This might become a big deal. Curt Schilling, in a Wednesday interview on ESPN Radio, said toward the end of his tenure with the Red Sox he was encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs by “members of the organization.” “At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in …