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 …
Daily Facepalm – 1.10.13
Hall of Fame Nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday. It wasn’t that surprising based on Repoz’s collection of the ballots published online, but still frustrating. The New York Times covered the front page of the sports with this instant classic. It will only be more difficult to get into the Hall of Fame now that so many …
Colin Wyers on the Hall of Fame electing no one
Colin Wyers wrote an excellent article for Baseball Prospectus in response to the BBWAA not electing a single player on a ballot that had more than 10 qualified Hall of Famers. the Hall is dedicated to preserving history, honoring excellence and connecting generations of baseball fans. The debate over the latest slate of players focuses on the second point, and …
The 2013 Hall of Fame class and the Keltner List
Over a year ago I applied the Keltner List test to Sammy Sosa and figured I’d do the same thing for most of the eligible candidates just for fun. Bill James came up with the Keltner List back in 1985 and I’ll let Wiki explain. The Keltner list is a systematic but non-numerical method for determining whether a baseball player …
Baseball America’s Cubs Top 10 is out, is interesting
First things first, here is the top 10 list BA has given for the Cubs this year. 1. Javier Baez, SS This is basically a unanimous projection. There’s an outside case for Albert Almora or Jorge Soler, but neither has the upside of Baez, and he also had the best minors season of the 3 also. No surprise here. I’d …
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 …
Poll: DH or 8-man lineup
While Myles and many other NL fans are opposed to the DH coming to the National League, I'm fairly certain its arrival is inevitable. I'm also fairly sure it will happen soon (within the next 5 years). The polls below assume that this is true so even if you oppose the DH, please vote. [poll id=”2″] If you voted for …
The worst first ballot hall of famers vs. the best ones not make a 2nd ballot
Good stuff. SP Sandy Koufax 50 C Johnny Bench 72 1B Willie McCovey 61 2B Jackie Robinson 59 3B Paul Molitor 73 SS Ozzie Smith 73 LF Lou Brock 43 CF Kirby Puckett 48 RF Dave Winfield 59 Total: 538 SP Kevin Brown 64 C Ted Simmons 47 1B Jon Olerud 54 2B Lou Whitaker 71 3B Buddy Bell 62 …
2013 Cubs ZiPS Projections
The Cubs ZiPS projections for 2013 are available on Fangraphs now. The Cubs are projected by ZiPS to have, in shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, to have a pair of basically All Star-type players who are also just 23 years old. Those are good kinds of players to have — especially for a team that isn’t likely …
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, …