The Slanch Report suggests that Cubs tickets are selling for peanuts. Julie posted the other day you can get tickets for 9 cents. I wondered how accurate it would be to say they were selling for peanuts so I went over to Google Shopping to find out. Turns out the cheapest Planters Peanuts you can buy cost a dollar. If …
The worst Cubs of 2012
In a season that has mostly sucked it seems appropriate to pay tribute to those who helped them suck even more than they would have otherwise. I haven't looked this over so I'm doing the work as I write along. We'll start with the position players and if I feel like I'll do one for the pitchers tomorrow. Joe Mather …
Hoyer: we will have financial flexibility
“We will have financial flexibility,” Hoyer said. “We’ve been diligent to make sure we do have flexibility and we’re efficient going forward. We’ll obviously be active in the free agent market. That’s a big part of our research and work now is evaluating free agents. We have some money to spend and we’ll focus on it heavily.” – Jed Hoyer …
Road to 100 losses
The Cubs currently have 95 losses with 8 games to play. PECOTA projects them to go 3-5 over the final week of the season giving them a final record of 62-100. Only the 1962 and 1966 Cubs have lost more than 98 games (each team lost 103). The Cubs would have to go 5-3 just to match 98 wins and …
Kerry Wood wants Sammy Sosa to return to Cubs
The Cubs celebrated Kerry Wood's career prior to the game today and Wood had a few interesting things to say. Wood wants to be a part of the team in the future, but wants to take an active part in some aspect of the team. “We’ve kicked some ideas around, (I’ve) met with and talked to Theo about it,” Wood …
Vitters’ -12 wRC+
List of players with 90 or more PA since 2000 worse than Vitters -12 wRC+: Halladay twice, Arroyo, Carpenter, Johnson twice, Schilling
— dmick89 (@dmick89) September 22, 2012
Starlin Castro will end up with 4 years of arbitration
Although I reference that the Cubs did sign Castro to an extension, perhaps it wasn't clear that this was written as if Castro would instead go through the arbitration process. This was the time at which I read these articles. This is something I've been meaning to write for at least a month, but just haven't gotten around to it. …
Baseball, sports and insensitivity
Mercurial Outfielder posted a link to this thoughtful article on The Platoon Advantage. “You are a Faggot.” That was Escobar’s message to anyone that came within ten feet of him or owned a high-resolution camera lens. It was a message that was understood by those who speak Spanish or the ability to Google, and no one stopped him. Not his …
Brett Jackson has more strikeouts than Darwin Barney
Brett Jackson has struckout 53 times in 125 plate appearances. Darwin Barney has struckout just 50 times in 540 plate appearances. Jackson has more strikeouts on the Cubs than all players but Alfonso Soriano, Bryan LaHair, Starlin Castro and David DeJesus. By the way, can we stop referring to Castro as a contact hitter? How many times have you heard …
Fangraphs and the grammar police
Tangotiger posted something the other day asking readers if they liked Fangraphs. There were mixed reviews. Since I know you want to know what I think, here's what I wrote: I visit Fangraphs and B-Ref daily. I’d say most days I visit each site more than once. However, I rarely visit Fangraphs for anything other than their stats. The quality …