The rumors surrounding teams interested in Matt Garza have been around for a long time. Every year teams have inquired on his availability so it’s no surprise he’s once again the target of trade speculation. Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday that teams were also interested in Sean Marshall. The Cubs are set to undergo a rebuilding project that will likely take …
Talent is a combination of skills
It’s easy for us to look at a player and highlight a major weakness. We do this all the time. That weakness then overshadows what the player does well. If that player hits a game winning home run we’re certainly excited, but within moments we’re back to talking about his rag arm, atrocious baserunning, inability to field or get on …
Cheatingiest Cheating Cheater
Barry Bonds was sentenced today. The Barry Bonds case is over. Bonds, as we speak, is being sentenced. The penalty: 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service. This, by the way, is what the probation office recommended. Prosecutors were seeking a 15 month jail term. Meanwhile, the US government wasted millions of our dollars. Just …
CAIRO’s Extremely Early Projected Standings
SG published the first projected standings for his CAIRO projections (version .3) yesterday. They make a lot more sense to me than the early Oliver projections. TM W L RS RA Div WC PL Brewers 92 70 700 646 52.5% 14.3% 66.7% Cardinals 90 72 708 648 36.8% 19.3% 56.2% Reds 84 78 724 704 10.1% 10.8% 20.9% Cubs 74 …
“You better know who your ninth starter’s going to be”
I’ve been a bit confused by one of Theo’s comments since taking over as President of Baseball Operations. “We need starting pitching. You can’t take your chances very seriously as a club if you go in to the season without, not just five guys you can point to, but six, seven and eight guys. You better know who your ninth …
Can the Oliver projected standings be right?
At the bottom of The Hardball Time’s Oliver forecasts page they have the 2012 projected standings. They were updated yesterday, but I know this was done before the Brewers signed Aramis Ramirez. National League Central Team Wins Losses CIN 90 72 STL 88 74 MIL 86 76 CHN 82 80 HOU 65 97 PIT 62 100 Oliver projects 1.2 WAR …
How much is Prince Fielder worth?
We’ve talked a lot about Albert Pujols and taken a look at his value, but I don’t believe we’ve done so with Fielder. Apparently many executives think he’ll sign with the Cubs. I’m not optimistic about it, but it’s worth looking at anyway. CAIRO projects 4.4 WAR while Oliver projects 4.0. Let’s split the difference and go with 4.2 in …
How does losing Pujols and Fielder affect the Cardinals and Brewers?
The short answer to this question is that it doesn’t affect them that much. If the Cardinals were willing to spend $22.5 million on Pujols (10 year, $225 million offer) they still have that $22.5 million available to spend on free agent talent. If a win costs $5 million in 2012, that buys 4.5 wins. Pujols was projected to be …
Kerry Wood wants a raise, but is he deserving of one?
Jon Paul Morosi tweeted that Kerry Wood would like a raise. My first thought was this: why would the Cubs give him a raise if his only other option is to retire? Wood has said he’ll retire or play for the Cubs so I see no reason to offer more money than the $1.5 million he earned last year. My …
Winter Meetings Day 3 Open Thread
In 2001 the Cubs were just a little better than average offensively. The only reason they were that good was because of Sammy Sosa‘s career year. The one thing I’ve always remembered about that offense was that there were only two Cubs who were within 100 RBI of Sammy’s 160. Ricky Gutierrez had 66 (I believe) and Matt Stairs had …