No free agent pitcher has ever signed a contract greater than $50 million dollars after January 31st. Today is February 1st. I have to imagine that trend is going to break for James Shields…but I’m not sure. Shields was the consensus 3rd option in a pretty good free agent class for pitching. Lester quickly went off the board to Chicago, …
Welcome, Commissioner! Let’s talk.
Hello, Rob! Congratulations on replacing the Witch-King of Angmar as the commish of the MLB. The Thousand-Year Reign is now over, and Mr. Manfred will indelibly try to leave his mark on baseball as soon as possible. He’s given some thoughts as to what he might do (and what he might not do). I’m sure he could not give less …
The 2015 Cubs (with ZIPS projections)
Position Player wOBA Pos Avg pwRC+ C Montero 0.304 0.305 100 1B Rizzo 0.367 0.328 112 2B Baez 0.319 0.298 107 SS Castro 0.33 0.297 111 3B Bryant 0.364 0.316 115 LF Coghlan 0.307 0.318 97 CF Fowler 0.345 0.32 108 RF Soler 0.335 0.316 106 – – – – – C2 Ross 0.277 0.259 107 IF La Stella 0.313 …
Better Know a Cub: Dexter Fowler
Yesterday, the Cubs spun Lou Goodvalue and Dan Straily into their (presumable) starting CF for 2015. A short eulogy for Luis Valbuena follows. Valbuena was underrated by the general population and probably slightly overrated by the blogging community (and with his batflips, it’s easy to see why). Valbuena was cheap, able to play anywhere on the diamond, and he took …
Bulls 114, Rockets 105 (1/5/14)
I can say a lot about this game, but there is really only one stat that you need to know: the Rockets were 3-5 from the free throw line, and the Bulls were 27-30. I don’t have the numbers in front of me as far as how often you win when you have 22 more free throws than your opponent, …
Happy Rule 5 Day!
Today is the Rule 5 draft. Courtesy of the inimitable Arizona Phil, here’s the list of Rule 5 eligible players. A few of these players are in danger of being selected. Gioskar Amaya: 2B/C prospect who has fallen on lean times. I like Amaya, but he might be too far to be stashed for a whole year. I’d say it’s …
The New Cubs
wOBAs Steamer projected: Position Player wOBA lwOBA pwRC+ C Montero 0.319 0.305 105 1B Rizzo 0.374 0.328 114 2B Baez 0.306 0.298 103 SS Castro 0.321 0.297 108 3B Valbuena 0.319 0.316 101 LF Coghlan 0.312 0.318 98 CF Alcantara 0.303 0.32 95 RF Soler 0.346 0.316 109 – – – – – Position Player wOBA Position Player C Montero …
Cubs sign Jason Hammel
It is not a common occurrence that a player re-signs with the team that just traded him (*cough* Jon Lester *cough*), but Jason Hammel is proof positive that it can happen. The Cubs signed Hammel to a 2-year, $18 million deal with an option that could bring the final tally to $28 million. As far as middle-tier pitching options go, …
Mavericks 132, Bulls 129 (2OT) 11/3/14
Kirk Hinrich pretty much lost this game. With 3 seconds to go and the Bulls up 3, Monta Ellis (a good 3-point shooter to be sure) drove up to the right side of the court to take a desperation 3 as time expired. Hinrich fouled as Ellis went into his shot, with 1.2 seconds left. Ellis seemingly had no chance …
Bulls 97, Jazz 95 (11/24/14)
Hot damn, is this team fun to watch. This is the third time we’ve seen the Butler-Dunleavy-Gasol-Noah-Rose starting 5 this season, and each time they’ve started those 5 they’ve won the first quarter (twice convincingly). Chicago played probably it’s strongest 12 minutes of the year in the first quarter, dominating both offensively and defensively. Listening to the Utah Jazz commentators (a nice …