Now that 2014 is coming to a close (for the Cubs, it came to a close roughly May 15, but bear with me), we turn to the Hot Stove League. One bonus of the Cubs’ situation right now is that there are very clear places to upgrade, and very clear places the Cubs do not need help. Places the Cubs …
Not Bad…For a Rookie
With the 11-1 ass-whipping the Cubs received yesterday, the Cubs fell to 64-82 and guaranteed themselves a losing record. It’s been a rough week, and after a really nice run of baseball, we’ve been thoroughly outclassed by some not-very-good teams (though they aren’t slouches, either). As the 2014 season draws to it’s merciful close, I’d like to reflect on each …
Your Football Organization Sucks
Baseball is not perfect. From the crooked Black Sox, to Cap Anson’s refusal to play with black players, to Ty Cobb maybe being a murderer, to the drunk drivers, to the widespread steroid use, it has a fairly checkered past. It treats its future employees like garbage (it uses its incredible leverage and willing replacements to drive wages to ridiculous lows), …
Cubs Playoff Windows in 2014
If you follow any Cubs blogger on twitter, you’re almost certain to have come across the following stat in the past 7 weeks: “Ever since <date>, the Cubs have been <record that is close to .500>!” That’s cool, but I want to take it one step further. I want to find the dates that satisfy this criteria: If the season …
The Struggle
Baez debuted at A in May 28, 2012. In his first month, he “struggled,” hitting .298/.330/.500. Sure, his career line at A was .333/.383/.596, but you have to stretch pretty hard to get struggling out of that. His strikeout rate was 21.7% and his walk rate was 6.6%. He was eventually promoted to A+, and he absolutely struggled when promoted. …
Minor League Update: 8-20-14
Salt Lake Bees 4 @ Iowa Cubs 2 Stargazing Tony Campana (#9): 0-2, BB, SB Kris Bryant: 1-3, 2B, BB, SO Jorge Soler: 0-3, BB, SO Like, Totally, NOT Stargazing Mike Olt: 1-3, R Manny Ramirez: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI (2nd consecutive HR day) -Manny Ramirez hits a home run off of Randy Wolf in 2014. Think about that. On …
Minor League Update: 8-19-14
Salt Lake Bees 7 @ Iowa Cubs 5 Stargazing Tony Campana (batting#9): 1-4 Logan Watkins: 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI Jorge Soler: 0-4, BB, 2 SO (.230/.330/.517) Mike Olt: 0-4, 4K On the Mound Chris Rusin: 6.1 IP, 6 R, 3 BB, 2 SO Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Montgomery Biscuits 1 Stargazing Albert Almora: 2-5, 2B, SO (.236/.261/.337) Addison Russell: …
DFP: Rusney Castillo Sighting
On vacation touring Wrigley Field, where #Cubs are working out free agent OF Rusney Castillo as we speak #MLB pic.twitter.com/qfCQW0vgcj — Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) August 6, 2014 Well, that’s very interesting. The Cubs are one of the 28 teams that originally went to see the Cuban slugger, but up until now there was no real confirmation on whether or not …
Javier Baez 6, Rockies 5 (8/6/14)
Did The Cubs Win? It’s not a lie. @javy23baez is a STUD. http://t.co/vtVt709MaS — MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) August 6, 2014 Boom, baby. OSS: Baez has 3 strikeouts, 3 hard hit balls, and his first major-league HR. Three Up 1. Lost in Baezmania was the fact that Welington Castillo had a great game, maybe his best of the year. He …
Better Know A Cub: Javier Baez
Pedigree Ednel Javier Baez was the last 1st round pick of the Jim Hendry regime, taken right after Francisco Lindor and right before Cory Spangenberg (if I remember correctly, the Padres (Hoyer) had Baez on their Big Board put he was popped right before thanks to Mario Sanchez, I had this completely opposite). Drafted from relatively anonymous Arlington Country Day School …