After the Cubs missed on Masahiro "We think he's a No. 3 Starter – Cashman" Tanaka, the Cubs went to a fall back plan. They signed Jason Hammel to a 1-year, $6 million dollar deal. Hammel, who has been good at times and bad most others, is a classic pump-and-dump candidate a la Feldman/Baker/numerous others. Do you remember the Scott Hairston …
Cubs 2014 Payroll: $84.5 million
This is the team, minus Jason Hammel. Let's take a look at the numbers. The opening day payroll in 2013 was $104,150,726. This would represent a decrease of 18.9%. In 2013 figures, $84.5 million would be 19th in the majors. They would be 4th in the NL Central (Pittsburgh is last in the Central with around $66.2 million). John from Cubs …
2014 Assume the Position: 1B
It's the second installment of Assume the Position for 2014. Here are some relevant articles: 2014 Assume the Position: Catchers 2013 Assume the Position: First Base Last Year 2014 Career Name Age (2014 season) AVG OBP SLG wOBA Oliver wOBA AVG OBP SLG wOBA MLB Rizzo 23 .233 .323 .419 .325 .336 .238 .324 .412 .323 …
2014 Assume the Position: C
It's the second annual (holy shit, I've been blogging over a year) installment of Assume the Position! I don't plan on making many changes since last year, though I imagine I'll have to edit these a bit as the last few signings or so trickle in. The one thing I will do is just remove the players that aren't on the …
Ways the Cubs could contend in 2014
Pitchers and catchers report in just 17 days. That's not a long time. Frankly, this has been the worst offseason I can ever remember for the Cubs, so I'm ready to watch the 2014 Cubs win 71 games and be eliminated from playoff contention in late May… or am I? Here are some things that could happen. If they do, …
Cubs put 7 in mlb.com Top 100 prospects
The Cubs were 3rd in "prospect points," according to mlb.com. 1st was the Astros, 2nd was the Red Sox. How good do you feel? Javier Baez – 7 (No. 2 SS) Kris Bryant – 9 (No. 2 3B) Albert Almora – 18 (No. 4 OF) C.J. Edwards – 42 (No. 20 P) Jorge Soler – 49 (No. 11 OF) Arismendy …
Myles’ Top Ten Prospects
This will be short and sweet. You've got plenty of different places to find a more thorough treatment. I'll link here for the description of what the rankings mean. 1. Javier Baez – 70 (9.5F) Baez is the clear top prospect according to every other scouting service. The comps are starting to get a little out of hand, with some people putting …
BP’s top 10 Cubs prospects + consensus Top 14 prospects
The BP list came out, and it's a great read. Here it is, but a sub is required. I recommend getting a subscription; it really is great work. I won't share any of the bits besides the Top 10 list: 1. Baez 2. Bryant 3. Almora 4. Soler 5. Edwards 6. Alcantara 7. Johnson 8. Vogelbach 9. Villanueva 10. Candelario …
Cubs’ Steamer Projections
While we wait for Tanaka to make a decision between choosing the Yankees today, or choosing the Yankees tomorrow, I took a look at how our offense performed relative to the league at each prediction. I then looked at who was projected to get the bulk of the starts at each position, and compared their Steamer projection to last year's …
Marc Hulet’s Top 10 prospects
I'm not a huge fan of the Hulet rankings, but they are still worth something. His Cubs list is right here, and it's interesting at the end. 1. Javier Baez (70) 2. Kris Bryant (70) 3. Albert Almora (65) 4. Jorge Soler (60) 5. Arismendy Alcantara (60) 6. Pierce Johnson (55) 7. C.J. Edwards (55) 8. Dan Vogelbach (55) The …