Happy February, we’re just a couple weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting, then shortly after, we will see the MLB players ease into the new rules that include the pitch clock and shift restrictions. AC also spurred some thought with a share of pitchers with weird arm angles in the previous post, which is a fun excuse to use …
The Cubs Night Before Christmas 2022
‘Twas the night before Christmas, including Chicago Barely anyone stirring because it’s so cold The Cubs had signed Dansby and young Bellinger With hopes for a new ring for the baby bears The plan was to load up on pitchers and D To ensure the opponents scored fewer than three As many batters put on other teams’ caps What’s to …
Rhymes With Schmollusion
The Athletic (I think it was Evan Drellich) published a piece today about owners complaining that Steve Cohen is a rich bastard, and for those of us blocked by the paywall, this was the snippet that was being floated around: It actually is kind of hilarious when we basically know that there are something like 20 owners (including the bottom …
Roster Check in Advance of Rule 5 and Free Agent Additions (If Any)
Most of the stuff I was tracking was in the previous post, but the official list is out with no DFAs (yet) since the Cubs had room: The Cubs will therefore roll the dice on the other Rule 5 eligible guys, but since most rosters are still stuffed to the gills, they’ll probably be okay for the most part. Now …
Sports and Sustainability
I’ve been on a sustainability kick, what with driving my gasoline-powered car way less (we’ll probably sell it at some point) and switching over to my electric car. It’s been disappointing to realize that maybe only 10% of the stuff I throw in the blue bin actually gets recycled, and if only a few billionaires pooled their resources to set …
MLB Future Power Rankings (ESPN)
Cubs in a landslide. The Cubs arrived a year earlier than expected, and they're not going away any time soon. This offseason they'll put the finishing touches on what should be a championship-caliber club in 2016. Team president Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer are committed to building a strong rotation after Arrieta and Jon Lester this offseason to improve their playoff chances, …
Castro: Ramirez Called Me After Benching
Despite the fact that many Cubs fans (and mustachioed commentators) love to hate Starlin Castro in the same, definitely-not-racist-at-all way they hated Aramis Ramirez, they're two of my favorite players. So I got a little emotional when I read that Aramis reached out to encourage Starlin after his demotion to the very deep Chicago Cubs bench. I love what Ramirez …
BP Wrigleyville with a great Wildcard preview
So that’s what Cole’s been up to. Before we go much deeper in hitter-by-hitter analysis, though, I think we can narrow things down just a bit. Jackson has never faced Cole, has a .655 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2015, and until his last two games has really struggled in a Cubs uniform. He’s a quality defensive outfielder, though, so it …
The 2015 Chicago Cubs: This Won’t Be a Nice Season
2015 had a chance of being a feel-good season for the Chicago Cubs, but that can’t happen now. Back when Kris Bryant was making a long-shot case for an All-Star berth and Kyle Schwarber was pretending he could destroy American League pitching when given the chance to DH, Near the end of July, the Cubs were 5 games over .500, …
Kris Bryant Grand Slam
Your browser does not support iframes. Kris Bryant's 9th-inning HR was calculated at 452 feet, the 3rd-longest HR at Progressive Field since 2009 pic.twitter.com/HVSKXZR2l4 — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 18, 2015