A little over 2 weeks ago, I wrote an article with Uncle Dave's help about a different way to rate prospects. Dave got the idea from Hockey's Future. Dave's explanations of what each number grade (ceiling) represented was so awesome that I used it word for word. I did want to clarify something on the letter grades (floor). An A …
Verlander. Got. Paid.
First, the details. Verlander signed a 5-year, $140 million dollar extension today. It will pay him $28 million dollars a year in 2015 through 2019. There is a 2020 option at $22 million that will vest automatically (but the terms of how that could vest are unknown at the moment). Verlander was already signed at $20 million for this year …
Luis Valbuena: Not Very Good
In a few days, the Cubs will open regular season play with Luis Valbuena at 3B. Compared to the other options the Cubs have, he isn't that bad. Compared to other 3B, it's really bad. The first thing I looked at when analyzing Valbuena's last season was to look at his BABIP. It was low last year, at .260. That …
2013 Cubs overview at The Outside Corner
I wrote a piece breaking down the state of the organization for non-Cubs fans over at The Outside Corner, part of our old network Blogiun. Check it out. Or don't. Or give me a yacht. All of those things would be okay with me.
Replacement Level Unification!
Thankfully, replacement level means the same thing now from BRef and FanGraphs. This is a great thing and makes things a lot nicer.
OV Turns Two: Something Terrible This Way Comes.
Two years ago, having been conceived in the minds of commiserative suffering and gestated in the womb of indignant hope, Obstructed View was born. We celebrated the cerebral union of four great genius prize-winning semi-literate minds (operating under our noms de plumes, mb21, aisle 424, berselius, and yours truly, and counting) the way any intellectual quadrumvirate would: with a series of poorly crafted …
Tim McCarver to retire
Tim McCarver will be retiring after the 2013 season. Good riddance. In honor of our second anniversary, Mish put this together.
Your moment in Yahoo Sports! stupidity
Can you point out the error in this assessment of Ohio State's Final Four chances? I'll give you a hint in bold. Ohio State Region: West Who they beat: No. 15 Iona, No. 10 Iowa State Odds of getting to the Final Four: 8/1 Why they can do it: They're now the favorite in this region after other high seeds …
The 2008 Draft Retrospective
I think 5 years is a pretty good amount of time to review a draft class. That would put us at 2008 (well, it's 4.5 years, but close enough for me). 1/19: Andrew Cashner This pick has worked out relatively well, all things considered. Cashner had definite starter potential, and still profiles as a really good closer. Unfortunately for him, …
Jim Leyland Just Wants to Chillax
From the "some of us suspected this all along" department: The Tigers have yet to name a closer for the upcoming season. Rookie favorite Bruce Rondon has been erratic this spring, with quality setup men Joaquin Benoit and Phil Coke performing reasonably well. A trade is also a possibility, and Carlos Marmol's name has come up.* *Obligatory Cubs tie-in Typically when managers …