A couple weeks ago I showed that the current Cubs offense was performing as poorly as any Cubs team in history. Their 77 wRC+ (at the time and still today) was tied for second worst in their history. wRC+ is but one metric that measures offense. It's based on Tangotiger's wOBA. Baseball Prospectus has a similar value based on their …
A reasonable contract extension for Starlin Castro
#reminder { background: #BECDC6; padding: 6px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 12px 8px 12px; } Contest reminder: Don't forget to enter our contest to win The Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs DVD set. It runs through Sunday, August 19. The news last night that the Cubs are working on a contract extension for Starlin Castro actually gives us something Cubs-related …
Phil Rogers is not a Crane Kenney fan
#reminder { background: #BECDC6; padding: 6px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 12px 8px 12px; } Contest reminder: Don't forget to enter our contest to win The Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs DVD set. It runs through Sunday, August 19. Phil Rogers wonders why, if the Cubs were cleaning house in the front office this week, Crane Kenney still has a …
Oneiri Fleita Out
The Cubs’ front office restructuring continues. Last week, longtime scouting director Tim Wilken was promoted, or simply reassigned if you are of a cynical bent. Today, Bruce Miles breaks the news that fellow holdover Oneiri Fleita is out as VP of Player Personnel. Indefatigable Brett has a responsible rundown. Irresponsible Speculation Perhaps the front office googled him and realized that …
Starlin Castro’s Lineup Spot
Contest reminder: Don't forget to enter our contest to win The Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs DVD set. It runs through Sunday. This has nothing to do with talent, as Castro has as much of it as anyone in baseball. This comes down too mind frame and plate approach. In my mind, Starlin Castro is as good a 2 …
The Cubs probably won’t be taking many walks for some time
The Cubs 6.5% walk rate prior to last night's games was the lowest in baseball (league average 8.1%). The following Cubs with 150 PA or more are or were above league average: Geovany Soto (9.6%), Luis Valbuena (9.8%), Ian Stewart (10.4%), David DeJesus (10.6%) and Bryan LaHair (11.2%). One of those players is now with the Texas Rangers. Another is …
Worst Cubs offense ever?
I was checking out Starlin Castro's disappointing offensive season on Fangraphs and thought I'd check to see where the Cubs rank offensively as a team. I didn't realize it had gotten so ugly. Their 77 wRC+ is dead last behind the Mariners at 81. The two offense's may actually be equal if we eliminated the pitcher in the NL, but …
Revisiting the Cubs offseason transactions
Since the Cubs changed management this past offseason I thought it might be fun to look back at the transactions and see how they've turned out so far. Keep in mind these are a final analysis. There's still much time left for some of these deals to look different than they currently do. I considered breaking this into parts, but …
The Dodgers May or May Not Be Pissed That Ryan Dempster May or May Not Have Heard Them Say Unflattering Things About Him on the Phone
The Chicago media seems pretty intent on deciding whather Ryan Dempster was listening in to trade conversations about him or not. Was Dempster really listening in like Jay Leno in a broom closet as Ned Colletti outlined the reasons why he wasn't interested in parting with more than a bag of balls for Dempster's services? Or was there really a …
Let’s play “What if”
Starlin Castro has established himself at the big league level and he's going to get better. How much so? Who really knows, but even if he never got any better, he's still an above average shortstop currently making league minimum. Anthony Rizzo hasn't established himself as Castro has, but he's more than shown in his first couple months with the …