The Cubs have been an enigmatic team this year in a few ways. I was looking earlier for reasons to be optimistic about the Cubs, and I found some; however, the Cubs have been equally lucky in a few ways. The Cubs are 29th in the league in Offensive Batting Average on Balls In Play, with .265. That is a …
Chance to win $200 gift card at The Outside Corner on Bloguin
We're glad that we're among your go to destinations for Cubs blogs. Despite my occasional attempts to cover MLB more thoroughly, it ends up failing. Since we don't cover MLB thoroughly, we wanted to suggest you spend some time over at The Outside Corner every now and again. They're in our 5 site rotation of daily national reads and have …
Assume the Position: MLB Starting Pitchers
For pitching, I'm going to break it down into more easily-digestible bunches. For this version, I'm going to look at the Cubs in 2012 and then the people most likely to make the team (for Opening Day) in 2013. Last Year 2013 Career Name Age GS IP ERA FIP pwFIP ERA FIP Samardzija …
Interview with Tom Tango (aka tangotiger)
As most of you probably know, Tom Tango now exclusively consults with the Cubs. This is incredible news: Tom Tango, also knows as tangotiger, is one of the greatest baseball minds in the game today. Many of the foundational statistics that we have today come from The Book, the spiritual successor to The Hidden Game of Baseball. Mr. Tango has …
US Roster for World Baseball Classic
The rosters for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) were announced yesterday's and here is the US roster. Player Pos. Team Mark Teixeira 1B Yankees Brandon Phillips 2B Reds Jimmy Rollins SS Phillies David Wright 3B Mets Joe Mauer C Twins Ryan Braun LF Brewers Adam Jones CF Orioles Giancarlo Stanton RF Marlins Ben Zobrist INF Rays Willie Bloomquist INF D-backs …
How good is Anthony Rizzo?
Not long after the Cubs hired Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, the two traded Andrew Cashner and Kyung-Min Na to the Padres for Anthony Rizzo and Zach Cates. Rizzo had just completed his age 21 season with the Padres and to say it didn't go well would be putting it nicely. Still, he had hit well in the minor leagues …
Daily Facepalm – 1.13.12
Good teammate To the surprise of no rational Cubs fan here or elsewhere, Alfonso Soriano is a good teammate. During his time in Chicago, Theo Epstein has come to realize what a tremendous teammate Soriano is and how willing he is to help younger players. Epstein considers Soriano an excellent clubhouse presence, and after a 32-homer, 108-RBI season, the Cubs …
Hall of Stats
Glad someone did it. I like it better than the real thing. They inducted 13 from this ballot. I created the Hall of Stats so we wouldn’t be ignored. And today, the Hall of Stats includes: Barry Bonds Roger Clemens Curt Schilling Jeff Bagwell Larry Walker Mike Piazza Alan Trammell Edgar Martinez Kenny Lofton Tim Raines Craig Biggio Mark McGwire …
Jeff Idelson, President of the Baseball Hall of Fame, full of shit
From Joe Posnanski: “Let’s put it this way,” Idelson says. “Every year I root for someone to be elected. I’m not alone in Cooperstown in that wish. By the same token, I was fully aware that a shutout was possible and was prepared for it. We have tremendous faith in the writers’ process.” I think you have to be an …
Daily Facepalm – 1.10.13
Hall of Fame Nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday. It wasn’t that surprising based on Repoz’s collection of the ballots published online, but still frustrating. The New York Times covered the front page of the sports with this instant classic. It will only be more difficult to get into the Hall of Fame now that so many …