We move to the last member of the Cubs pitching staff who has a rotation spot locked down. As we all know, the should-have-been-rebuilding Cubs swapped three baseball players (and Sam Fuld) to the Rays at the beginning of last season for the getting-expensive Matt Garza. Garza went on to have a much better year than anyone expected, completely changing …
Daily Facepalm 3.15.12 – Calling in Sick with March Madness
Practice Game recap Travis Wood probably punched his ticket to Iowa yesterday, giving up six runs while only recording one out. Bullpen/tenth starter hopeful Casey Coleman also had a rough day, giving up four runs in less than two innings. The only particularly positive result of the day was that Randy Wells had three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and …
Lower Demand Won’t Hurt Cubs or Ticket Brokers As Much As You’d Think
A couple of days ago, Doc Blume wrote an interesting post about the obvious lack of demand for Cubs tickets this year. There are still tickets available for every game on the schedule, including Opening Day and the Red Sox series. There are large numbers of tickets available for most of the other games on the schedule. That is all …
Position Battles: Back-up Catcher
The Cubs roster is mostly set with a few exceptions. Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger are battling it out for the back-up catcher spot. There's been this invented competition for the rotation, which I think is mostly nonsense. You've got Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm who are guaranteed spots in the rotation. Certainly deserving of a spot is …
Daily Facepalm 3.14.12
Practice Game recap Chris Volstad pitched three strong inninngs yesterday, extending his spring training scoreless streak to six innings. As with Samardzija and the other starter candidates, small sample size abounds, but I think he's got a good shot making the rotation. Tom Ricketts seemed to think so too during his brief time in the booth with Len and Mick. …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Center Field
Marlon Byrd is entering the final year of his contract and will earn $6.5 million in 2012. He's been a very good producer for the Cubs relative to what he's been paid. He's contributed 6.4 fWAR so far. 4.4 of that came in his first season in a Cubs uniform and last year he was worth 2 fWAR. It's worth …
Daily Facepalm 3.13.12
Practice game wrapup The Cubs knocked the eminently hittable Bronson Arroyo around in the first inning, capped off by an approximately 900 ft Alfonso Soriano HR (HR distance estimated by the sound it made coming off the bat and Len's reaction). Paul Maholm performed about as expected in his Cubs debut, giving up a homer to Reds outfielder Todd Frazier …
People in Chicago can count real good
I love Dusty Baker. I'm not afraid to say it. I'm not a fan of the way he manages, though he does seem to be improving. I like hearing the dude talk. Man, he makes me laugh. Now he's wishing Dale Sveum good luck and let me be the 87,965th person to tell you this: all the luck in the …
Ballhawks can take 2012 off
One thing I've noticed while looking over the projections the past couple months is just how little power the Cubs have. Their starting lineup is practically filled with singles hitters. Alfonso Soriano still has some pop and so does Geovany Soto, but the rest of the lineup has none. I was wondering when the last time the Cubs starting lineup …
Discredited Fantasy Baseball II: Attack of the Chones
I've reopened our ESPN fantasy baseball league for another season. The draft is tentatively set for Tuesday, March 20 at 8:00 CST. It is a 12 team, 5×5 Roto league (NOT head to head, you accumulate statistics in 10 categories over an entire season). The categories for hitters are R, RBI, SLG, OBP, and net stolen bases. The categories for …