St. Louis squeaked its way into the playoffs thanks to a late-season collapse by the Braves. Again, I find it crazy that there are 2 NL Central teams in the playoffs. Team Overviews Team stats, with NL rank in parentheses Cardinals Phillies wOBA .332 (1st) .316 (6th) UBR 4.0 (5th) -5.7 (14th) UZR -29.8 (15th) -10 (9th) DRS -13 (11th) …
A thought or two about Carlos Marmol
I didn’t make it a secret that I thought the Cubs 3-year extension given to Carlos Marmol last offseason wasn’t a wise decision. Despite that, I made it clear that Marmol was not being paid like an elite reliever and was worth the contract at the time it was signed. This was true even if you consider the discount that …
Series Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68) vs Milwaukee Brewers (96-66)
Milwaukee is already up 1-0 in this series but these things take too damn long for me to write to have this up before that happened (laughing). It’s hard to believe that there are two teams from the NL Central in the playoffs this year. Team overviews Team stats, with NL rank in parentheses DBacks Brewers wOBA .321 (4th) .327 …
Series Preview: Detroit Tigers (95-67) vs New York Yankees (97-65)
This series already began in disappointment, as the marquee matchup between extremely likely Cy Young winner Justing Verlander and C.C. Sabathia was suspended due to rain in the second inning. The game will resume tonight with different starters and the score 1-1. I said last night that it was good for the Yankees given how great Verlander is, but C.C. …
Terry Francona to leave Boston?
Terry Francona may be out as manager of the Red Sox as early as today so reports a lot of people with sources. I for one would be very happy if the Cubs targeted him as their manager. He’s one of the best in the game. He might be the best. Terry Francona may depart as manager of the Boston …
Series Preview: Tampa Bay Rays (91-71) at Texas Rangers (96-66)
I’m going to write my usual previews for each of the playoff series. I’ll say flat out that I don’t follow the AL at all, so any of you Rays fans who aren’t still in a daze should feel free to chime in with comments/inevitable corrections to anything I say here. Before we get to the Rays, let’s stop and …
Carlos Zambrano was NOT added to the 40-man roster
Pitchers Justin Berg and Brian Schlitter were designated for assignment by the Cubs on Thursday, and pitcher Carlos Zambrano was added to the 40-man roster. Zambrano was taken off the 40-man roster when the Cubs determined that he would not be returning to the team for the final month. On Sept. 2, the Cubs announced Zambrano would not return after …
That's Baseball
As Ron Santo always liked to say: That’s baseball. Congratulations to the Rays and Cardinals. If the postseason is only 4.38% as exciting as last night was, it’s going to be a great one.
Cubs at Padres game thread
It’s been a while since we had one of these (and I can’t even write more than that one sentence and will make mb21 do the rest). Although Carlos Zambrano is not with the team, it’s almost certainly his final game employed by the Chicago Cubs. In his honor and the complete crap that this current team is, I suggest …
Offseason Preview: Trade Candidates
Without even knowing what the Cubs general plan is going to be this offseason, it’s very difficult to look ahead to the offseason with any confidence of what they may do. They could decide to go all in and go after guys like Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder and CC Sabathia. They could pass on all of them and stand …