I don’t see how this season comes down to anything other than this faceoff from last season resulting in the death of one of them.
What are the 2011 Cubs good at?
I wanted to look over various statistics to see what the Cubs were good at. It’s a bad team, but even bad teams excel at something. Right? Batting average is a useless statistic, but I figured if there was one thing the Cubs were good at it would be this. The Cubs .258 team average beats the NL average of …
Series Preview: Oklahoma City Redhawks of Houston (51-98) at Iowa Cubs of Chicago (65-85)
Can’t yoiu just feel the excitement in this matchup? There’s a good chance that the Cubs will be the team to push the Astros over the 100-loss threshold this weekend, just in time for their banishment to the time zone abyss of the AL West. Maybe the Cubs can even pass the Pirates, which completely validates the season, saves Cuey’s …
Starlin Castro and 200 hits in season
Starlin Castro sits at 192 hits entering today’s games. There are 13 games remaining this season and there seems a good chance he ends up with 200 hits. That’s a big number and one that is often talked about. If you get 200 hits, you supposedly are a great hitter. Certainly, at Castro’s age, doing it is quite impressive, but …
Mike Quade's Star Wars Nicknames
Have you ever wondered how Mike Quade would refer to characters in the Star Wars universe? Us too. In honor of the upcoming Star Wars Night at Wrigley (and because we need another thread), we are happy to present Mike Quade’s nicknames for your favorite Star Wars characters: Luke Skywalker: Lukey Han Solo: Lo Princess Leia Organa: Orgy Chewbacca: Chews …
Add Mark Shapiro's name to the list
Jayson Stark has heard from an executive that Indians President and former GM Mark Shapiro may have interest in the Cubs general manager job. We’ve heard lots of famous names connected with the Cubs’ general manager gig. Well, here’s one fascinating name we haven’t heard: Indians president (and longtime GM) Mark Shapiro. According to people in the game who are …
Bud Selig is Mad Everyone Knows He's an Unfeeling Asshole
Bud Selig is none too happy with the Mets. Apparently, Bud wanted to deny them the ability to wear NYPD, NYFD, and other first responders’ hats in favor of the the MLB sanctioned hats (which are on sale now, by the way!) and have them just shut up and do what he said. It was, I guess, wrong of the …
Aramis Ramirez and "performing when it counts"
The Cubs and Aramis Ramirez have a mutal option for 2011 at $16 million, but it’s unlikely he exercises that option. Ramirez is looking for more than a one-year deal and as the best free agent 3rd baseman he’ll easily get a multi-year deal on the free agent market. It’s hard to say whether or not the Cubs will offer …
The hunt for a new GM
Shortly after Jim Hendry was fired I wrote about why every big name GM, current or not, is a candidate for the Cubs job. If they are, so is everybody else. The reason I wrote that is that the GM who wins a World Series with the Cubs is going to be the most popular GM in history. He can …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (64-82) at Cincinnati Reds (71-75)
The Cubs played the Reds just last week, and five of the six starters from that series are pitching this series. I’m just going to make a few minor tweaks to the last preview (laughing). Team overview As always, these are team stats with NL ranks in parentheses. Reds Cubs wOBA .322 (4th) .315 (8th) UBR 14.2 (1st) -11.4 (16th) …