The Cubs promoted 20-year old Javier Baez to AA Tennessee this past weekend after a scorching half-season or so in Daytona. Baez's power output in the Florida State League was pretty incredible, as he hit 17 homers in a very pitcher-friendly league despite his young age. Last season, he hit 16 homers in 80 games spread between Peoria (in the …
Starlin Castro’s season is so bad it reminded me of Ronny Cedeno
The other day I happened to think of Ronny Cedeno and how awful he was in 2006. I couldn't help but wonder how Starlin Castro's 2013 season compared to Cedeno's 2005. Year Name PA BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ Fld BsR WAR 2006 Cedeno 572 3.0% 19.1% .094 .296 .245 .271 .339 .263 47 -4.4 -0.8 …
Starlin Castro to bat 2nd
You know that news is rather light when you're writing about what you figured would happen all along: Starlin Castro will bat 2nd. If everybody lives up to their capabilities, hopefully we don't have to do anything [different]," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Sunday of his projected lineup in which David DeJesus will lead off and be followed by Castro, …
Rant Sports writes stupid stuff on the internet again
The Chicago Cubs must trade Alfonso Soriano before other teams realize just how far he has fallen since he became a Cub. – stupid stuff found on internet I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that if random stupid guy on internet knows that Soriano isn't as good as he once was that other MLB teams know …
Random crap
I've had a very sore neck, back and shoulders for the last couple of weeks so I haven't written much over that time. It's still not 100% and I'm beginning to feel as though it never will be. But I am good enough that I can spread my infinite wisdom to our readers. You're welcome. Jeff Samardzija was named the …
2013 PECOTA Projections
The 2013 PECOTA projections are out and I thought I'd post some of the Cubs below. Since you have to be a subscriber in order to download the spreadsheet, I'm only going to include PA and wOBA, which I calculated using the basic formula. For pitchers I'll only show IP and FIP (I calculated this too). 2013 PECOTA Projections for …
Four most likely to exceed expectations
I was working on an idea for a post using the 2013 Cubs projections. The idea was to calculate an approximation of the best case scenario win total. I was going to use the 65th percentile projection for every player just for fun. I'll finish that before the season, but as I was getting the position player projections into a …
Should the Cubs go after Michael Bourn
Michael Bourn rumors have been flying around all offseason, but he is still sitting there without a job for 2013. We were told how he'd be one of the most highly sought after free agents this offseason, but perhaps those people who said that need to rethink it. Bourn has had plenty of suitors, but talks with him have not …
It’s time to get excited about the 2013 Cubs
Spring training is just around the corner and the 2013 Cubs are set to kick off their Cactus League schedule on February 23rd. It's a split squad game and the game against the Angels will even be televised on WGN. It's not until April 1st that non-practice games will be played, but it's time to get excited. They might be …
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 …