I paid so little attention to Cubs baseball after the first few weeks that it's hard for me to believe that Jeff Samardzija threw 88 innings a year ago. I did know that however many innings he threw that they weren't the typically bad Jeff Samardzija innings. I also knew he got lucky. I probably paid no attention to Samardzija's …
Carroll’s Team Health Reports
For several years now Will Carroll has published Team Health Reports. He previously did so at Baseball Prospectus and now does so at SI. I've never been the biggest fan. It seems far too random. Let's take a look at this year's. 2B Darwin Barney Darwin Barney doesn't sound like a 2B, but he sure played like one last year. …
Daily Facepalm: 2.10.12 – Uber-facepalm edition
Self-directed facepalm AC and berselius posted new Daily facepalm posts one minute apart from one another. So now they are merged. Those responsible have been sacked Mish Mash Let's face it, half the content on this blog is just stuff Mish posts, so today is a look back at Mish's contributions to the world of Obstructed View and beyond. If …
Evaluating the Cubs likely lineup
It's hard to believe that February is here, which means pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Mesa in a couple weeks. The position players won't be far behind. It's particularly hard to believe because the Cubs didn't have an active offseason. Not once have I actually looked forward to watching Cubs baseball. I have looked forward to watching baseball, …
Selig to rule on Theo Epstein compensation soon
The compensation the Cubs will send to the Red Sox for Theo Epstein has been going on for seemingly ever. It’s now in Bud Selig’s hands and he’ll soon rule on what the Cubs have to give the Red Sox. Apparently the Sox still want something significant, but as has been said time and again, there’s no precedent for a …
Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been busy
The Cubs were having a rather quiet offseason until December 23rd when they traded Sean Marshall. In a span of one month they’ve traded Marshall, DJ LeMahieu, Tyler Colvin, Carlos Zambrano, Andrew Cashner and Kyung-Min Ha. All of them except Ha were on the team’s 40-man roster. A new front office trading current players is nothing new. On July 5, …
Does Zambrano trade tell us about a possible Soriano trade?
Since Carlos Zambrano was traded two days ago I think all Cubs fans have wondered what it might mean for Alfonso Soriano. The Cubs were willing to eat almost all of Zambrano’s contract in trading him. We know that Tom Ricketts has given Theo the go ahead and clean house even if it it requires the team to send truckloads …
Is Brett Jackson the Cubs best outfielder?
Back in April I wondered if Brett Jackson was one of the three best outfielders in the Cubs organization. The conclusion at the time was that Jackson was certainly one of the three best on the team. In fact, his projections were similar to Kosuke Fukudome‘s, but considering Jackson would play CF he was projected to be more valuable over …
Bruce Levine thinks Marlon Byrd will be traded
I rarely read Bruce Levine’s chats, but for some reason that’s what I did with the one he had yesterday. One of the questions was asked about why Marlon Byrd was still with the Cubs considering the rebuild they’re undergoing. There are a couple reasons Byrd has not been traded and in my opinion, likely will not be. He’s provides …
Complete rebuild, Cubs re-sign Reed Johnson, trade Sean Marshall
The Cubs have re-signed Reed Johnson to a one-year contract. The contract is pending a physical. No word yet on the amount he was signed for, but I’m sure it’s under $2 million. As a back-up, Johnson had a fantastic season last year for the Cubs. He hit .309/.348/.467. His wOBA was .354 and he was worth 1.2 fWAR and …