NEW YORK — Who's your first half Most Valuable Player for the Cubs? Manager Dale Sveum picked relievers Shawn Camp and James Russell. Camp was 2-4 with a 2.86 ERA and one save, while Russell was 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA entering Sunday. Russell had a 2.30 ERA in 101 games since the start of 2011, the second-lowest mark by …
Rizzomania
I promised myself not to cry every time he came to bat, but his swing is so beautiful.
A 2013 Cubs Contender, Part 2
About 10 days ago we looked at what the Cubs have in terms of guaranteed contracts and we also signed Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza to long-term extensions. Since it's been 10 days I'll post the most relevant information here and we can move forward. Our roster We already have $54.3 million committed, but only the following players under contract …
BA's Jim Callis, BP's Kevin Goldstein on the Cubs and the draft
Orange Guy had Jim Callis from Baseball America and Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus on the Cubs pre-pregame show today. The highlights Callis: Gaussman is the best player that actually has a chance of dropping to the Cubs, though the chance of him doing so is small (but nontrivial!) Cubs will probably draft Almora Callis would take Correa over Almora …
Daily, er, Monthly Facepalm – 5.31.12
Cubs slip from last place The Cubs sweep of the Padres puts them one game behind in the race for the #1 pick. The Cubs are tied with the Twins for the second pick. Buried in this Hobbitton Times article about the sweep was a nugget about Ryan Dempster putting a hole in the wall next to his locker after …
Series Preview: San Diego Padres (17-32) at Chicago Cubs (15-32)
Will the Cubs complete the hat trick of being swept by some of the worst teams in the NL? This time they have the additional challenge of getting swept at home. Team Overviews NL Rank in parens Padres Cubs wOBA .278 (15th) .296 (14th) UBR -4.4 (15th) 4.1 (1st) UZR -1.7 (9th) 9.9 (5th) DRS -7 (9th) 6 (5th) …
The 45%: When Theo Epstein Is Wrong
During Theo Epstein's introductory press conference, as well as the many rounds he made to various radio and tv shows, there is one line that I remember more than any other. if you do a great job, you're right 55 percent of the time. Of the many hours Theo spent talking with people about the Cubs on that day, I …
A 2013 Cubs Contender, Part 1
RC has been insistent about wondering how the Cubs may contend in 2013. I've been meaning to write something about it for some time, but can't help but think the Cubs are a long way away from contention. 2013 doesn't seem possible, but it's always possible. How can they do it? After thinking about this post for awhile I finally …
The Children Are The Future-Cubs Minor League Update Sponsored by Acapulco Taco Pie
Iowa Another day another Anthony Rizzo HR. He decided to pair his 13th shot of the year with a triple and kept his average at .359. Brett Jackson on the other hand is really scuffling right now as he slipped down to .226 after another 0-4 day. Randy Wells got shelled and has a 7 + ERA right now. He is …
Bryan LaHair's Fantastic Start
Some Cubs fans entered the season with relatively high expectations for Bryan LaHair. Others weren't optimistic at all. I was somewhere in between. I was fairly certain LaHair's numbers were so damn good at AAA that it indicated he should probably be about a league average ballplayer at the MLB level. To this point we've all been wrong. MLB's best …