About a quarter of the 2011 season is in the books and the Cubs have performed about as we expected overall. The pitching, particularly the rotation, has been worse than we thought. Part of that can be explained by the injury to Randy Wells who is an above average starting pitcher. The pitchers they’ve used to fill in for Wells, …
Besides That, Cubs Fans, How Have You Enjoyed the Ricketts Era?
The Ricketts showed up last year at the Cubs Convention to a hero’s welcome. If the crowds could have somehow gotten ahold of some rose petals or palm fronds to throw at their feet, they surely would have. Finally! The reign of the Tribune had come to an end! Long live the Ricketts Family!!! They talked about how they were …
It’s never too early to look ahead to next year
A few years ago I wouldn’t have considered writing something about looking ahead. The Cubs had the pieces in place to contend for as long as they were willing to supplement the roster when it was needed. Following the 2009 season the Cubs refused to do that and what they basically agreed to do at that time was a much …
Cubs Minor League Progress
mb21 recently had a blog post about fangraphs Cubs top 10 prospects. As the season has progressed, I’ve become increasingly interested in the farm and less with the ML club. I wanted to give updates and some subjective analysis to those who don’t know much about the farm, but are interested enough to read an overview of their seasons so …
Checking up on the Cubs top prospects
I have always wanted to write more about the minor leagues, but whenever I start to do so I have failed to keep it up. As a result, I’ve mostly stopped writing articles about minor league players unless it’s relevant to the big league team. I know there are at least a few of you who closely follow the Cubs …
Cubs Need Brett Jackson
Normally, I am not someone who wants to rush players to the big leagues. I wasn’t a fan of bringing Corey Patterson up so quickly. I didn’t even love it when Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were brought up so fast. I usually want players to develop skills in the minors that will be harder to learn while under the …
Should Brett Jackson be starting for the Cubs?
Brett Jackson was the Cubs first round pick in 2009 and the 31st pick overall. It was the first time that I could remember that the Cubs selected someone who knew how to get on base. Jackson took a lot of walks on college and there was never any doubt as to his ability to reach base. He also had …