The Japan Times published an article yesterday about how the new posting system agreement puts Rakuten (Masahiro Tanaka's team) in an unfavorable position. The Eagles were widely expected to post Tanaka this offseason, but the newly agreed upon system, complete with a $20 million cap on posting fees, seems to have the team rethinking things. “First of all, discuss it …
Cubs roster updates
Last Update (2/21/2013): Removed Tony Campana from the 40-man roster. Added Scott Hairston to the 40-man roster. Earlier this week the Cubs re-signed Shawn Camp to a 1-year, $1.35 million contract. They also made a series of moves in preparation of protecting players from next month's Rule 5 Draft. They added Logan Watkins to the roster along with Trey McNutt, Christian …
What is Japanese for LaBomb?
Bryan LaHair was designated for assignment today. I think we generally hoped he would have a teeny tiny bit of trade value, but maybe he didn't or maybe the Cubs thought they should do right by him and just let him go so he can pursue an opportunity elsewhere (the talks of Japan are most prevalent). But no matter the …
The Manager's Record from the Bill James annual
One of the first things I do when I get the Bill James Handbook is look at what's called The Manager's Record. It includes several statistic that the manager controls and it's a good way to compare a manager to what the league average manager did. There are some issues though. The personnel on the team makes a huge difference …
Season in review: David DeJesus
I was looking through our media library, and it looks like the only pictures we have of DeJesus in the system are of him in a Royals uniform, his wife, and his ridiculous truck. That's pretty much summed up his year as a player. He didn't do anything in particular to raise anyone's ire, but never really distinguished himself either. …
The Top 20 Cubs performances in a 2012 game
I was curious which players had the best games in 2012 for this shitty team we follow. I used Win Probability Added (WPA) from Baseball Reference to compile the list. There's no reason to write more of an introduction than that so here they are. 20. Travis Wood, .395 WPA Despite Wood's up and down season, he ended up having …
Brett Jackson has more strikeouts than Darwin Barney
Brett Jackson has struckout 53 times in 125 plate appearances. Darwin Barney has struckout just 50 times in 540 plate appearances. Jackson has more strikeouts on the Cubs than all players but Alfonso Soriano, Bryan LaHair, Starlin Castro and David DeJesus. By the way, can we stop referring to Castro as a contact hitter? How many times have you heard …
Starlin Castro’s Lineup Spot
Contest reminder: Don't forget to enter our contest to win The Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs DVD set. It runs through Sunday. This has nothing to do with talent, as Castro has as much of it as anyone in baseball. This comes down too mind frame and plate approach. In my mind, Starlin Castro is as good a 2 …
The Cubs probably won’t be taking many walks for some time
The Cubs 6.5% walk rate prior to last night's games was the lowest in baseball (league average 8.1%). The following Cubs with 150 PA or more are or were above league average: Geovany Soto (9.6%), Luis Valbuena (9.8%), Ian Stewart (10.4%), David DeJesus (10.6%) and Bryan LaHair (11.2%). One of those players is now with the Texas Rangers. Another is …
Worst Cubs offense ever?
I was checking out Starlin Castro's disappointing offensive season on Fangraphs and thought I'd check to see where the Cubs rank offensively as a team. I didn't realize it had gotten so ugly. Their 77 wRC+ is dead last behind the Mariners at 81. The two offense's may actually be equal if we eliminated the pitcher in the NL, but …