From the "some of us suspected this all along" department: The Tigers have yet to name a closer for the upcoming season. Rookie favorite Bruce Rondon has been erratic this spring, with quality setup men Joaquin Benoit and Phil Coke performing reasonably well. A trade is also a possibility, and Carlos Marmol's name has come up.* *Obligatory Cubs tie-in Typically when managers …
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 …
Cubs players who are out of options
There are 6 Cubs players who are out of options meaning they cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. They would have to be placed on waivers instead. Those players are: Michael Bowden, Welington Castillo, Rafael Dolis, Jeff Samardzija, Luis Valbuena and Travis Wood. There are no concerns that Jeff Samardzija would need to be optioned to the minors, but …
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 …
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 …
How many games will the 2013 Cubs win?
Over at The Cub Contrarian, Kyle used an estimated WAR for players to get a team win total. I thought I'd do the same thing, but I'm going to do it two ways: projections and my wild ass guesses. Wild Ass Guess Catchers: Welington Castillo (1.0), Dioner Navarro (negative infinity) I could easily see Castillo being a 2 WAR player, …
Rant Sports: The Chicago Cubs Continue To Prove They’re a Joke In Failed Anibal Sanchez Signing
If blogs could be designated for assignment, Rant Sports, along with Bleacher Report, would have been DFA'd a long time ago. They're not even replacement level blogs worthy of the minimal amount of attention, but here we are: paying attention to them because there isn't anything else to write about. So why not make fun of the less intelligent among …
Cubs sign Kyuji Fujikawa
The Cubs signed 32 year old Japanese free agent Kyuji Fujikawa to a 2-year deal worth $9.2 million. The contract includes a vesting option for 2015 depending on games finished that be worth either $5.5 million or $6 million. Word on the street is that this guy sits in the 92-94 mph range and can touch 95-97 depending on which …
Daily Facepalm – 11.8.12
The Cubs may or may not be discussing Justin Upton with the Dbacks. It could go either way. Basically all there is to this report is Rosenthal saying that the Dbacks are having "active discussions" about Upton. One of his sources said that there's an 80% chance that he gets traded this offseason, though obviously the FO is denying this. …
What we know about the potential Dan Haren trade
I've been a bit under the weather the past week so I have read very little Cubs related news with the exception of what's been posted on this site. I know Berselius mentioned something about people on his twitter feed being upset at the Cubs for failing to complete another trade. If I understood him correctly, they argue that this …