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, …
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 …
How much have the injuries cost the Cubs, and projecting Doug Davis
Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner were placed on the DL following their first start of the season. Each is currently rehabbing in Arizona and just began facing live batters this week. Wells is a bit ahead of Cashner, but neither pitcher is probably going to be back with the big league club by the end of the month. Wells pitched …
Cubs rWAR and fWAR
Most of you are at least somewhat familiar with WAR and how it works. I’d bet most of you are familiar that Fangraphs publishes their own WAR (fWAR) and Baseball Reference publishes their own. BRef’s WAR is based on Rally Monkey’s formula and it’s been referred to as rWAR for a few years now. There are some key differences between …
Cubs compared to their projections
I wrote this on Friday morning so it’s updated through Thursday’s games. I’m too lazy to update it to include Friday’s blowout loss. This is something I’ll try to update once a month just so we can see where players are at compared to their projections. It’s something SG has done on RLYW a few times over the last couple …
Cubs Player Power Rankings
There are plenty of places you can go to read team power rankings for all of Major League Baseball. I believe most respectable bloggers and journalists are required by the code of moot speculation to incite as many arguments as possible by haphazardly or systematically arranging the teams from best to crappiest. Two things prevent me from doing that: a) …
11 Cubs Sure To Disappoint
I should have written this about ten days ago, but I didn’t so I’m going to do it now. Early season stats mean absolutely nothing to me so there’s no risk of them influencing this list. 10. Blake DeWitt Why he’s here: The Cubs got Blake DeWitt from the Dodgers last summer in return for Ted Lilly. Lilly was a …
Series Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks (1-1) at Chicago Cubs (1-2)
All I should have to say about yesterday’s game is that the Cubs lost on a 2-run infield single. It was that kind of day. However, despite the fact that the Cubs lost two games to the emintently beatable Pirates there were things to be happy about. Here’s a breakdown of what we learned The Good Starlin Castro. What a …
Random Thoughts
Three games doesn’t tell us anything, but they were three predictable games. The offense struggled, which they’re going to do all season long. That’s especially true against right-handed pitchers. The defense let the team down late in Sunday’s game. Rather than a tie, a defensive mistake allowed the Pirates to take the lead. The pitching staff was solid, which they …
Obstructed View Opening Day Roundtable – part 1
Your fearless Obstructed View Executive Chairmen got together to discuss various topics related to the 2011 Cubs season. Here’s part one of our roundtable, that focuses on the offseason and specific players/figures. Part 2 will focus on our predictions for the 2011 season. Mike Quade [mb21] : Should we start with Quade?[aisle 424] : Sounds as good as anything.[berselius] : …