No game to talk about yesterday, so this will be a quick little hit on how the top FA of 2014 have performed so far. 1. Robinson Cano – .326/.396/.370 (109 wRC+) Cano hasn’t exactly done the heavy lifting for the Mariners, but Smoak, Zunino, and Ackley have been more than sufficient so far. 2. Jacoby Ellsbury – .362/.423/.447 (152 …
Cubs sign George Kotarras and other notes
The Cubs have signed backup catcher George Kottaras. George Kottaras settles with #cubs. $1.075M plus incentives. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 3, 2013 The Cubs acquired Kottaras the other day and Myles wrote about him shortly thereafter. When you combine a poor batting average with an a noodle at backstop, you can make the case that Kottaras should linger in …
Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury
Remember to vote for the Hall of Fame here at Obstructed View. Jacoby Ellsbury's agent, Scott Boras, has said that he wants Carl Crawford money for his client. Crawford, who signed with the Red Sox after the 2010 season got $142 million over 7 years (that's the benchmark for Boras for his newest client). Is that a reasonable goal for …
Crowdsourcing free agent contracts
Fangraphs spent several days asking their readers what they thought the better free agents would end up signing for. They released the results and there are a couple things that may surprise some people. I was going to include only the top 10, but since the 11th player on the list is someone who was recently attached to the Cubs, …
Minor League Roundtable Part 3: Cubs Prospects ETA
This is our third part of the roundtable. Myles was not present at the time that Sitrick and I started, but his answers are toward the end. dmick89: Of the major prospects, it's expected that Javier Baez will get to Chicago first. If he gets off to a good start at Iowa where I expect he'll begin the year, he …
Want or Don’t Want: Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby Ellsbury's season isn't finished yet as the Red Sox continue on in the ALCS. He's probably not begun to think a whole lot about his upcoming free agency, but it will be the talk of the offseason. The centerfielder turned 30 on September 11th and will be entering his age 30 season at the tail-end of his prime. I …
2014 Cubs: A Bat Away From Normal
Any baseball fan likely realizes that the game is fundamentally different in 2013 than it was in, say, 1999 (the height of the "We Care About Steroids" era). In 1999, the league wOBA was .341; in 2013, it's .313. That's a titanic difference. Walks are at a 20-year low, and strikeouts this year are only lower than last year (and …
Should the Cubs go after Jacoby Ellsbury?
Over in Bostonland, the beat writers either know something about the Sox willingness to trade Jacoby Ellsbury or they're trying to create a story about trading Ellsbury. There doesn't appear to be any kind of information that lead one to believe he's on the trade block, but it's been talked about here and here. The second article actually says (in …
Series Preview: Boston Red Sox (31-32) at Chicago Cubs (21-42)
Wait, the Red Sox have a losing record? That was a surprise to me. Pythagoras disagrees with their record, as they have a +26 run differential, second in the AL east and 4th in the whole AL. If their non-winning trend continues they might have to watch out for some sleeper cell cultists. Luckily the Red Sox are playing the …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (19-23) at Boston Red Sox (23-20)
This could be interesting. Or very ugly. If you’re looking to be patronized, be sure to check out today’s column by Gordon Edes. Team Overview Team stats with respective league rankings wOBA: Sox: .331 (7th), .328 (3rd) UZR: Sox: 5.1 (5th), Cubs: -6.7 (11th)DRS: Sox: -16 (12th), Cubs: -28 (15th)SP FIP: Sox: 4.25 (12th), Cubs: 4.03 (10th)RP FIP: Sox: 3.75 …