Week 1 (April 4 – April 10) Monday, April 4 @ Angels: W 9-0 (Box, OV Recap) Tuesday, April 5 @ Angels: W 6-1 (Box, OV Recap) Thursday, April 7 @ Dbacks: W 14-6 (Box, OV Recap) Friday, April 8 @ Dbacks: L 2-3 (Box, OV Recap) Saturday, April 9 @Dbacks: W 4-2 (Box, OV Recap) Sunday, April 10 @ …
Are the Cubs the favorites to sign David Price?
Common sense would indicate the Cubs would have significant interest in David Price this offseason. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball and he's a free agent. He won't cost the Cubs a draft pick since he was traded at midseason. He had a long working relationship with Cubs manager Joe Maddon. And the Cubs could really use another …
Starlin Castro’s Trade Value
The Cubs have three middle infielders for two positions. Addison Russell is planted at shortstop so that leaves Starlin Castro and Javier Baez for 2nd base. There are other possible scenarios. Baez or Castro could move to centerfield if the Cubs don’t re-sign Dexter Fowler or add another CF via free agency or trade. Neither have played there, but there’s …
NLCS: Cubs and Mets Series Preview Part 1
I thought I’d break this into at least 2 parts. The first part will focus on the pitching, particularly the Mets pitching. We’re all familiar enough with the Cubs pitching. In short, the Mets starting pitching is good. The first game is going to be started by Matt Harvey, but he’s their 3rd starter. And Matt Harvey is good at …
Cubs v. Pirates – October 7, 2015
It's here. Jake Arrieta vs. Gerrit Cole. Let's do this. Lineups (my best guess) Pirates RF Polanco (L) LF Marte (R) CF McCutchen (R) 3B Ramirez (R) 2B Walker (S) 1B Alvarez (L) C Cervelli (R) SS Mercer (R) SP Cole (R) Cubs CF Fowler (S) RF Schwarber (L) LF Bryant (R) 1B Rizzo (L) 2B Castro (R) C Montero (L) …
NL Cy Young: Jake Arrieta vs. Zack Greinke
The NL Cy Young race is down to two at this point. Jake Arrieta's dominating performance over the last few months has allowed him to catch up to Zack Greinke and in many ways, pass him. Either person is deserving of the award and since I don't really care who wins it, this is just a list of their stats …
Cubs clinch a spot in the postseason with next win or Giants loss
Thanks the Padres come from behind win last night in a game started by Madison Bumgarner, the Cubs are nearing what was inevitable a month ago: a spot in the postseason. It's been so long that we've known this was coming that the Cubs even moved their rotation around so to ensure that Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta would each …
Cubs 4, Pirates 5 – Cubs 2, Pirates 1 (9/15/15)
OSS: Cubs split with the Pirates with frustrating loss in Game 1 and semi-frustrating win in Game 2 Game 1 Three Up 1. Trevor Cahill has been great since coming to the Cubs on a minor-league deal. Since being released by the Braves, he's had a 2.79 FIP in his 4 Cubs appearances. He might get the start in the …
fivethirtyeight on Jake Arrieta’s release point
Rob Arthur has a really good article up on fivethirtyeight.com on Jake Arrieta's emergence as an ace and it discusses the change in his release point at length. Most of the time, the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a pitcher’s release point are fairly constant, determined largely by mechanics learned long before he made the majors. In Arrieta’s case, however, his …
Jake Arrieta’s Innings Increase
Jake Arrieta has had a fantastic season this year. Actually, he's been fantastic since he joined the Cubs, but I find myself being a little bit scared about his workload right now. He's thrown 191 innings so far and has about 5 starts left this regular season. He's averaged roughly 6.8 innings per start. That puts him on pace to throw …