Last night, the Cubs traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and a PTBNL. In following reactions around the Cub twitter-sphere, I was pretty surprised at how split the reactions were: fans who have bought in to what Thoyer is doing think this is on par with the Wedding at Cana, those who haven’t …
Alfonso Soriano, Gold Glover?
Everyone has been focusing on Darwin Barney's record breaking errorless streak, but yesterday was the first that I had heard of Soriano's. He hasn't made a single error all season and even noted Soriano critic Bob Brenly has praised his defense this year. So does he really have a shot? The thing that helps him the most is that the …
World Series Preview: Texas Rangers (96-66) vs St. Louis Cardinals (90-72)
Before we get started, let’s just get this out of the way GUYS, did you know that the World Series isn’t really all that worldy? A bunch of literal people on the Internet are ON IT. (@bkabak) Just another one of those annoying things that pops up at the same point every year, just like the handwringing of national writers …
Series Preview: Iowa Cubs (23-31) at St. Louis Cardinals (33-24)
Team overview Team stats and NL ranks Cubs Cardinals wOBA .323 (5th) .344 (1st) UBR -7.3 (16th) -1.7 (12th) UZR -12.1 (14th) 6.9 (4th) SP FIP 4.07 (11th) 3.74 (4th) RP FIP 4.08 (16th) 3.78 (11th) I’m too lazy to breakdown the individual player stats. Blame the Cubs shittiness (laughing). I’ll hit the highlights. “RF” Lance Berkman is still hitting …
Series Preview: St. Louis Cardinals (20-15) at Chicago Cubs (15-18)
The Cubs stranded approximately 215 baserunners in the last series against the Reds, and I don’t know if I should be encouraged by the numbers of batters who got on base or discouraged by the fact that the only win the Cubs got in the series was on a 9th inning, down by one rally on Saturday that almost fell …
NL Central Preview: St. Louis Cardinals
Last Year: Most thought that the Cardinals had all the pieces to run away with the NL Central, but somehow it never came together. Their offense dipped by 4 points from their 2009 rate to a .321 wOBA, good for 7th in the NL. Their pitchers posted an excellent 3.57 ERA (4th) and a 3.85 FIP (7th), and their defensive …