Next we move to the newest Cubs starter, Paul Maholm. Maholm stat-gathered 13.9 fWAR (11.1 rWAR) in his seven seasons with the Pirates, but it seems like he's been around a lot longer. Some years he was the defacto ace of the staff, and during his tenure he was certainly the most consistent member of their rotations that featured the …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Ryan Dempster
We haven't looked at any of the pitcher projections yet, so we might as well start with the longest tenured starter on the squad. Last year, Dempster looked utterly awful in the first month of the season. He had some terrible BABIP and HR luck but was generally being hit hard. However, after his first 6-8 starts or so he …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Shortstop
Shortstop is the last infield position we have to look at it and it's without a doubt the most exciting position. If you look at Starlin Castro's fWAR you can't help but be impressed, but if you look at his rWAR he looks much less impressive. Whereas UZR sees Castro as a well below average fielder, Total Zone sees him …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 3rd Basemen
So far we've looked at catchers, 1st basemen and 2nd basemen. 1st and 2nd base appear to be very weak for the 2012 Cubs and I can tell you before you read further that 3rd base is no different. The Cubs lost Aramis Ramirez to free agency who had been at 3rd since midway through the 2003 season. Before we …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 2nd Basemen
I don't really know why, but whenever I think about Darwin Barney I want to pronounce his name with a Boston accent. I guess it makes it more fun to think about Dahwin Bahney rather than what Barney is actually capable of producing. He returns for his 2nd full season though he's probably not the one who should be starting. …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: 1st Basemen
Bryan LaHair turned 29 years old in November and he's set to take over 1st base for the Cubs in 2012. LaHair was drafted in the 39th round of the 2002 Draft. Until a few years ago teams could do what they called draft and follow which meant they could draft a player, not sign him, but they retained his …
Projecting the 2012 Cubs: Catchers
The past few years I've done posts for each player, but this year I'm going to do it by position. It's a little more than 9 weeks until the season starts so about one of these per week will get it done by the time the season starts. The starting catcher will be Geovany Soto and one of Welington Castillo …
Tigers sign Prince Fielder to silly contract
The Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a 9 year, $214 million contract yesterday. Scott Boras did his client well in getting him nearly $24 million per year. My first thought when I heard of this contract was that it had to be the worst contract in baseball history. The only other contract that blew my mind like this one at …
A comparison of two prospects: Brett Jackson and Anthony Rizzo
The Cubs recently acquired top prospect Anthony Rizzo and some thought he may be the top prospect in the Cubs organization. I didn’t see how that would be possible when you consider their positions and John Sickels agrees with that. Both Brett Jackson and Rizzo were the top prospects of their organizations according to Baseball America prior to Rizzo joining …
Cubs close to trading Sean Marshall for Travis Wood?
According to Bruce Levine the Cubs and Reds are close on a deal that would send Sean Marshall to the Reds for 24 year old left-handed starter Travis Wood and two minor leaguers. We found that Marshall has a surplus trade value of about $6.5 million so this seems like a great trade for the Cubs. Wood has barely over …