The Cubs hired Theo Epstein 4 months ago and it was about that time that we were told the two sides were on the 5-yard line regarding compensation. I can only assume that Ken O'Keefe is running the offense. Every week we're told that Bud Selig will resolve the compensation issue soon. Each week goes by without a resolution. Recently …
Big Splash Before Cubs Convention Is A Myth
There’s one thing I can guarantee that you hear every single year: the Cubs will want to sign this guy or that guy to make a big splash before the Cubs Convention. I have no idea where people get this idea. Baseball teams do not care about making big splashes before fan events. Do you know why? Because the people …
Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been busy
The Cubs were having a rather quiet offseason until December 23rd when they traded Sean Marshall. In a span of one month they’ve traded Marshall, DJ LeMahieu, Tyler Colvin, Carlos Zambrano, Andrew Cashner and Kyung-Min Ha. All of them except Ha were on the team’s 40-man roster. A new front office trading current players is nothing new. On July 5, …
Is Brett Jackson the Cubs best outfielder?
Back in April I wondered if Brett Jackson was one of the three best outfielders in the Cubs organization. The conclusion at the time was that Jackson was certainly one of the three best on the team. In fact, his projections were similar to Kosuke Fukudome‘s, but considering Jackson would play CF he was projected to be more valuable over …
Projected 2012 Roster
updated 1-13-12 The 2012 roster is taking shape and it’s not going to be an enjoyable season. The Cubs recently acquired David DeJesus and Ian Stewart. Yesterday they acquired Travis Wood. In the Stewart and Wood trades the Cubs have lost Tyler Colvin, DJ LeMahieu and Sean Marshall. Koyie Hill has been non-tendered and Reed Johnson was re-signed to a …
Complete rebuild, Cubs re-sign Reed Johnson, trade Sean Marshall
The Cubs have re-signed Reed Johnson to a one-year contract. The contract is pending a physical. No word yet on the amount he was signed for, but I’m sure it’s under $2 million. As a back-up, Johnson had a fantastic season last year for the Cubs. He hit .309/.348/.467. His wOBA was .354 and he was worth 1.2 fWAR and …
An Unfair Game
There’s a movie coming out this week. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s based on a book that Bill James didn’t write. It goes by many names: Joe Morgan’s Book of Nightmares; The Joy of Stats; The Unbearable Lightness of Beane; Eat, Pray, OBP. Most people just know it as Moneyball. But it’s the subtitle that interests me as this …
Want to know when a statistic is useless?
Aramis Ramirez leads the Major Leagues with a .427 batting average in August while teammate Reed Johnson is fifth at .400. Ramirez is tied for tops among any Cubs player in the month of August, dating to 1946. Shawon Dunston batted .427 in August 1991; Bill Madlock hit .425 in August 1975; and Manny Trillo hit .409 in august 1986. – …
Mid-Season Good and Bad: Position Players
Last year over at Aisle 424, I decided that grading players on a scale of objectivity was ultimately dumb and subjective. But since it’s like a blog law that you have to do something like that at the All-Star break, I developed my Yin and Yang system wherein I say one good thing and one bad thing about every player. …
Mike Quade, You Are A Dumbass
It’s the bottom of the 8th inning on Saturday night and I had sat in Kaufmann Stadium and watched the Cubs and Royals play a very good game. It was well pitched. The umpires, at least from my perspective, made all the right calls. There were some nice plays on defense made by each team. Both teams put runners on, …