It's safe to say that it's been a disappointing season for Starlin Castro. 82 games into the season, Castro's -1.4 fWAR makes Jeff Francoeur look like a valuable major league player (J.C. Bradbury nods approvingly). What is so different this year? MB posited to me a few weeks ago that pitchers have been pitching differently to him this year, and the …
What the hell am I missing? Can the Cubs contend in 2014 or 2015?
Over the last two or three days, I've read a few articles that have mentioned that the Cubs could contend as early as next season. I don't want to single anybody out, because I have a lot of respect for both of these writers. The first time I read it, I thought "what the hell?". The second time I read …
Starlin Castro’s season is so bad it reminded me of Ronny Cedeno
The other day I happened to think of Ronny Cedeno and how awful he was in 2006. I couldn't help but wonder how Starlin Castro's 2013 season compared to Cedeno's 2005. Year Name PA BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ Fld BsR WAR 2006 Cedeno 572 3.0% 19.1% .094 .296 .245 .271 .339 .263 47 -4.4 -0.8 …
If you had Luis Valbuena in the office pool, raise your hand
It’s June 19th and the Cubs are 69 games into their season. You and I probably picked Anthony Rizzo as the most productive position player on the team through this many games, assuming he remained healthy. I think most everybody would have taken Rizzo and almost no one would have taken Luis Valbuena. Well, Valbuena has had a surprisingly good …
Cubs Prospects on the Rise, June edition
Myles already posted the Cubs prospects who have fallen so now it's time to look at the ones who have risen. We'll also have an updated Cubs top prospects list for you. 3. Pierce Johnson – The 22 year old supplemental first round pick from 2012 is probably a little too old for his level, but he's been dominating. He …
Starlin Castro still confident despite performance and being dropped to 7th
Yesterday Starlin Castro was dropped to 7th in the order because he had pretty much sucked for the last week. He's been pretty sucky at the plate all season for that matter. Despite that suckiness, Castro remains confident he'll get back on track. "It's a little bit tough in the beginning right now," Castro said. "I know it won't be …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (23-32) at LA of AAA Angels (25-33)
The Cubs head to LA for a short 2 game series against the Angels, who are fresh off being swept in a four game series by the Astros. I’m not kidding. Seven of the Astros’ twenty-one wins this year have come against the Angels, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about how their season has gone. …
Starlin Castro isn’t any better than his rookie season
I haven't posted anything in a couple weeks. Thanks to everyone else for taking over. I've mentioned it before, but I've had neck problems for 6+ months now. They've continued and I've been unable to do much of anything. Unfortunately, it's only slightly better right now because of medication and I won't be around that much over the next few …
Luis Valbuena’s 2013 season
With all the doom and gloom surrounding this year's offense and the intense focus on Castro and Rizzo, Luis Valbuena's fantastic season seems to have fallen through the cracks. Valbuena currently has a line of .248/.361/.421* on the year, good for a .339 wOBA and about 1 WAR through two months of the season. What the hell? *Today's game, in which …
2013 MLB Draft: who do you take?
The first round of the 2013 MLB Draft is on June 6th and we haven't written much about it lately. A few days ago in the comments, jtsunami (think it was him) mentioned that he might lean more toward Kris Bryant because of his 80 power. For those not familiar with the scouting scale, players are graded on a 20-80 …