OSS: The Cubs go deep 3 times and played screw the closer in the 8th. Three Four up: Javier Baez was only 1-4, but his 2-out home run in the 7th with 1 man on was the play of the night. Javy hit it way out and broke the 1-1 tie in Cubs favor. He’s got a 113 wRC+ on the …
Cubs 8, Phillies 1
OSS: Javier Baez goes 4-4 and John Lackey continues to dominate. Three up: Javier Baez was 4-4 today with a double and the game-winning RBI in the 5th. He was worth just over a quarter of a win in WPA today (0.27). Myself and another commenter were complaining about Baez's approach early in this one. He could still clean the …
How Far Have the Cubs Come?
It has been almost three years, nearly three hundred losses, and three drafts since the Cubs hired Theo Epstein to save the Cubs from their sins and rescue them from eternal damnation in their permanent subterranean dwelling in the Central Division’s fiery core. And if you think that metaphor is overblown and ridiculous, it was meant to match the expectations …
Theo Epstein On Building Under the Current CBA
Theo Epstein was interviewed on WEEI Thursday night (partial transcript). He shared thoughts on a variety of Cub-related topics alongside musings about the Red Sox. There was nothing really groundbreaking in his comments, but they were infused with an undercurrent of pessimism similar to that which you’ve been picking up around these parts since the current CBA was ratified in late 2011. We're two …
The People’s Front of Cubs Nation Hates Theo
I was sadly made aware of another corner of the internet that would be better left unexplored yesterday, thanks to intrepid Friend of Aisle 424, @AndrewCieslak over on Twitter. I don't know how he found it or what provoked me into asking him what he was pissed off about or why I clicked on the link that I assuredly knew …
Variations on a Cubs Theme: LOYALTY! PATIENCE! PROGRESS! COMMITTED!
I headed down to the first of four Season Ticket Holder events that the Cubs are putting on today and tomorrow at the Bank of America Theatre downtown. I met up with Ivy Chat Chuck (who I hope will also write his perspective) and we bumped into Tom Ricketts before the show started. As I shook his hand, I realized …
Theo Epstein on the closer by committee in 2003
Prior to the season, Jim Leyland expressed why he doesn't want to use a closer by committe. I appreciated his honesty. And you automatically understand — and this sounds kind of selfish, but I told you this all along — there is no question that it makes it a hundred times better when you have a closer that is a …
Curt Schilling: ‘Members of the [Red Sox] organization’ encouraged me to use PEDs
This might become a big deal. Curt Schilling, in a Wednesday interview on ESPN Radio, said toward the end of his tenure with the Red Sox he was encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs by “members of the organization.” “At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in …
No Geeks Allowed: Sabermetrics on the Field
There are at least a dozen major league teams that gobble up sophisticated analysts from all corners and use them in any way they can conceive of to improve their valuation of personnel. For years, I wished that the Cubs would be one of those teams, and now that they are, I couldn't be happier about it. But it's not …