The Cubs will get a whiff of success this weekend, and it will probably be coming from the other dugout. (Blatantly plagarized from Brett's preview blurb at Bleacher Nation, because it's too funny. Take that, Paul Sullivan. Or something.) The Cubs are on a roll, not having lost for two straight days. The Giants, meanwhile, have crushed all before them and are coming …
Series preview: San Francisco Giants (94-68) vs Cincinnati Reds (97-65)
The Reds jockeyed with several other NL Central teams (including the Pirates!) for the divisional lead for the first half of the season, but after July 19 they moved into first place and never looked back. The closest they got to losing the lead was on August 9th, after NL MVP Shawn Camp exerted his powers and defeated the Reds …
Series Preview: Chicago Cubs (18-32) at San Francisco Giants (27-24)
The Cubs start a ten game road trip with a visit to Pac Bell Park (or whatever the hell they're calling it these days). At least this series, unlike most west coast series, will only have one super late game (tonight's). Unfortunately the Cubs will miss Tim Lincecum, who seems to have transformed into a lesser pitcher. Maybe Jeff Samardzija …
Selig to rule on Theo Epstein compensation soon
The compensation the Cubs will send to the Red Sox for Theo Epstein has been going on for seemingly ever. It’s now in Bud Selig’s hands and he’ll soon rule on what the Cubs have to give the Red Sox. Apparently the Sox still want something significant, but as has been said time and again, there’s no precedent for a …
Series preview: World Champions (21-16) at Chicago Cubs (16-20)
Team Overview Team stats (and NL ranks) wOBA: .297 (15th)UZR: -8.1 (12th)DRS: -6 (6th)SP FIP: 3.22 (3rd)SP xFIP: 3.47 (4th)RP FIP: 2.79 (3rd)RP xFIP: 3.14 (2nd) Batters Player wOBA ZiPS wOBA CF Andres Torres .390 .337 2B Freddy Sanchez .301 .313 1B Aubrey Huff .283 .344 C Buster Posey .319 .365 RF Nate Schierholtz .334 .327 LF Pat Burrell .354 …
How much have the injuries cost the Cubs, and projecting Doug Davis
Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner were placed on the DL following their first start of the season. Each is currently rehabbing in Arizona and just began facing live batters this week. Wells is a bit ahead of Cashner, but neither pitcher is probably going to be back with the big league club by the end of the month. Wells pitched …
Matt Garza is not this bad or this good
The start to Matt Garza‘s career as a Cub has not gone as planned. After giving up Chris Archer, Robinson Chirinos, Hak-Ju Lee, Brandon Guyer and Super Sam Fuld, the Cubs Cubs were expecting big things from Garza. He’d been a very good pitcher for a few years now and was moving from the AL East to the NL Central. …