Joe Maddon is known for his catch phrases. So when he delivered memorable line after line at his introductory press conference at a local watering hole just outside Wrigley Field last November, it was hard to pick just one quip that stood out. However, on Friday, when the much-hyped and highly anticipated arrival of Kris […]
Day: April 17, 2015
Game Nine Recap: Padres 5 Cubs 4
Top Play (WPA): With the Cubs leading 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Brian Schlitter had Wil Myers in an 0-2 hole with two outs and two men on. Schlitter threw a 96 mph fastball tailing in towards the right-handed batter that, to all watching, appeared to be strike three. The home plate umpire […]
Kris Bryant Doesn’t Need to Save You
In 2014, the Cubs struck out more often than any other team in MLB—24.2 percent of the time. That was true despite their walking only 7.2 percent of the time, below the league average of 7.5 percent, which was a record-low league figure for modern baseball, anyway. Offense can’t survive in the environment the Cubs […]
Going Yard: How Bryant Can Crush
This article originally appeared on Baseball Prospectus and is written by BP author Ryan Parker. Today is the day. Cubs fans have waited 12 days (well, technically the buzz has been building since last summer) for the monumental occasion that is a rookie walking onto the field. Despite all the drama at the start of the […]
The Debut: One Writer’s Vision of What ‘Kris Bryant Day’ Will Be
As you may have heard, a fringy Cubs prospect is being called up today. We don’t like to be reactionary and post when every miniscule move happens, but we do feel a need to give our opinions here. [Shrug. Whatever.] So here’s our guess on what might happen on Kris Bryant’s first day with the […]
The Call Up: Kris Bryant
This article originally appeared on Baseball Prospectus and is written by BP authors Christopher Crawford and Bret Sayre. The Situation: The Cubs have their best roster since at least 2008, and with Mike Olt headed to the disabled list with a hairline fracture of his wrist, the Cubs have called up Bryant to man the […]
Cubbie Debuts: How Other Top Cubs Fared on Their First Day in Cubbie Blue
Happy Kris Bryant Day! If you live a jaded, cloaked-in-irony existence like myself, you are sick of holidays manufactured by the chocolate, greeting card, and chocolate greeting card companies. Kris Bryant Day, though, represents something else—it is pure, joyful, and created organically by the MLB Player Union’s poor negotiating. We here at BP-Wrigleyville thought it […]
Extreme Shifting and the Runner in Scoring Position
The Chicago Cubs won a handful of exciting games this week, beginning with a ninth inning comeback against the Rockies in Colorado on Sunday. Dexter Fowler took a two-strike offering from yes-he’s-still-pitching LaTroy Hawkins, and deposited it well over the right-field wall, turning the Cubs’ one-run deficit into a one-run lead that they would not […]
The Best of Both Worlds: Can the Cubs Keep Starlin Castro and Still Promote Addison Russell?
As the old saying goes, patience is a virtue. Loyal Cubs fans from all walks of life set this example perfectly in our fast paced, need-results-now world. I’m not talking about waiting for Kris Bryant either. Or waiting for a championship. Or waiting in the lengthy bathroom lines at Wrigley Field on Opening Night—though those […]
The Beer List: Prospect You’re Watching Out of the Top 10
This is The Beer List. It has nothing to do with beer, it’s just a list. But I like beer, and I hear that every once in a while, the folks who frequent Wrigley Field may take a sip as well. What we’re doing here is throwing out a question to the staff each week […]