It’s no secret that Joe Maddon likes to rotate his players. Outside of Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, no Cubs player reached two-thirds of the team’s games at one position, with only Jason Heyward (right field) and Kyle Schwarber (left) even topping 100. That philosophy extends to Maddon’s usage of his bench, from which many […]
Author: Darius Austin
2017 Player Profile: John Lackey
Position: Starting Pitcher 2017 Stats: 170 2/3 IP, 4.59 ERA/5.31 FIP/5.20 DRA, 7.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 110 cFIP, 0.7 WARP Year in Review: Following four years as a reliable, durable, slightly above-average starter, 2017 was a big disappointment for John Lackey. He still pitched the full season, arguably impressive in itself at the age of […]
2017 Player Profile: Wade Davis
Position: Relief Pitcher 2017 Stats: 32 saves, 2.30 ERA/3.39 FIP/2.99 DRA, 80 cFIP, 12.1 K/9, 1.4 WARP Year in Review: The quality of Wade Davis’ performance since he became a reliever has been so good that this was in many ways his worst year since 2013, when he was still predominantly a starter. While his […]
The Surprisingly Elite Alex Avila
One member of the Cubs lineup was the best hitter at his position in the entire league in the first half of the season. It wasn’t Kris Bryant, although he was close to the top: Justin Turner, Jose Ramirez and Anthony Rendon have all been very good. It wasn’t Anthony Rizzo, who didn’t even crack […]
Getting to Know Justin Wilson
It seemed as though almost every contender was linked to Justin Wilson at the trade deadline, and the Cubs got him. So far it has been firmly established that he isn’t going to have a problem dancing during rain delays, so now that the important question has been answered, let’s focus entirely on the pitching side […]
The BABIP-Defying Bullpen
If there was one aspect of the Cubs’ 2016 performance that was almost certain to regress, it was the historic .255 BABIP allowed by the pitching staff. That mark was the lowest since the last round of expansion in 1998 by a clear margin, beating the 116-win Mariners of 2001 by 5 points, and the […]
Schwarber and the Shift
By one measure, Kyle Schwarber’s performance in May was historic. It wasn’t his 51 wRC+, or his .120 batting average, which were bad, but hardly remarkable given that worse marks in both categories have already been posted this season (if you think Schwarber was an ineffective leadoff hitter, Royals leadoff man Alcides Escobar has a […]
The Rotation’s Biggest Sequencing Changes
It’s no secret that the Cubs rotation has been different in 2017. Many would be quick to suggest that “different” is a nicer way of saying “bad”. While it’s certainly true that the results for the rotation have not been as good as in 2016, that does not in itself mean anything, nor does it […]
Game 37 Recap: Cardinals 5, Cubs 0
What You Need To Know: Another frustrating offensive performance, another poor Jake Arrieta start. The Cubs threatened by putting two men on in the first, and Arrieta cruised through the bottom half, but that was as good as it got. A pair of two-run home runs put the Cardinals up 4-0 through three, and that […]
Game 28 Recap: Cubs 5, Phillies 4 (13)
What You Need To Know: The force was most definitely not with the Cubs or Phillies tonight. It was a back and forth game in which neither team really seemed able to take full advantage of any offensive opportunity, each instead producing a string of one-run innings that left the scorecard looking more like an […]