Some of the luster of spring training starts to wear off at this point, I think. The initial excitement of the first games is two weeks behind us, and the two weeks until Opening Day can seem long. Eno Sarris actually speculated recently that spring training might be too long, but for now we still have […]
Author: Jared Wyllys
Pitch Counts, Innings Limits, and Jake Arrieta
Just a few weeks ago, the Cubs indicated that Jake Arrieta would have his first spring start delayed, in part out of a desire to place some limit on his workload this season. Arrieta has made it clear that he’s fine with this, and that he sees the value in some mindfulness about his workload in 2016. […]
Looking Ahead: The (Possible) Story of the 2016 Season
Each baseball season tells its own story, and though many of the superficial details are similar year to year—all seasons start in the spring and end in the fall, for example—no two stories end up coming out quite the same. It’s important, therefore, to actively resist the temptation to assign any sort of label to the 2016 […]
After Fowler’s Return, Making Time for Jorge Soler
Perhaps my inclination to root for the underdog, the outsider, is a large part of why I’m a Cubs fan in the first place. It probably also explains why, after working through the stages of processing Thursday’s Cubs roster moves (disbelief, confusion, surprise, joy), one of the first things I thought about was what this […]
Cactus Catchup: The First Week
Editor’s Note: Twice-weekly, while Spring Training continues, we’ll be running a ‘Cactus Catchup’ that runs down all the comings and goings in Mesa, Arizona. This is the first installment. Spring training technically got off to its official start last Friday, February 19, on the day that pitchers and catchers were expected to report. However, most […]
A Call to Arms: The Next Wave of Prospects
At this time last year, most Cubs-related excitement flowed from the promise of the Cubs hitters looming on the horizon. We had already seen bits of the handiwork of Jorge Soler and Javier Baez during the 2014 season, and anticipation for the arrival of Kris Bryant (after, of course, a brief stay in Des Moines) was whetting our […]
Avoiding a Sophomore Slump for Kris Bryant
It’s quietly one of the greater fears fans have: that a standout rookie will be unable to maintain performance in the years after their debut season, and will instead falter, and fade slowly off the radar. Or, worse yet, crash mightily into oblivion. The dreaded tales of the Sophomore Slump are both plentiful and terrifying. Those stories are generally built around the notion that, once players have […]