Position: OF/2B 2015 Stats: 148 G, 503 PA, .250/.341/.443, .279 TAv, 2.3 WARP What Happened in 2015: Chris Coghlan has qualified for the batting title twice in his seven-year career. The first time, in 2009, he won the Rookie of the Year award. The second time, in 2015, he was probably a better hitter and […]
Author: Matthew Trueblood
Cubs Player Profile: Dexter Fowler, Potential Offseason Target
On the night when Jake Arrieta threw his no-hitter and the Cubs all donned pajamas for the long flight home to Chicago, a lot of players got love for their embrace of Joe Maddon’s favorite shtick. Arrieta himself stole the show, of course, not only with his on-field performance, but with the mustache-covered onesie he […]
Doug Fister: Potential Offseason Target
Doug Fister Position: Tall RHP 2015 Stats: 103 IP, 14.0 K%, 5.4 BB%, -1.4 WARP, 4.19 ERA, 6.12 DRA Why He Fits: I hate Pitching Coach Magic. Quarterbacks and head coaches always get too much credit and too much blame in the NFL; closers and pitching coaches are MLB’s answer to that phenomenon. While a good pitching coach […]
Cubs Player Profile: Miguel Montero
2015 Stats 113 G, 403 PA, .248/.345/.409, .279 TAv, 4.0 WARP Year in Review If ever you needed a reason to dismiss Wins Above Replacement as a worthless construct that misses the point in every possible way, a good way to start would be by visiting the Baseball Reference page for the 2015 Cubs. There, […]
Cubs Player Profile: Hector Rondon
2015 Stats 72 G, 70 IP, 1.67 ERA, 3.18 DRA, 24.6 K%, 5.3 BB%, 1.3 WARP Year in Review There are moments in a season like the Cubs’ 2015 in which the closer plays the hero as a matter of course. When you’re the guy whose job it is to get the last three outs […]
Denard Span: Potential Offseason Target
When the Washington Nationals declined to offer Denard Span a qualifying offer on Friday evening, it opened the field of potential suitors for the purest center fielder on the free-agent market even wider—though, given the lingering questions about the health of Span’s hip, it might also have inflated his asking price beyond the point at […]
Rubbing Mud: The Rizzo Post-Mortem ($)
This piece, by BP Wrigleyville’s Matt Trueblood, originally appeared on the Baseball Prospectus main site, where it was available exclusively to BP subscribers. We’ve posted a sneak preview here. If you had to put your finger on a single reason why the Cubs were swept by the Mets in the NLCS this week (and more […]
That Wasn’t the Measure of the Experience—Game 171 Recap: Mets 8 Cubs 3
There’s a scene in an episode of The West Wing, from Season Four. A good friend of President Bartlet’s administration, Karen Kroft, recently lost a heartbreakingly close election to keep her seat in Congress, and Communications Director Toby Ziegler is trying (more or less) to apologize for that. He’s trying to convince her that her ouster was the […]
Taking the Zone by Force: The Most Important Area of Improvement for the 2015 Cubs
Theo Epstein was on AM 670 The Score on Tuesday, in the hours leading up to the Cubs’ Game Four win over the Cardinals. Though Epstein was careful to note (more than once) how much work remains to be done, the interview was at least partially a victory lap for the Cubs’ chief architect. Epstein […]
Jon Lester Over Jake Arrieta as Cubs’ NLCS Game 1 Starter: The Right Call for a Reason
Jake Arrieta started on four days’ rest three straight times on three different occasions during the regular season. Until Monday night at Wrigley Field, though, he hadn’t done it four straight times since June 2012. Like most modern starting pitchers, Arrieta is accustomed to an extra day of rest at least every few turns through […]