Every team’s offseason transactions list is dotted with players who are unlikely to make an impact at the MLB level in the immediate future. But, of course, any player who is actively signed by a big league organization has at least something intriguing about them. It could be a certain rate stat, a certain pitch, and intriguing […]
Author: Nate Greabe
Depth, Flexibility, and Time: Why the Cubs’ Offseason Makes Sense
We’re now solidly in the falling action stage of the 2016 offseason. Almost all of the biggest moves have already been made (we imagine), and now teams are left to fill in any remaining holes as best they can. The holiday time is a quiet time for baseball. This lull gives Cubs fans time to catch our […]
Player Profile: Addison Russell
Position: Shortstop 2016 Stats: .238/.321/.417, .275 TAv, 21 HR, 3.8 FRAA, 3.9 WARP Year in Review: If you’d like to, you can find things that are wrong with Addison Russell. He hit only .238 this year, and .242 the year before. His release is quick, his throws are accurate, but his arm isn’t particularly strong. He strikes out […]
Player Profile: Willson Contreras
Position: Catcher and left field, somehow. 2016 Stats: .282/.357/.499, .302 TAv, 2.4 WARP in 283 plate appearances Year in Review: What did the Cubs do to deserve Willson Contreras? Here is the prospect that nobody saw coming, who wasn’t included in the 2013/2014 fantasy lineup that every Cubs fan was explicitly or implicitly putting together in his […]
Player Profile: David Ross
First, a confession. I did not like the David Ross signing when it happened in December 2014. For this reason, and maybe this reason alone, I am grateful that BP Wrigleyville did not exist at this time. I am fairly certain that I would have written a piece lauding the potential of a Welington Castillo/Miguel […]
Cubs Decline Jason Hammel’s Option, Choose Long-term Upside Over Depth
On Sunday afternoon, Theo Epstein released a statement explaining that the Cubs had bought out Jason Hammel’s 10 million dollar option for next year. The statement, in full, is copied in the tweet below: The #Cubs today announced that the club has declined the 2017 option on Jason Hammel’s contract. pic.twitter.com/sJ22n2VQ8N — Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) […]
Second City October: World Series Game Five Preview, Cleveland (3-1) at Cubs (1-3)
Here, almost as succinctly as I can put it, is everything we know about Game Five: It will be October 30th, the latest in the year the Cubs have played a game in franchise history. Jon Lester will start against Trevor Bauer, so the Cubs will once again have the advantage in the pitching matchup, playoff […]
Second City October: Pitchers Who Rake and Bullpens That Rock
This piece, written by BP Wrigleyville’s Nate Greabe, forms part of our in-house coverage of the Cubs in the playoffs, “Second City October.” Additional Game Two and NLDS coverage can be found here and here. Early on, this game felt familiar. All the same things that made the Cubs good all year worked in first few innings. The […]
Second City October: NLDS Game Two Preview, Giants (0-1) at Cubs (1-0)
I’m tempted to lead this preview with Things We Learned From Game One, but baseball doesn’t really work like that. Johnny Cueto is really good; Jon Lester is really, really good; Kelby Tomlinson wears glasses and has a weird name; Javy Baez hits some sweet dingers. (For a somewhat less pithy recap, check out Henry […]
2016 Season Recap: Cubs 103 Opponents 58
Welcome to Wild Card Wednesday! With the Cubs (thankfully) not partaking in the Wild Card wackiness this year, we’re doing a lot of looking forward this week on BP Wrigleyville. But that also means that we’re blessed with a tiny slice of time in which we can look back at the regular season that was. […]