In June of 2012, the struggling Colorado Rockies tried something new: a four-man rotation. This experiment was exciting and interesting at the time, but it is now largely forgotten outside of Colorado and the small circle of baseball aficionados who care about things like rotation optimization. The Rockies planned to pitch their starters every four games and […]
Author: Nate Greabe
Cubs Player Profile: Justin Grimm
Position: Relief Pitcher 2015 Stats: 49 2/3 IP, 3.53 DRA, 1.99 ERA, 32.8 K%, 12.8 BB%, 0.7 WARP Year In Review: This past summer was Justin Grimm’s second full year pitching out of the Cubs’ bullpen, and he played a vital part in solidifying what was the eighth-best bullpen in baseball by ERA. Grimm, 27, started 2015 on the […]
Wei-Yin Chen: Potential Offseason Target
Position: LHP 2015 Stats: 191 1/3 IP, 19.3 K%, 5.2 BB%, 1.9 WARP, 3.34 ERA, 4.18 DRA Why He Fits: Taiwanese-born Wei-Yin Chen had been out of the offseason spotlight until this Saturday, when Bruce Levine tweeted that he was a “hot topic” for the Cubs. The timing of this report was interesting after Friday’s John Lackey […]
Building a Better Bullpen: Theo Epstein and Free Agent Relievers
In the early weeks of the offseason, with trade rumors galore and free-agent names like David Price and Jason Heyward being thrown around, it is a bit difficult to get excited about the Cubs’ offseason bullpen options. But—make no mistake—the Cubs do have interesting questions in the bullpen that they will have to answer. From […]
Cubs Player Profile: Starlin Castro
Position: Second base/Shortstop 2015 Stats: .265/.296/.375, .243 TAv, 1.5 WARP Year in Review: After Zack Moser’s profile of Addison Russell on Tuesday, we now turn to the player that Russell ostensibly replaced: Starlin Castro. The full-season stats you see above aren’t exactly misleading, but it truly was a tale of two seasons for the enigmatic Castro in 2015. It might […]
Game “All of Them” Recap: Cubs 101 Opponents 70
We’re now almost a week past the sad end to the Cubs’ 2015 season, and it’s now a bit easier to look back on the year with a clear head. And what a season it was. I thought it might be fun to roll out one final Wrigleyville “game” recap, using the format we have all year, but now celebrating the season […]
Game 138 Recap: Cardinals 4 Cubs 3
Top Play (WPA): The top WPA play of this deflating loss was Stephen Piscotty’s two-run double in the eighth (+.508). It put the Cardinals up 4-3, and turned what looked like a possible series sweep into a very disappointing afternoon. Piscotty’s double came off of Fernando Rodney, but it (again) was actually a rough outing by Pedro Strop […]
Game 134 Recap: Cubs 2 Diamondbacks 0
Top Play (WPA): Dexter Fowler hit a home run off a hanging Robbie Ray breaking ball to lead off the bottom of the fifth (+.109). The dinger padded the Cubs lead and Jake Arrieta would make sure it held up. The homer was Fowler’s 16th of the year—a career high—and undoubtedly contributed even more value to his 3.5 WARP […]
Game 130 Recap: Reds 13 Cubs 6
(Via Fangraphs.com) Top Play (WPA): There was something weird in the air Monday at Wrigley, as the Cubs returned home to face the Reds. Maybe it was the come down off of Sunday’s no-hitter/pajama party, maybe it was the full moon, or (more likely) it was just a funky baseball game, but nothing really seemed to […]
Game 126 Recap: Giants 9 Cubs 1
Top Play (WPA): Marlon Byrd’s three-run homer in the third inning off of Dan Haren was the top WPA play of the game (.226). It gave the Giants a 5-1 lead at the time, which was more than safe with Madison Bumgarner on the mound. After allowing an RBI double to the heating up Starlin Castro early, […]