Over the last few days, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the Cubs’ bullpen. It’s not something I do regularly, I assure you. It’s just that it seems to me—and maybe, in a few minutes, it’ll seem to you as well—as if the bullpen’s current construction is something that feels hard to think through […]
Author: Rian Watt
On Eve of 2016, Weakness Is a Relative Term for Cubs
A few days after the 2015 season ended—while I could still smell beer and peanuts on my jacket—Sahadev Sharma and I collaborated on a series of articles for this site. You can find them here and here. In those articles, we laid out the weaknesses of the 2015 club as we saw them, and identified […]
Cubs Player Profile: Pedro Strop
Position: Relief Pitcher 2015 Stats: 68 IP, 2.67 DRA, 2.91 ERA, 30.0 K%, 10.7 BB%, 1.6 WARP Year In Review: Nobody seems to take it too seriously, but the Cubs actually had an excellent bullpen in 2015—their 3.38 ‘pen ERA was fourth in the National League, behind the Cardinals, Pirates, and Giants—and Strop was a major contributor to […]
Cubs Player Profile: Anthony Rizzo
Position: First Base 2015 Stats: 160 G, 701 PA, .278/.387/.512, .328 TAv, 5.2 WARP Year in Review: This February, Rizzo came into spring training hoping to build upon a breakout 2014 season in which he slashed .286/.386/.527 over 616 brilliant plate appearances, slugging 32 home runs to go alongside a .335 TAv and 5.5 WARP, good for the 15th-best WARP […]
Cubs Player Profile: Carl Edwards, Jr.
Position: Relief Pitcher 2015 Stats: 4 2/3 IP, 6.24 DRA, 3.86 ERA 21.1 K%, 15.8 BB% Year in Review: When it comes to Carl Edwards, Jr. and the 2015 season that he just had, stats are sort of beside the point. Oh, he threw 4 2/3 innings of regular-season ball? That’s interesting. I’ll leave it to you to draw whatever you […]
How Much Is Chris Bosio Worth?
This story was born in Canada. (I’m sorry.) Over at the main site, I’ve been writing a fair amount about Toronto’s offseason; specifically, I’ve written ($) about the Jays’ decision to bring Ross Atkins over from Cleveland to serve as GM under President Mark Shapiro, and also about ($) their earlier choice to sign J.A. Happ to […]
The Path We Walked with Him
I remember where I was when Starlin Castro made his big-league debut. I’m guessing you do, too. In amongst the jumble of hazy memories and half-begun hopes that are all that remain of the dark years between 2008 and 2011, just a few moments stand out. Castro’s debut, on the road against Cincinnati, is one of them. […]
Cubs Player Profile: Kyle Schwarber
Kyle Schwarber Position: That’s a good question. Probably outfield. 2015 Stats: 69 G, 273 PA, .246/.355/.487, .307 TAv, 1.9 WARP Year in Review: Kyle Schwarber impressed the Cubs’ brass from the moment they first met him, in February of 2014. That month, Schwarber’s Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Arizona for a series of springtime games against Washington, Utah, and Oregon […]
Cubs Player Profile: Kyle Hendricks
2015 Stats 32 G, 180.0 IP, 3.95 ERA, 3.87 DRA, 22.6 K%, 5.8 BB% Year in Review “If broadcasters are right about the keys to pitching success—get ahead of hitters, change speeds, avoid walks—Hendricks is destined to be a booth favorite. The Dartmouth product doesn’t have great stuff but he commands it well, varying his […]
Ben Zobrist: Potential Offseason Target
Ben Zobrist Position: 2B/SS/RF, occasionally LF/CF/3B/1B. Essentially, every position except catcher or pitcher. 2015 Stats: .276/.359/.450, 13 HR, 11.6 BB%, 10.5 K%, .295 TAv, 3.0 WARP How He Fits: It’s good to be great. That statement seems axiomatic enough that I’ll leave it here without further justification, and move on to a second—and perhaps more controversial—claim: that it might be just […]