Sometimes the worst team in baseball beats the best one, and it’s best not to read too heavily into that result. Top Play (WPA): Perhaps the lone bright spot of tonight’s loss is that the Cubs were in the best position to turn this game into a win on Albert Almora’s third inning double to left (+0.066). […]
Category: Articles
Jorge Soler’s Injury: What It Means Now, and In the Future
Jorge Soler suffered a left hamstring strain while running to first base during Monday’s game against the Phillies. That story is, unfortunately, a familiar one for Cubs fans at this point. The young, promising slugger only recently appeared to be emerging from his early-season doldrums with one of his patented hot streaks, and Cubs fans […]
It’s Almost Mid-June, and Heyward’s Struggles Are Still Not Concerning
As we are slowly but surely reaching the 100-games-left-in-the-season mark of the 2016 season, it’s a bit surprising to see that Jason Heyward’s slash line is sitting at a dismal .226/.323/.313. He’s only hit three home runs on the season so far, and is striking out at a 20 percent clip—something Heyward hasn’t done since […]
Transaction Analysis: Coghlan Comes Home
This piece, written (in part) by BPW’s Matt Trueblood, ran on the main site this morning. We trust you’ll enjoy a preview of it here. Acquired UT-L Chris Coghlan from Oakland Athletics in exchange for UT-B Arismendy Alcantara. [6/9] I’m not a soft factors guy, but Chris Coghlan can’t be properly understood without soft factors. […]
Series Preview: Cubs at Braves, June 10-12
In our last series preview, Matt Trueblood made a good observation: There is no such thing as a soft schedule. But with the Cubs just coming off an 8-2 homestand at Wrigley Field and then hitting the road for six of nine contests against the worst team in baseball while missing their ace pitcher in the […]
Revisiting The Cubs’ 2015 Draft, One Year On
The Chicago Cubs entered the final five games of the 2014 season in a tight battle, only it wasn’t the joyous type we witnessed last season. This particular fight was for draft position in the impending Rule 4 draft in June, a late season position the Cubs had found themselves each of the previous five years. The […]
Young Cubs: Welcome to Graduation
I don’t graduate until Sunday, so Albert Almora officially beat me out for our first big Young Cubs graduation of the year. It’s likely that Almora will spend more time in Triple-A at some point this year, but his year-to-date stats show that the promotion was well-deserved. He slashed .318/.335/.444 in Iowa, with three homers, […]
Evaluating Theo’s Recent Past, and the Mysteries of His Future
The draft is today, which is very cool if you’re a prospect person. If you aren’t, the draft can be a bit befuddling, as it’s hard to tell which decisions are good and which are bad when you don’t recognize any of the players being chosen, and all the catastrophic and/or spectacular effects of those decisions won’t manifest […]
Game 58 Recap: Cubs 8 Phillies 1
The Gang Does Day Baseball Wednesday day baseball is a rare treat… is such a saccharine statement that my teeth actually hurt. Nevertheless, Wednesday afternoon was indeed a productive one for the Chicago Cubs. Things started ominously for both sides, as Phillies starter Vince Velasquez departed just two pitches into the game (it was later diagnosed […]
Life On The Edge of Glory: A Conversation With Matt Murton
In July of 2005, Matt Murton was just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee and in all likelihood thinking most about his next game for the Cubs’ Double-A squad. Then his phone rang. His agent, on the other end of the line, explained the situation: Murton was headed to Florida—the place where he was born, and where he saw his […]