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 […]
Category: Articles
Cubs Player Profile: Travis Wood
2015 Stats 54 G, 100.2 IP, 3.84 ERA, 3.91 DRA, 28.2% K%, 9.3% BB% Year in Review If there is one thing baseball writers and analysts love, it’s spending hours on Twitter discussing their favorite television show (on a related note, head to @AndrewFelper for my vitally important thoughts on Fargo and Brooklyn Nine-Nine). If […]
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 […]
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 […]
How Many Roster Spots are Actually Open?
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks pondering various moves the Cubs might make this offseason—here, here, and here, for example—but realized today that (a) I haven’t yet taken a look at the Cubs’ roster composition, and (b) that that might be a worthwhile endeavor, and give me another way […]
Mike Leake: Potential Offseason Target
Mike Leake Position: Right-handed SP 2015 Stats: 192 IP, 15.3 K%, 6.3 BB%, 3.3 WARP, 3.70 ERA, 3.56 DRA How He Fits: The most obvious fit between Mike Leake and the Cubs is that he is a starting pitcher and they need starting pitchers. He’s just 28 years old, so he has a few years of […]
Jordan Zimmermann: Potential Offseason Target
Jordan Zimmermann Position: Right-handed SP 2015 Stats: 201.0 IP, 19.7 K%, 4.7 BB%, 3.66 ERA, 4.12 DRA How He Fits: The Cubs are well off in terms of their solid, top of the rotation type pitchers. While Jon Lester may not have been able to reach the hype bar that everyone had set for him in the offseason, he put up quality numbers, he stayed […]
Cubs Player Profile: Jason Hammel
2015 Stats 170.2 IP, 3.74 ERA, 4.61 DRA, 24.2 K%, 5.6 BB% Year in Review If you’re like me, you probably only glanced over the above line: Jason Hammel’s 2015 stats. But take another look and really soak it in. Outside of that DRA—which is certainly concerning—Hammel had a damn fine season, and definitely one worthy […]
Daniel Murphy: Potential Offseason Target
Let’s get this out of the way right at the top: putting aside his value as a free agent, Daniel Murphy is already a target (of rather the wrong sort) for Chicago Cubs fans. His offensive exploits for the Mets during the National League Championship Series—a four-game sweep of Chicago, in which he went deep in […]
Cubs Player Profile: Jorge Soler
Position: Right Field 2015 Stats: 101 GP, .262/.324/.399, .263 TAv, 0.0 WARP, 10 HR, 39 R, 47 RBI Year in Review: Soler’s season was defined by something that may have escaped casual fans: remarkably consistent output. Unfortunately for the Cubs’, his consistency did not translate into overly meaningful contribution (until the playoffs). Before we evaluate […]