The 40 man roster’s ultimate goal is major league talent. As a result, any player placed on that roster is valued as someone who the Cubs think will ultimately help the major league club. On Monday night, the Cubs announced that they added three prospects to that list: infielder David Bote, and pitchers Adbert Alzolay […]
Category: Articles
2017 Player Profile: Ben Zobrist
Position: 2B/RF/LF 2017 Stats: Avg. OBP SLG HR TAv wRC+ FRAA WARP .232 .318 .375 12 .249 82 -2.8 0.2 Year in Review: In March, Ken Schultz wrote a piece about Ben Zobrist’s aging curve. In it, he looked at historical comparisons for elite-level second basemen and at what point in their careers their production fell off the […]
It’s Time for the Cubs to Act Like the Dodgers: Part 2, Offensive Depth
Yesterday, I covered how the Cubs should go about addressing their rotation and bullpen for 2017. Today, I cover offensive depth. The Cubs NEED to Implement Their “Depth,” Platoon Aggressively, and Joe Maddon NEEDS to be Willing to Adjust… Like the Dodgers and Dave Roberts I put depth in quotes because Chicago’s “depth” has a […]
2017 Player Profile: Jason Heyward
Position: Right field 2017 Stats: Avg. OBP SLG HR TAv wRC+ FRAA WARP .259 .326 .389 11 .254 88 12.0 2.1 Year in Review: How does one assess Jason Heyward in 2017? It’s nearly an impossible task at this point, since one is going to come to only two conclusions: Heyward is bad at hitting […]
It’s Time for the Cubs to Act Like the Dodgers: Part 1, Pitching
“This isn’t the Windy City. This is the economic hurricane in Chicago of what the Cubs have done.” -Scott Boras, 11/15/17 After multiple trades over the last two years, most notably for Aroldis Chapman and Jose Quintana, the Cubs’ prospect depth is gone. It’s now on their major leaguer roster, giving them extremely talented and […]
2017 Player Profile: Koji Uehara
Position: Relief Pitcher 2017 Stats: 3-4, 2 saves, 3.98 ERA/3.80 FIP/3.78 DRA, 94 cFIP, 10.5 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.7 WARP Year in Review: For the second consecutive season, the Cubs took a chance on a reliever in his 40s. In fact, they employed not only one, but two past-their-30s bullpen arms in Joe Nathan and Joel Peralta […]
Assessing the Cubs’ Defense in a Metric-less World
If you have your ear to the ground, you might be hearing the beginnings of a seismic shift in baseball analytics. No—it’s not the mythical “bullpen revolution” that so many have seized upon as the privileged narrative of mainstream analytics writing. Truth be told, that “revolution” is merely the loudening machinations of the long march […]
2017 Player Profile: Tommy La Stella
Where were you when you found out the Cubs had acquired Tommy La Stella from the Atlanta Braves for Arodys Vizcaino in November 2014? I was in line for Swedish Meatballs at IKEA. Oh, you don’t remember? Yep, makes sense. I’d imagine most folks don’t have that moment ingrained in their memory and haven’t spent […]
Cubs Offseason Target: Christian Yelich
As far as position players go, the Chicago Cubs’ outfield represents the position(s) with the most amount of intrigue. There is a possibility for turnover at all three outfield spots, with the possible exception of right field, where moving Jason Heyward’s contract looks to be extremely difficult. As Albert Almora Jr. failed to lock down […]
2017 Player Profile: Jen-Ho Tseng
Position: Pitcher 2017 Stats: Team Lg IP H/9 BB/9 HR/9 K/9 GB% TAv WHIP ERA DRA CHN MLB 6.0 7.5 3.0 3.0 12.0 33% .289 1.17 7.50 5.82 TEN AA 90.3 7.9 2.4 0.7 8.3 41% .244 1.14 2.99 3.88 IOW AAA 55.0 7.9 2.3 0.8 6.4 55% .225 1.13 1.80 3.09 Year in Review: […]