It’s nigh time we indulge in one of the late offseason’s finest traditions: the ceremonial handwringing over projections! Baseball Prospectus released its 2017 PECOTA projections, and, as always, there are some interesting quirks that deserve some cursory inspection. So, let’s get right to it. You can access the Cubs’ full projections on Baseball Prospectus’ main […]
Category: Articles
Arthur Goldberg and The Reserve Clause
“After 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes” – Curt Flood Arthur Goldberg was born in Chicago to immigrant Jewish parents from Ukraine. Although his father was highly educated, he could only find work as a […]
Transaction Analysis: Eddie Butler
The Cubs have spent the winter squirreling away pitchers, even those rife with injury histories and who have struggled to live up to prospect hype. They signed Brett Anderson in the hopes that he can stay healthy enough to supplement the rotation and keep them healthy for another postseason stretch. And they traded for Butler […]
What Draft Strategy Could the Cubs Have for 2017?
After the 2021 season, most of the Cubs’ current position players will conclude their initial contracts. Somewhere, somehow, there will have to be position players ready to take their place as the Cubs will not be able to afford all those free agents. Will the 2017 draft be when the Cubs start reloading for that […]
The Case For Baez To Lead Off… Sometimes… Maybe
One of the things Dexter Fowler left in his wake with his departure to West East St. Louis, along with a shortage in the “handsome” and “really cute kid” department, is a question of who the Cubs bat leadoff on a day-to-day basis. We’ve all been part of debates on whether your leadoff hitter is […]
Ernie Banks And The Meaning Of Baseball
Being a baseball fan is incredibly time-consuming. Not only do you have to set aside 3 hours every day for the game, you also have to set aside time in the summer to think of excuses to miss gatherings and appointments in favor of watching baseball and in the winter to spend moping about the […]
Finding a Comparison for Game Seven
When we as fans look back on Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, most of us agree with Theo Epstein’s assessment: “I died like six times. It’s got to be a top-three game of all time. And that was the way it had to happen.” Which is the kind of thing you can say […]
Eddie Butler’s Second Act in Chicago
Eddie Butler was once seen as a key asset to the Colorado Rockies’ future. Drafted by the Rockies 46th overall in the 2012 June Amateur Draft, the unassuming righty impressed in his early minor league days, breezing through two levels of A-ball and finishing the 2013 season with six starts for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. […]
Roster Depth Leaves Cubs with Tough Decisions
The Chicago Cubs have built a successful juggernaut from the ground up. Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod have built an organization stock full of talent from the top to the bottom, and their depth was on display throughout the entire 2016 season. When Dexter Fowler went out with an injury they struggled, but […]
Jon Lester and Pitch Tunnels
Last week, Baseball Prospectus introduced some exciting new ways to evaluate pitching, one of which focuses on the notion of pitch tunnels. As that piece explains, this is essentially an attempt to quantify what Greg Maddux called the ‘column of milk'; the concept that an arsenal is extremely effective when the pitches are virtually indistinguishable […]