https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/page/166/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/free-agent-targets-cody-bellinger-matt-chapman-jordan-montgomery-blake-snell/On a Chicago radio appearance Wednesday, ESPN's Jeff Passan predicted that the Cubs will sign "one of the four Boras guys" who remain atop the free-agent market and dominate the headlines of this dwindling offseason. Which one should it be? Obviously, the focus for most Cubs fans over the la...589Thu, 08 Feb 2024 12:05:41 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/nick-madrigal-strikeout-rate-power-nico-hoerner-projection-systems/The moment the Cubs consummated their 2021 trade with the White Sox--the one that sent Craig Kimbrel to the South Side and netted the Cubs two big-leaugers under long-term team control--a countdown clock started ticking. It's coming right up on 0:00 now. To those who have closely watched the...588Wed, 07 Feb 2024 12:16:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/podcast-this-is-not-a-rebuild-feb-6-2024-the-worm-has-turned-in-barbecue-town-r587/As projection systems begin trying to predict the season ahead, the Cubs absiolutely refuse to endear themselves to any of them. We kvetch about that at some length. In their comfy, customary Monday night recording, Matt Trueblood, DJ Fochs, Tom Nurse, and Todd Trueblood get together for the...587Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:17:37 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/2024-pecota-projections-nl-central-cubs-bellinger-cardinals/Baseball Prospectus has rolled out the first complete version of their PECOTA projections for 2024, and they don't shine a kind light on the Cubs, pending further additions. In the first PECOTA-projected standings for the coming season, the Cubs sit five full games back of the division-leadi...586Tue, 06 Feb 2024 12:15:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/top20-assets-justin-steele-dansby-swanson-pete-crow-armstrong-cade-horton-matt-shaw/Which players in the Chicago Cubs organization are most valuable to the goal of winning championships? Over the past couple of weeks, we have been counting down the Top 20 player assets. This should become your list, so feel free to add your thoughts, agree or disagree, and make your suggestions...585Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:18:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/carl-edwards-jr-comes-back-as-a-whole-different-pitcher-r583/The most familiar of the Cubs' non-roster invitees in the bullpen is, paradoxically, not at all the pitcher you remember. He's still essentially himself, but an incredible number of things have changed. You remember Carl Edwards Jr. as the guy with the high-riding mid-90s fastball and the si...583Sat, 03 Feb 2024 12:24:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/one-bill-james-study-to-give-you-a-little-more-confidence-in-cody-bellinger-r582/The key to Cody Bellinger's 2023 resurgence was a profound change in approach, which yielded a huge decrease in his strikeout rate. One essential question around his free agency has been: Is that sustainable? When he first came up, Cody Bellinger could both hit for power and make contact at...582Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/free-agent-targets-small-deals-brandon-crawford-eddie-rosario-jake-odorizzi/There's little the Cubs can do to force the hand of Scott Boras, so another week might drift by as we all fret the decisions of his top-tier clients. Jed Hoyer and company could add a few low-level pieces while they wait, though. The Cubs have a mild roster crunch, but they're not short on m...581Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:02:08 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/a-slider-and-a-splutter-drew-smylys-path-back-to-the-starting-rotation-r580/In recent days, the Cubs have taken a couple concrete steps to upgrade their bullpen, especially in its ability to get out left-handed batters. What could that mean for their most expensive reliever, who began last year as a starter and wants to be one again? It came as no great surprise whe...580Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:14:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/top-20-cubs-assets-part-3-shota-imanaga-jameson-taillon-christopher-morel-ian-happ-nico-hoerner/Today, we jump into the Top 10 of our Cubs Player Assets rankings heading into the 2024 season. Today's group is where things get interesting. How do we compare players with three or more years of 10-digit annual salaries to players with team control and far lower salaries? The Cubs are a bi...579Tue, 30 Jan 2024 16:10:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/368-carl-edwards-richard-lovelady-mcwilliams-weiman-betting-lines/Time to take a step back and look forward. Time to look things up so we can drill down. Time to take a 30,000-foot view of the situation. On second thought… that’s too far. Let’s scale it back to a more friendly level and get a 368-foot view of what is happening this week in Cubs baseball. A...578Tue, 30 Jan 2024 12:34:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/chicago-cubs-news/cubs/its-come-down-to-this-cody-bellinger-vs-matt-chapman-r577/The endgame of free agency is just about upon us. The Cubs still need a bat for the heart of their order, and the options are dwindling. Last week, we took a look at the ZiPS projections for the 2024 Chicago Cubs. Within that article, I had openly wondered if, based off of those projections...577Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:18:01 +0000