https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/106/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/widening-the-lens-to-understand-cubs-deadline-moves-better-r1012/At first blush, my thought about the trade that sent Mark Leiter Jr. to the Yankees in exchange for Jack Neely and Ben Cowles was that the Cubs might have been better off just skipping it. As I wrote on deadline day, it's relatively easy to discern why most of the league doesn't value Leiter and...1012Thu, 01 Aug 2024 23:09:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/in-isaac-paredess-home-debut-dont-sweat-the-well-watch-the-left-fielder-r1011/It's easy (though often inaccurate, even in itself) to estimate how many home runs will be gained or lost by a batter in the transition from one home park to another. That binary is dangerous, though, because it's more than a superficial oversimplification, and because the broader actual spectru...1011Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:41:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/dear-pete-crow-armstrong-stop-bunting-dammit-r1009/Bunting for a hit is awesome. As someone who grew up as a very undersized but fast baseball player, I have always appreciated the art of a good bunt. You should be trying to get on base any way you can, and something about a professional player laying down a bunt to claw their way to first base...1009Thu, 01 Aug 2024 11:58:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/six-man-rotation-makes-most-sense-for-cubs-over-final-two-months-r1010/For reasons individual and collective, idiosyncratic and big-picture, there's almost no reason not to lengthen the starting rotation to six starting pitchers for the balance of the 2024 season. The Chicago Cubs are not going to the playoffs, and their focus needs to be on how to ensure that they...1010Wed, 31 Jul 2024 23:05:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/goodbye-mark-leiter-jr-the-cubs-bullpen-will-miss-you-r1008/The 2024 trade deadline has come and gone, and with it, the Cubs’ front office has set a course, albeit a confusing one, for this club’s future. Though several were pining for the team to do more, Isaac Paredes and a batch of prospects are in, and Christopher Morel and Mark Leiter Jr. are out. R...1008Wed, 31 Jul 2024 18:16:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cody-bellinger-is-two-different-hitters-and-not-just-based-on-the-count-r1007/On balance, being a left-handed hitter is an advantage in baseball. You start a step or two closer to first base, so if you have speed, it's a bit easier to collect infield hits. More importantly, most pitchers are right-handed, so you'll carry the platoon advantage more often. In compensation f...1007Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:43:16 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/at-mlb-trade-deadline-cubs-poise-to-strike-but-dont-get-chance-to-pounce-r1006/The late-developing theme, as the trade deadline passed Tuesday evening, was a lot of teams shrinking from prices they perceived as too high for controllable players who might have changed hands, and a few last-second price drops on the part of semi-desperate sellers. The Cubs were concertedly n...1006Tue, 30 Jul 2024 23:30:32 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-trade-mark-leiter-jr-acquire-two-prospects-from-yankees-r1004/Mark Leiter Jr. is a Cub no more. For the most consistently available and dominant reliever on the team over the last season and a half, the Cubs acquire righty reliever Jack Neely and infield prospect Ben Cowles from the Yankees. It's an underwhelming return, although for a reliever...1004Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:32:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/one-sure-thing-today-cubs-will-not-add-more-than-25-million-in-net-salary-r1003/It's almost negligible, but keep an eye on it. When the Cubs traded for Isaac Paredes and gave up Christopher Morel, their salary obligations for the balance of the season rose by just under $1 million. That's not an important amount of money to the Ricketts family, of course, but it's important...1003Tue, 30 Jul 2024 16:56:43 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/christopher-morel-was-once-the-hope-cubs-fans-needed-but-isaac-paredes-is-the-reality-they-need-today-r1001/On May 18, 2022, the Cubs were in a dark place, sending their fans into a vortex of doom and gloom. They had sold off or let go of beloved fan favorites and entered into a rebuild that was not called a rebuild. With a 15-21 record, the promise of a deal that never happened of Willson Contreras a...1001Tue, 30 Jul 2024 13:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/trade-candidate-nico-hoerner-seiya-suzuki-isaac-paredes-deadline/Conversations have swirled and eddied, surged and slowed in the 40 hours or so since the Cubs made the most surprising trade of the deadline period Sunday, sending Christopher Morel and two pitchers to the Rays in exchange for Isaac Paredes. A very strong gravity has pulled those conversations b...1002Tue, 30 Jul 2024 11:06:41 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/in-two-different-ways-nate-pearson-is-a-quintessential-cubs-relief-acquisition-r1000/It's not the fact that Nate Pearson throws hard that attracted the Cubs to him. There are plenty of relievers who throw hard, and many of them have much more success doing so than Pearson does. His fastball command stinks. His injury history stinks. His track record, as a whole, stinks. They did...1000Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:23:01 +0000