https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/142/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/nick-madrigal-strikeout-rate-power-nico-hoerner-projection-systems/To those who have closely watched the evolution of baseball over the last quarter-century, it was immediately clear that Nick Madrigal and Nico Hoerner couldn't last long in a lineup together, at least for a team with aspirations of winning enough games to reach the postseason. Even as Hoerner m...588Wed, 07 Feb 2024 12:16:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/podcast-this-is-not-a-rebuild-feb-6-2024-the-worm-has-turned-in-barbecue-town-r587/In their comfy, customary Monday night recording, Matt Trueblood, DJ Fochs, Tom Nurse, and Todd Trueblood get together for the latest episode of This is Not a Rebuild. We digest and process the news of Bobby Witt Jr. signing an 11-year deal with the Royals, break down the impact on the NL Centra...587Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:17:37 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/2024-pecota-projections-nl-central-cubs-bellinger-cardinals/In the first PECOTA-projected standings for the coming season, the Cubs sit five full games back of the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals. Betting markets have held up Chicago as favorites in the relatively weak NL Central for most of the winter, but crucially, those lines bake in a certain s...586Tue, 06 Feb 2024 12:15:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/top20-assets-justin-steele-dansby-swanson-pete-crow-armstrong-cade-horton-matt-shaw/The Chicago Cubs are a big-market team with an annual budget payroll approaching $200 million. Their response to this question is likely different than it might be for a team with a budget half that size. The goal is the same. Who provides more value to a team looking to win a championship (or c...585Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:18:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/carl-edwards-jr-comes-back-as-a-whole-different-pitcher-r583/You remember Carl Edwards Jr. as the guy with the high-riding mid-90s fastball and the sizzling overhand curveball. That version of him--the guy who had a strikeout rate north of 33 percent from 2015-18, who also limited hard contact, and whose only weaknesses were occasional wildness and a slig...583Sat, 03 Feb 2024 12:24:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/one-bill-james-study-to-give-you-a-little-more-confidence-in-cody-bellinger-r582/When he first came up, Cody Bellinger could both hit for power and make contact at a fairly high rate. From 2017 through 2020, he posted a 21.5% strikeout rate (lower than the league average for that span) and a .274 isolated power number, well above the league average. That's a rare and special...582Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/free-agent-targets-small-deals-brandon-crawford-eddie-rosario-jake-odorizzi/The Cubs have a mild roster crunch, but they're not short on money to spend. While the likes of Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman ponder their choices, Chicago could decide to plug a few smaller holes (or reinforce a few sag points) and bolster the clubhouse. Eddie Rosario, OF Everyone's as...581Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:02:08 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/a-slider-and-a-splutter-drew-smylys-path-back-to-the-starting-rotation-r580/It came as no great surprise when Drew Smyly opted into the second year of the deal to which he and the Cubs agreed in late 2022. He had a rough and bizarre 2023, with a tremendous first couple of months in the starting rotation and a fierce finish in short relief sandwiching a long period of st...580Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:14:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/top-20-cubs-assets-part-3-shota-imanaga-jameson-taillon-christopher-morel-ian-happ-nico-hoerner/The Cubs are a big-market team with a $250-million annual budget. Their response to this question is likely different than it might be for a team with a budget half that size. The goal is the same. Who provides more value to a team looking to win a championship (or championships)? For a mor...579Tue, 30 Jan 2024 16:10:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/368-carl-edwards-richard-lovelady-mcwilliams-weiman-betting-lines/About two weeks shy of the report date for pitchers and catchers, the Cubs are rounding out their roster of camp invitees and backups to their backups. Everyone else is, too, and thus, we can start to see how the league is projected to shake out in the coming season. A Champion and a Trio o...578Tue, 30 Jan 2024 12:34:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/its-come-down-to-this-cody-bellinger-vs-matt-chapman-r577/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 and the current roster, Cody Bellinger was the best investment for the Cubs to be making with their remaining money this offseason. Matt...577Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:18:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/hector-neris-cubs-bullpen-depth-chart-alzolay-merryweather-edwards/It's never quite this simple, but the nature of bullpen analysis always seems to be that we treat them as hierarchical structures. So, let's sort through this one that way. The Established, Late-Inning Crew Adbert Alzolay The Cubs’ brand new, homegrown closer had a dominant finish to th...576Mon, 29 Jan 2024 12:23:02 +0000