https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/161/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/north-side-baseball-draft-preview-tommy-troy-r144/Over the next two weeks, we're going to be providing you with profiles of 10 players the Cubs could take with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Who is He? Tommy Troy is a 21 year old infielder out of Stanford University. His exceptional 2023 campaign for the Cardinal helped pro...144Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:17:05 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/checking-in-on-the-cubs-playoff-odds-after-the-london-series-r148/Two models of Playoff Odds projections dominate the national conversation: those on FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus. On each, the Brewers dominate the Cubs in terms of likelihood to win the NL Central, and neither gives Chicago much chance to claim a Wild Card berth. As the team has heated bac...148Mon, 26 Jun 2023 12:27:13 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/can-the-cubs-afford-to-extend-marcus-stroman-r147/Tom Ricketts, with exactly the same mealiness of mouth to which we've all become accustomed, keeps telling interested fans (including those who chanted passionately for a Stroman extension at a public event in London this weekend) that that decision rests with Jed Hoyer and the front office. Tha...147Sun, 25 Jun 2023 13:24:52 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/justin-steele-will-show-london-baseballs-answer-to-the-swing-bowler-r146/Earlier this season, I wrote about the fact that Justin Steele's four-seam fastball really wasn't one, anymore. Now, even the foremost classifier of pitches and pitch data, Pitch Info, agrees. According to Brooks Baseball (fueled by Pitch Info and Baseball Prospectus), Steele's primary pitch is...146Sat, 24 Jun 2023 15:18:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-much-should-we-let-ourselves-care-about-the-london-series-r145/This question, of course, has no one answer, and the answer that holds true for one individual might be useless to another. It's easy to acknowledge that fact and shrink from the challenge of even considering the question. After all, why parse something on a general or collective level when the...145Sat, 24 Jun 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/2nd-annual-dual-mock-draft-r143/Our inaugural attempt was met with minimal success. We didn't strike out, though; you can check it out for yourself here. Additionally, you'll notice an uptick in draft coverage beginning Monday with potential draftees' profiles. 1. Pirates (JN) - Dylan Crews, OF, LSU Crews is simply t...143Fri, 23 Jun 2023 15:21:50 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/is-ian-happ-being-too-patient-at-the-plate-r142/Not that a hitter is ever gratified coming out of the box with a backwards K. But multiple times on Monday and Tuesday, Happ was punched out with the bat on his shoulder. Each occurrence I noted ended an inning, and each saw Happ spend an extended time chatting with the home plate umpire. And I...142Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/will-tweaking-the-rotation-help-the-cubs-after-the-london-series-r141/Availing themselves of two days of rest before the two-game London Series and another day to travel home afterward, the Cubs will send co-aces Justin Steele and Marcus Stroman to the mound against the Cards. That certainly maximizes their chances of winning those contests, but it's also about th...141Thu, 22 Jun 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/better-chicago-cubs-defensive-alignments-through-good-luck-and-bad-r140/Back on June 2, Matt Trueblood wrote a piece in which he detailed the underwhelming defense of the Chicago Cubs. The crux of the discussion was that while the team was lauded for their defense on paper (especially given the signing of Dansby Swanson), they ultimately were coming up short in an a...140Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:29:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/4-prospects-the-cubs-might-focus-on-with-the-81-pick-r138/The Cubs are in an interesting position entering the 2023 MLB Draft. They have $8.9 million to spend, and three top 100 picks (they forfeited their second-round draft pick after signing Dansby Swanson). The 2023 Draft class is loaded with talent, one of the strongest in years. In the buildup to...138Tue, 20 Jun 2023 15:10:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/youve-never-seen-anything-quite-like-marcus-stromans-2023-sinker-r139/According to Baseball Savant, no sinker thrown at least 200 times this year has had as big a differential between its expected, spin-based movement and its actual movement as has Marcus Stroman's. That's notable on its own, but it's only part of the story. The site has spin direction data back t...139Tue, 20 Jun 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/unlocking-julian-merryweather-is-a-huge-milestone-for-the-cubs-r137/In mid-January, the Cubs claimed Julian Merryweather on waivers. He'd spent the previous four-plus years in the Blue Jays organization, after just about an equal amount of time with Cleveland after they drafted him in 2014. He was intriguing, because he throws hard, but it was easy to view him a...137Mon, 19 Jun 2023 17:10:00 +0000