https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/178/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-pitcher-of-the-month-june-2023-r162/How did the Cubs provide a winning record in June after floundering in May? Dropping your team ERA from 4.73 to 3.43 sure doesn't hurt! Strike outs per nine innings, team FIP, and team WAR on the pitching side of the ledger didn't improve drastically, but overall consistency from game to game a...162Sun, 02 Jul 2023 16:19:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-phantom-game-on-mothers-day-2003-was-bonkers-r160/On Mother's Day 2003, the Cardinals and Cubs were set to play the rubber match of a three-game series. Chicago had won the previous day on a walkoff to go up 1.5 games on St. Louis, in what would prove to be a pivotal matchup. The day before, Sammy Sosa was placed on the disabled list after gett...160Sun, 02 Jul 2023 12:38:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/misinformation-is-justin-steeles-third-pitch-r161/I've written more than once about Justin Steele's fastball this year. Way back In April, I first documented the fact that his cut-ride fastball really lacked what we would typically call 'ride'. Last week, I wrote about Steele again in advance of his start in London, with the new information tha...161Sat, 01 Jul 2023 12:30:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/would-you-trade-pete-crow-armstrong-for-pete-alonso-r153/Of course, it would cost quite a bit to acquire Pete Alonso. The Mark McGwire-shaped first baseman broke Aaron Judge's short-lived rookie home run record in 2019, and felt more like the right spiritual successor to McGwire, who had held that record for 30 years before Judge. He's more or less ke...153Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:14:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/jameson-taillon-brandon-marsh-and-the-lost-art-of-reading-swings-r152/It seemed like Brandon Marsh spotted something extremely early against Jameson Taillon. Over a month in to a fairly grisly slump, Marsh suddenly found the aggressive, powerful swing that went missing for him during that period of struggle. He hit two home runs against Taillon, accounting for ove...152Wed, 28 Jun 2023 12:22:46 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/3-hitters-the-cubs-could-target-at-trade-deadline-r149/It's probably surprising to some to hear that the team is above-average in run scoring, at least on the senior circuit. They went through a long fallow period at the plate, and their weaknesses (being on the wrong side of average both in strikeout rate and in power) can make them disproportionat...149Tue, 27 Jun 2023 12:35:08 +0000https://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 +0000