CubinNY

The best MIF prospects usually play SS in the minors, so there usually isn't as much talent at 2B. Right. Faint praise at best. Many 2nd baseman in MLB are defectors from another position.

There are bars in Chicago that still do it on Thursday and even Friday nights. well that's BS. all the bar owners in greenville got together about 5 years ago or so and spiked their prices. I mean, crap beer still has decent deals at some places on some nights, but rarely (if ever) do I see anything sold less than 2-3 dollars. All that said I usually end up getting an IPA or something on tap so it's whatever. Antitrust laws say they shouldn't be able to do that.

I like it. New Year, new board.

The Cubs are likely to trade a familiar face away this off season who will be the guy(s)?

I hate the Mets only slightly less than the Cardinals. Dong them into submission. Cubs sweep.

http://deadspin.com/report-troy-tulowitzki-had-no-idea-he-was-being-traded-1720571293 Rockies got back some fireballers. I'm not sure if this trade makes sense for the Jays.

I know all the caveats about prospects. And I know Boras is Bryant's agent, but if the only thing keeping him down at the start of the season is "team control", couldn't and shouldn't the Cubs take control of the situation by offering to buy out his arbitration years plus a couple of years into free agency? I don't really see the purpose of keeping him down when they are going to have to pay a premium to keep him anyway. It just seems penny wise and pound foolish to me. Flame on

July is upon us and so begins the bi-annual silly season. Prediction time, who gets traded? Doesn't have to be just Cubs. My guess Shark, Hammel, Russell, Nate. Surprise long shot- Starlin Sure bet- Price from the Rays

This article better summerizes my problems with WAR than I have time to articulate here. http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2013/09/30/going_to_war_with_baseball_statistics_97870.html What is not mentioned is that the model is able to account for only .85 of the variance in data, meaning it has a 15% margin of error. So, although I think WAR is useful in the aggregate, the way it's used most of the time goes well beyond what the statistic can account for. For example, declaring Mike Trout was a more valuable player the Miguel Cabrerra in 2012.

Three choices. No pictures please, use the googles to search

Saw it on Yahoo.

What are your thoughts? For me it's hard to judge given the lack of talent, but I don't think he handled the bullpen very well and I don't really care for his comments after the game, he comes of like a prick. I do think he either was told or learned that "aggressive" doesn't necessarily mean stealing bases. At the beginning of the season he ran the Cubs into a lot of outs, but that nonsense went away rather quickly. Overall, I don't think he distinguished himself in anyway good or bad so I guess I have to give him a gentleman's C.

I don't like VORP or WAR because the valuations those metrics use are for non-existent entities. In other words, they are wholly a function of math. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the mythical replacement player is not someone most teams would use on their roster for any length of time. So while I was in the shower this morning I got to thinking about some other way to value a player and factor in salary, because we all know the salary calculation that fangraphs and other websites use are mostly absurd. So here is my idea. 1. Take the OPS for all the players of a particular position (i.e., 1st, 2nd, etc.) who have at least 200 PAs at that position and get an average for that year. 2. Take the OPS from the person you are interested in (e.g., Geo Soto) and divide his OPS from the average of all the player 3. To get a ratio or percentage you subtract 1 by that numberto get how much better or worse the player is vs. the average player for his position Not real numbers, just an example: Soto's OPS = .800, average catcher OPS = .640= (.640/.800 = .80). 1-.80 = .20, So Geo is 20% better than the average catcher in terms of OPS. To factor in salary: 1. Take the salary or all the players of a particular position (i.e., 1st, 2nd, etc.) who have at least 200 PAs at that position and get an average. 2. Take the salary from the person you are interested in (e.g., Geo Soto) and divide his salary from the average of all the players to get a ratio or percentage 3. To get a ratio or percentage you subtract 1 by that number to get how much better or worse the player is vs. the average player for his position Again, not real numbers, just an example: Soto's salary = 4,000,000 salary, average catcher salary = 950,000 (.950/4.00 = .24). 1-.24 = .76 So Geo's salary is paid 76% higher than the average catcher's salary. This is where it gets a bit dicey. We could look at the ratio of OPS to salary, and in this case it would be .23:.76. We could subtract the ratios and it would be -.56, but I think most established players would have a negative value compared to league averages b/c the salary structure is so bimodal. Or we could divide the numbers and get .302, so his value as a player for his position and salary is .302 That would mean players approaching 1 in terms their relative performance to their relative pay for their position would be highly valuable. Also, I'm not sure what to do about pitchers. Anyway, this was fun for me to do.... So FLAME ON.... I can take it.

What do you think?

Wasn't sure where to put this but the Daily Herald has seen fit to make Bruce's Blog a subscription only service. Sign of the times I guess.

Who's in? So far I like everything he's been saying. Maybe, just maybe our Cobs made the right decision. Also he was born in Evanston. Club rules: Anyone in said club has the right to criticize his baseball decisions but not the man himself.

He talking about the front office. Interesting comments. I wonder if they mean off the field or on the field or both. Which remaining veterans? Z, Aramis, Dempster, Soriano? Who else is left. Z has pitched poorly and made an ass of himself, but it was done out of frustration for playing poorly Aramis is an easy target, but he's been injured Dempster has pitched pretty well Soriano is as mild mannered as they come and hasn't played poorly, he's just played like he always has, inconsistently terrible with weeks of good to greatness.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1926473,CST-SPT-cub08.article No report on the number of circumcisions Big Z performed.

The Cubs off-season flirtations for some talented player often lead to passionate kissing and even sometimes heavy petting, but they ultimately never seem to finish the job. Who will this year's tease be?

Do the Cubs want him? Do they need him? How much would it cost? I'd take a look at the medical reports and try to sign him if he's healthy. That way it makes it easier to offer Harden arbitration.

As the middle of June rolls around my son will be six months old and the Cubs will be thinking about upgrading for the playoff push (hopefully). My problem is that I don't know exactly where they can make meaningful changes to the team to improve the offense. They look to me like a .500 team. I suppose getting Aramis back will be like making a trade but I think they need something more in the way of offense. Let's tick off the positions that they won't upgrade 1st- Lee isn't going anywhere 3rd- Aramis will be back, but will he be the same player? LF- Soriano's albatross contract and NTC preclude any changes there C- Soto seems to be staring to improve. I see a good second half for him SS- Theriot is hitting (with some pop), I don't see them doing anything That leaves CF- Fukudome/Johnson platoon- Would the Cubs consider pushing Bradley to the bench (and moving Fukudome to RF), or more likely the DL? Is there a player out there who would be "getable" and improve the offense? RF- Same sort of scenario- Bradley goes on the DL becomes a bench/platoon player and the Cubs upgrade. Who would be available? 2nd- This is the one position on the field where the Cubs can and should upgrade for offense but is there anyone available and at what cost? It pretty apparent to me that the Cubs have the pitching to go very far in the playoffs, but I'm becoming increasingly worried that they won't have the offense to make it there.

Oh my freaking word! I'm watching marlin v dbacks. There has to be less than 1000 people there

Has anyone noted the irony of a former steroid user who is probably famous because he used steroids calling out Selig and MLB?

It's got a freaking lake in the middle of it.

Adrian Gonzalez Hanley Ramirez I'm thinking it will either be SS, 2nd, CF or SP with the contracts the Cubs currently have. That narrows it down a bunch, I know. I think Hallady is a good guess if his arm doesn't fall off. Like it or not, the outfield is set for a few years. Not if Fukudome doesn't step up his game. Reed Johnson sucks on ice.