Here are five bold predictions for the second half of the Cubs’ season.Begin Slideshow
You’d think it wouldn’t be all that easy to come up with the “winners” portion of a “winners and losers” slideshow for a 31-43 Chicago Cubs team. But, surprisingly, it was. Maybe that’s a sign of things improving on the North Side. Then again, maybe those few “winners” are easy to point out because it’s facile to spot giants in the land of dwarves. But who should be considered the Cubs’ “winners” and “losers” of the first half of the season? Well, to quote Calhoun Tubbs/David Alan Grier on “In Living Color": Like to hear it? Here it goes.Begin ...
By now it is common knowledge the Chicago Cubs will be active at the trade deadline. But which players will be actively shopped and which players the club will simply consider offers for is uncertain. Depending on how competitive general manager Jed Hoyer and president Theo Epstein want the club to be post-July 31, just about everybody on the roster is available with the exception of the “core” players. There are some players who are all but certain to be dealt before the deadline, such as Matt Garza. Then there are some who are speculated to be available ...
Throughout Major League Baseball, teams are engaging in promoting their players to increase their chances they will be voted into the All-Star Game. The Cincinnati Reds have gone so far to as to paint “Vote Reds” behind the home plate area. If you surf over to Cubs.com, you’ll see an advertisement that will take you to MLB’s All-Star ballot. The ad has pictures of several Cubs players with “#VotePlayer’sName” above their action photos. But which of the Cubs’ players deserve to be voted or named into the All-Star Game? Last year, the Cubs managed to get two, yes, two players ...
In 2011 Baseball America had the Cubs ranked with the No. 16 farm system in baseball. A year later they moved up two spots to No. 14, and this year, No. 12. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been meticulously rebuilding the organization’s farm system since they were hired on in October 2011. The proceeding list is compiled of the sweetest fruits of their, and their predecessor’s, labor; some more ripe than others. The following prospect rankings are based upon professional and amateur scouting reports filed on the players, scouting videos and personal opinions inferred after researching the players and ...
Last November I posted a slideshow with a self-explanatory title, “Cubs’ Top 5 Draft Targets in the 2013 MLB Draft.” All five draft targets were collegiate starting pitchers. Not much has changed since then regarding what position the Cubs need to target with their first-round selection, No. 2 overall. However, while the forthcoming updated list is still compiled entirely of pitchers, the players they should consider have somewhat changed. Still included in the list are Mark Appel (the projected No. 1 overall pick), Ryne Stanek and Sean Manaea. New to the list are Jonathan Gray and Marco Gonzales. Legitimately, the ...
So far in 2013, the Chicago Cubs have been the epitome of a “head-scratcher.” There are times when you watch them play, look at their record and think to yourself, “Yep, that’s about right.” Then, there are other times that you watch them play, look at their record and think, “What? They cannot be that bad, can they?” (BaseballReference.com’s Pythagorean W-L formula shows the Cubs record should be 19-21 rather than their actual 17-23.) It also seems like in each individual game, a different facet of baseball is what influences the outcome; hitting, fielding, starting pitching, relief pitching, etc. Almost ...
SCORE UPDATE: 2-1 Cubs Win!! Two-run blast by Nate Schierholtz - 4th inning Solo shot by Allen Craig - 2nd inning That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for joining me in my first foray into B\R live blogging. Hope I get to do this again sometime soon.Go, Cubs, Go!Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com
It's not very often that a major league club goes into a baseball season already knowing they are going to be sellers at the deadline—and sometimes after the deadline via the waiver wire.This season, the Chicago Cubs just happen to be one of those clubs. To figure out who will be available for trade, we should look at those who are not, or should not be, on the trade block. Jeff Samardzija, Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney and Anthony Rizzo are the only players who are unofficially off-limits due to being the club’s core group of players. Travis Wood must also ...
It’s hard to discern between the losers and winners on a club that is sitting in the basement of the NL Central, but not every aspect of the Cubs through the first month has been a train wreck. There is one obvious area of the club that falls into the “winner” category and that is the starting pitching. If I were to describe the performance of the starting staff in one word, that word would be “Improbable.” After one month of the season the Cubs have one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball. Whodathunkit? Not me, ...
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