"He's not what you would consider a typical on-base guy." - Starlin Castro and the 2014 Chicago Cubs

7 hr and a .267 ISO... downright Rob Deeresque.

Since Javier Baez was called up on 8/5, he leads the league in swings & misses with 81. Jon Singleton next with 64

soler, first MLB AB: home run

just like chuck tanner

off Matt Latos. Of course.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/next-year-really-might-be-the-year-cubs-fans-082714

Baseball Prospectus scouting guy and two-fisted drinking Brooklynite Jason Parks hired by Cubs

they got a lot of young stud hitters – but I haven't heard anything about pitching.

arrieta and wada could be a great start and a horrible what-if for orioles fans.

in general i think we're all stuck in the strd era idea that a good team needs to be dominant both in hitting and pitching when several contending teams have been disproving that and a bunch of teams are doing it with simple mediocrity on one or both sides. mb we just used to figure a playoff team would at least be dominant at hitting based on old not-era-adjusted metrics, so quality pitching seemed like the real factor. idk.

but cameron's also falling into the every-prospect-will-prosper black hole, which fails a lot. how many world series teams -- or even playoff teams -- are constructed almost entirely out of pre-peak youth?

nb i haven't read the article cause i don't really care but i still like talking

weird he doesn't mention the still 24 yo starlin

kyle hendricks is a young pitcher. i don't know how good he'll be in the long run -- he doesn't have the fastball or stuff of a stud prospect, but he's done very well so far.

they've got cj edwards, who has missed much of the season, but is now in double-a after leading the minors in strikeouts last year.

kinda wonder if they might deal starlin? he's a good player but the mental mistakes don't seem to be going away and he'd no doubt get a nice return. between baez and alcantara and addison russell somebody should be able to play shortstop.

2 hrs for Soler tonight, second one was crushed.

are you beginning to question your allegiance to the sox?

Soler is seventh player in MLB history with an extra base hit in each of his first five games

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BwfLhFVIQAAah5R.png

lol

are you beginning to question your allegiance to the sox?

― mookieproof, Friday, August 29, 2014 10:03 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I lean to the Sox bc the Cubs fans/mythos is vaguely annoying but I'm not anti-Cubs. Cubs are definitely a lot more exciting than the Sox right now.

http://i.imgur.com/Lk72HRY.jpg

Fangraph: Building Jake Arrieta

Edwin Jackson with his 6 era facing off against Kershaw and his 1.8

not anymore

great, more HACKING MASS points for b4rry.

kershaw pitching to the score, apparently

lol rizzo picked off first in an 8-3 game

Last night was the last game at Wrigley without a massive video scoreboard above the bleachers.

that's the price of rooftops across the street progress

early projection has kris bryant as a four-win player next year: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/kris-bryants-very-earliest-2015-projection

maddon to the cubs, supposedly

only way to keep coming Cubs dynasty bearable?

thought it was considered poor form to interview/take a coaching job that's already occupied

Very exciting. Everything's coming together. I just wish we didn't have to keep Bryant down for opening day.

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2179316/thumbs/o-WRIGLEY-RUBBLE-2-900.jpg

http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2014/11/9/7180697/wrigley-field-construction-update-november-8#4337384

stat analysis opening

http://baseballjobs.m.teamworkonline.com/Jobdetail.aspx?j=74370

Visiting hitters won't have their home runs thrown back onto Wrigley Field until May 11, at least, as the Cubs announced the stadium's famous bleachers won't be open for the first month of the 2015 season.

The target date is May 11 for the left field bleachers and late May for the right field bleachers, Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney said at the team's convention Saturday.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/12184917/chicago-cubs-say-new-wrigley-field-bleachers-ready-opener

@keithlaw
Cubs hire Kevin Youkilis as special assistant to get Javier Baez and Albert Almora to take a damn pitch