Lou Piniella rides off into the sunset

Lou Piniella has called it a career. He came to Chicago saying this would be his final managerial job and yesterday morning it was announced he would retire following what would be a 16-5 drubbing by the Atlanta Braves, the exact same outcome from Cubs vs Braves on opening day this year. Ironic how that [...]

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August 23, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, announcement, biz of baseball, coaching, manager, news, photo of the day  No Comments

Derrek Lee will be missed, but it was time

The Cubs having traded fan favorite  Derrek Lee to the Atlanta Braves, it was strange to see him playing first base and batting cleanup for the visiting team on Friday at Wrigley Field. In his first at bat, Lee stepped to the plate to a rousing standing ovation, tipped his helmet to the crowd and [...]

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August 21, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Jim Hendry, biz of baseball, fielding, photo of the day, players, roster, stats  2 Comments

The 25th Man

Your 2010 Chicago Cubs 25-man active duty roster is due on Monday for the opening of the baseball season. With the position battles mostly settled for Lou Piniella’s squad, only the 25th and final position remains uncommitted.
Carrie Muskat of MLB.com writes about the four candidates for the one roster spot:

There are four players — Chad [...]

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March 30, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, players, roster  One Comment

Cubs Spring Training Report

 Here is a first-hand report from CubHub.net Special Correspondent, Karen G… 
This past weekend was the second of what I hope will be annual trips to Cubs Spring Training Camp in Mesa, AZ. I had such a good time last year when I stopped for a day on the way back from the west coast that [...]

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March 6, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Uncategorized  One Comment

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

The Latest Scoop
In the previous edition of Stat of the Week, we took a small sample from Baseball Info Solutions’ Enhanced Fielding data to compare Jason Giambi and Mark Teixeira’s ability to scoop bad throws at first base. We showed that while Teixeira scoops more balls than Giambi, he also plays the field more [...]

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August 26, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, book, stats  No Comments

John Dewan’s Stat of the Week™

How many scoops?
The most recent edition of ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball pitted the New York Yankees against the Tampa Bay Rays. Rick Sutcliffe, former major leaguer and current ESPN color commentator, was talking about the Yankee defense in 2009 and made note of the change at first base this year, from Jason Giambi to [...]

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August 3, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: John Dewan, Stat of the Week, stats  One Comment

Cubs need fewer MRIs, more RBIs

Cub players this year seem to get as many MRIs as RBIs …or at least it seems that way. The latest to visit the MRI booth was Derrek Lee today. Seems like he will join the ranks of the walking wounded that are not on the DL. That’s a good thing, but still, I for [...]

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May 11, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Wrigley Field, observations, photo of the day, players  No Comments

Life without Aramis Ramirez

It’s been a tough week for sluggers named Ramirez. Of course Manny’s undoing was of his own making.  But all-star Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez having dislocated his left shoulder in last night’s game is a tremendous blow to this team.
There was a lot of talk as spring training broke of having no legitimate backup for A-Ram [...]

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May 9, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Jim Hendry, lineup, observations, players, roster  No Comments

Did Lou concede yesterday’s game?

Cubs manager Lou Piniella filled out a most unusual lineup card yesterday. He started just two regulars (Derrek Lee & Kosuke Fukudome), one rookie’s first every MLB game (Bobby Scales), and his #5 starter (Sean Marshall) to face reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.
“We’re in a stretch of 20 straight games without [...]

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May 6, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Lou Piniella, game recap, game strategy, lineup, observations  No Comments

Guest Post: Philosophy 101

Here is another Guest Post sent in by AJ.
Back in the day, as a first year student at Illinois State University, I recall registering late in the process and as a result got stuck with a couple of courses I otherwise would never consider taking to complete my general studies. One of them, Philosophy 101 [...]

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April 19, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Hot Stove, Team Ownership, fan comments, guest post, lineup, observations, players, roster  One Comment