Though The Muck & The Mire: 2013 Cubs Preview - Infielders & Catchers

Happy Home Opener. This is the last of a three-part preview of the 2013 Cubs. Check out Part 1 for a quick review of the 2012 season, the offseason, and rotation and Part 2 for a check on the bullpen and outfield.

Infield
Starters: Anthony Rizzo, Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro, Luis Valbuena
Bench: Brent Lillibridge, Alberto Gonzalez
Coming Reinforcements: Ian Stewart, Josh Vitters
Hendry Era Comp: There isn't one really - Aramis Ramirez was (and still is) far superior to any current 3B options and the Hendry teams never had young studs like Rizzo & Castro at their respective positions. 
Future Lineup (with ETA for Prospects): Rizzo, Logan Watkins (2014), Castro, Javier Baez (2015)

The highest potential Cubs on the current roster occupy the infield. Anthony Rizzo has the potential to be an annual All-Star with annual .300/30/100 lines alongside Gold Glove defense. Honestly, I think 2013 will be the first of those years and I'm not alone. Rizzo already crushes righties (.892 2012 OPS). Once he figures out how to handle southpaws (.599 2012 OPS) and draw a couple walks (just 27 in 87 games), Rizzo will be a fixture in the middle of the order for the next decade.

Through The Muck & The Mire: 2013 Cubs Preview - Bullpen & Outfield

This is the second of a three-part preview of the 2013 Cubs. Check out Part 1 for a quick review of the 2012 season, the offseason, and pitching staff. Next, I'll examine the ramshackle bullpen and a platoon-laden outfield.

Bullpen
Setup/Closer: Carlos Marmol, Kyuji Fujikawa
LOOGY: James Russell
Middle Relief: Michael Bowden, Shawn Camp, Hisanori Takahashi
The Annual Rule 5 Stash: Hector Rondon
Hendry Era Comp: 2010 - Marmol, Cashner, Russell, Berg, Grabow, Mateo, Howry
Future Headliners (with ETA for prospects): Trey McNutt (2014), James Russell, Rafael Dolis, and maybe Arodys Vizcaino

This year's relievers will challenge the 2010 squad for the worst Cubs pen of the new millennium. That team ended up at a 4.72 ERA, a .343 OBP-against, and a 15-27 record. Carlos Marmol & Jeff Russell are the lone holdouts from that team and that fact alone does not give me much confidence.

Using my March Madness Formula to Predict the 2013 MLB Season: Part 1, An Introduction to the System

 by Cody Kay

Busy living the American Dream of searching for a job in this awesome economy, I have neglected my baseball blogging but my main man Bryce Harper and his two opening day home runs have inspired me to get back to work. It makes sense to start with season predictions so here we go. I am going to split this up into an introduction to how I am making my predictions this year, my AL predictions, and then my NL predictions. So if Bryce has hit 5 homeruns by the time the NL predictions come out and the Nationals are undefeated, I promise that--regardless of the date of publication of my posts--the predictions were not affected by the early season results.

I recently mused before the start of March Madness that I have consistently placed in the top 5-10 in bracket pools (11 out of 13 years) and, lo and behold, the tournament is down to the Final Four and I again leading the pool I am in with my bracket titled “The Fightin’ Blue Waffles” (99^th percentile). I have a basic formula that usually works and can be broken into 4 basic steps.

Through The Muck & The Mire: 2013 Cubs Preview - 2012 Review & 2013 Rotation

Year One of the Theo Era went... well, about as planned. A cold April (8-15) led to a quick dump of Marlon Byrd on the hapless Red Sox. May followed with the end of the Blake DeWitt er... Kerry Wood era, leading to further roster instability and a widening gap in the standings. By the end of June, the Cubs were 15 games out and in full sell-off mode. Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, and Geovany Soto netted a couple mid-level prospects alongside lottery ticket Arodys Vizcaino at the trade deadline, while the useful Jeff Baker headed out the door soon after. This made room for September callups: Welington Castillo (promising), Brett Jackson (poor), Josh Vitters (worse), and the pitchers (non-existent). The Cubs hit the 101-loss mark to close the season, leaving questions aplenty entering the offseason.

The Chicago White Sox 2013 Preview/Drinking Game: Pitching and Predictions!

In case you missed it, make sure to check out the first part of this preview in which I discuss the MLB, the AL Central, White Sox acquisitions, and the Sox everyday lineup.

Chris Sale: Representin' for the gangstas all across the world (and FGCU).

The Rotation: (2012 stats)

The White Sox hope to continue their strong track record of keeping pitchers healthy, and with a strong bullpen and John Danks floating somewhere along the horizon, the pitching staff is promising, if not awe-inspiring. Keep in mind that I will use mostly traditional statistics with the exception of FIP, which measures what a player’s ERA should have looked like over a given time period, assuming that performance on balls in play and timing were league average.

The Ace- Chris Sale- #49- Throws: Left- (17-8, 3.05 ERA, 192 IP, 192K, 3.27 FIP)

Key 2012 Stat: 4.8 WAR

The Chicago White Sox 2013 Preview/Drinking Game: MLB Overview, Season Overview, Acquisitions, and Offense!

Photo courtesy of whitesox.tumblr.com

Baseball is back! And after an opening day gem from new $32M man Chris Sale (7.2 IP, 7 H, 7 K, 1 BB, 104 pitches), and a 417 foot blast from new everyday catcher Tyler Flowers led to a 1-0 win for the Pale Hose, things are looking up on the South Side! Or are they? Well, that’s what we aim to find out. So come join us here at Ghostride the WHIP as we take a look at Manager Robin Ventura’s 2013 White Sox. Read on for my preview, predictions, and drinking fun! 

MLB Overview:

So what’s new in the MLB? First, as was evidenced on Opening Night, the Houston Astros are in the American League now! For those of you keeping track at home, this makes 15 AL teams and 15 NL teams. In years past, the 14 (AL) to 16 (NL) balance of teams led to an even breakdown of NL and AL matchups on any given day. This year, however, things will be different, as the uneven number of teams in each league will result in interleague matchups nearly every day. This means the “cross-town classic” or “BP cup” or whatever you’d like to call it between the Sox and Cubs will be trimmed down from two 3-game series to two 2-game series in 2013 and future years. While there are mixed views on this, I always loved the Cubs/Sox rivalry and will be sad to see those 3 game sets go.

The other bit of under the radar news is that the MLB begins testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH) this year. Baseball got a (deservedly) bad rap in the late ‘90s/early 2000’s when Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and some other guy named Barry were pretty clearly using performance enhancing drugs. But lately, the MLB should be commended for increasing its drug-testing, as in-season HGH testing marks a big step in PED awareness. Last year, Melky Cabrera was having a great year for the San Francisco Giants and tested positive for testosterone, resulting in a 50 game ban. Keep an eye out for the effects of HGH testing, whether it’s more players getting suspensions or a decline in overall power numbers. (Decline in overall power numbers is also referred to as the “Adam Dunn,” but we’ll get to that later.)

Sox Season Overview: