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40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

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Last updated 4-17-2024
 
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# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




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The All-Time Greatest Surprise Cubs Killers

Submitted by Rob G. on

A few of you were unimpressed by my previous post by telling me that it should be expected that the top hitters in the game were also the top hitters versus the Cubs. A fair assessment...

So who were the most unexpected Cubs killers? In other words, who saved their best to drive some nails in the Cubs' coffins? Reader "big_lowitzki" did the research for us and provided me with the list.

Using 350 PA's as the cutoff again, here's your top 10 surprise Cubs killers:

Player OPS vs. Cubs
Career OPS
Difference
Bob Boone
 .833
.661
.172
Tony Pena .790
.620
.170
Bill White .969
.808
.161
Frank Robinson 1.081 .926
.155
Richie Hebner .938
.790
.148
Johnny Edwards .805
.664
.141
Bill Doran .867
.727
.140
Carlos Lee
.977
.841
.136
Dante Bichette .970
.835
.135
Clay Dalrymple .788
.657
.131

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know who Johnny Edwards is, but he seems like he was a real pest to the Cubs. Of course, those numbers still pale in comparision to Jeff Blauser's .264 OPS discrepancy albeit it in only 299 PA's (it's a .253 difference if you discount his two years with the Cubs).

I'd provide the full list, but I'm having problems importing it into Google docs and I think Cubnut wanted to do a post of the top Cubs patsies, so you'll have to wait for that.

UPDATE: Reader Leningrad Cowboy takes it a step further and subtracts the players line versus the Cubs from their overall OPS numbers. The lists are similar with a few minor exceptions.

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Tags
Cubs history
Statistical Analysis
Cubs Killers

Comments

Submitted by Leningrad Cowboy on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:57 pm

I did similar calculations except I backed out stats vs. the Cubs from the players career numbers. The result is the difference between career OPS vs. the Cubs compared to career OPS vs. the rest of the league. Similar findings, with some differences in the. With a minimum of 350 plate appearances against the Cubs, the people who played the Cubs the highest compared to the way they played the rest of the league were...Bob Boone and Bill White. Their OPS was .181 higher against the Cubs than their career numbers against the rest of best (excluding their stats vs. Cubs). The rest of the top ten: 2. Richie Hebner .162 3. Frank Robinson .161 4. Johnny Edwards .156 5. Bill Doran .150 6. Clay Dalyrmple .145 7. Warren Cromartie .143 8. Carlos Lee .142 9. Dante Bichette .141 10. Andy Van Slyke .137 The next ten: Vinny Vastilla, Donn Clendenon, Luis Gonzalez, Von Hayes, Manny Trillo, Ted Simmons, Tony Pena, Delina DeShields, Jim Ray Hart, and Gregg Jefferies. Believe it or not, some players don't make a career against the Cubs. As noted in the last thread, Will was not a Thrill against the Cubs, with the exception of that one series. Will Clark's career OPS diff is -.289. Next worst? Barry Bonds with -.196. The rest of the worst (in decreasing order of sucktitude): Frank Thomas -.178 Mike Piazza -.160 Lance Berkman -.127 Daryl Spencer -.120 Tom Haller -.115 Reggie Sanders -.113 Albert Pujols -.110 Ryan Klesko -.110 For what it is worth, Dusty Baker had a -.081. And Andres Galarraga, a player I would have thought a Cub Killer, simply had a name that was hard for Harry to pronounce. The Big Cat checked in with a -.064.

Submitted by Leningrad Cowboy on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:15 pm

Continuing in the same vein of stepping it up against the Cubs, here are the top players more likely to hit a home run against the Cubs than against the rest of baseball: 1. Hal Lanier 5.3x 2. Brad Ausmus 2.4x 3. Tommy Helms 2.3x Richie Ashburn Dick Schofield Derrel Thomas Jesus Alou 8. Tommy Davis 2.2x 9. Johnny Edwards 2.1 10. Matty Alou 2.0x Calculations based on (HR vs. Cubs/AB vs. Cubs) - (HR vs. not Cubs/AB vs. not Cubs). No big sluggers on the list (Tommy Davis the only one with more than 100 career home runs), but that would have to be the definition of Cub killing--the little guy clubbing one against you. Lanier tops it because he hit 3 homers off the Cubs and 5 off the rest of baseball. Ashburn hit 2 off the Cubs and 8 off the rest of baseball.

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:22 pm

Johnny Edwards was sucky catcher, as his career OPS of .664 illustrates, for the Reds then Astros during the 60s and 70s. But he was somehow a 3-time All-Star and 2-time Gold Glove winner.

Submitted by Paul Noce on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:56 pm

The very first one that came to my mind was Rafael Belliard, the SS from the Pirates and Braves. He was a horrible hitter (and he's the older brother to Ronnie Belliard), but against the Cubs he was a pain in the behind. Case in point: Career stats: avg: .221 obp. .270 slg. .259 ops. .530 vs Cubs: avg: .273 obp .322 slg .339 ops .661 + .131 ops against Cubs over career numbers. He also was even better at Wrigley over his career: avg .298 obp .349 slg .355 ops .703 that's a +.173 ops over his career numbers And he had 28 rbi vs the Cubs in his career, next closest team is 18

Submitted by Hobart Mike on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:43 pm

Some perspective - Cubs pitching and defense was 'outstanding' from the late 40's to the late 60's. Outstanding as in outstanding Cubbery. The pitching made many 'Cub killers'.

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:09 pm

Not surprised to see him on this list. I'm very glad the Cubs didn't sign him to his $100 million contract. I wouldn't have been surprised to see him immediately go the way of Jeff Blauser.

Submitted by Timmer on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:23 pm

I remember Al Oliver owning Cubs pitching when he was with the Pirates. Here's what the numbers show: against all of the NL, he hit .294/.335/.454. Against the Cubs it was .330/.367/.514 and .342/.382/.545 at Wrigley Field.

Submitted by Wes on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:45 pm

I'm very late to the party, but Dante Bichette was one that came to my mind immediately. I thought of Carlos Lee and Bichette. Seemed like Dante always went 3/4 when he played against us. Too bad Bronson Arroyo doesn't qualify. He'd probably be +500 in OPS.

Submitted by Wes on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:23 pm

I've got something I'd like to get off my chest, folks. This is probably going to change this thread completely, but it's an off day and I'm upset. Listen, I like Felix Pie. Seems like a nice enough kid. Has great minor league numbers. Doesn't particularly rub me the wrong way like former Cub over-hyped wunderkinds have. Kid can't hit a curveball to save his life, but that may come with time. I'm in the camp that he needs time at the big league level to learn how to hit just like he needed time at AA and AAA to learn how to hit. Here is my problem. Other folks in these here internets try to spin some convoluted logic that not only should he be in the lineup EVERY SINGLE DAY, he should be put at the top of the order. That's despite his 269 OPS (!) against LHP in his career (it's a small sample... only 36 ABs). That said, I don't care what the sample is. That's piss poor. Meanwhile, Lou COULD play Reed Johnson, whose OPS against LHP is only 562 points higher. And people are telling me that we're not putting our best lineup out there against lefties if Reed Johnson is in there and Felix is on the bench. Seriously. They said that. Does the kid deserve a fair shot at it? Yes he does. Is he only going to improve by consistently facing major league pitching? Yes, that is a fact. But, at the same time, there's no reason to throw games away by trying to baby our best prospect instead of trying to win baseball games. Putting a kid in there who has an OPS 400 points lower than Carlos Zambrano and 200 points lower than Jason Marquis vs LHP is certainly not the right way to go about that. I don't really want to get to September and have him hitting .111 against LHP AND have us 6 games out because he's done absolutely nothing for us every time we face a lefty. Is there a right way to work him into the lineup? Sure. Does it involve putting him in there 8 days a week and hitting him second? Absolutely not. That's just stupid. And that's all I have to say about that. Now I'm gonna go drink me about 15 Dr. Peppers.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob Richardson on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 04:49 am

Wes not to get in the way of a good rank, but this seems like a straw man argument to me. Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but there doesn't seem to be a great ground swell of people demanding the Pie bat every day at the top of the lineup. Sure there are people, my self included, who were somewhat concerned about Pie’s playing time over the weekend. Basically I expected Johnson and Pie will platoon in center with Johnson getting some at bats against RHP from time to time, and unless he “earns” it I don’t expect Pie will see the top of the lineup any time soon.

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:47 pm

CPat 9th inning HR to tie, 2-5 on the night...earlier in the game he was called out stealing 2nd on a late Kendall throw. Ump was out of position as replay showed he was safe. David Weathers 10th inning specialist...of suck. Jason Kendall turning the 9th spot in the order into something good? another 3-4 night, started the night with an OPS of 1.364 www.statoftheweek.com John DeWan has OPS stat ranking (for the first 6 games), focusing on the slot in the batting order. Kendall's 9th slot is ranking 3rd. Fukudome's 5th slot ranks 5th (OPS at 1.289) and DLee's 3rd slot ranks 6th (at 1.288)

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 04:11 am

Wes-I agree that Pie needs playing time, and that he should sit against most LHP this year. I don't think he should hit 8th however. Guaranteeing that he will be thrown slop to hit will not help a kid who, if he does not go 8 for 14, gets benched quickly, even if it's for the immortal Reed Johnson. I do believe Johnson should play against most LHP though. But Pie is going to have to learn to hit Lefties at some point. I'd settle for this: Soriano DeRosa Lee Aram Fukudome Soto Pie Theriot

Recent comments

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