CubsPS+ - A North Side Numbers Game

I had a great conversation with Craig Calcaterra, a long-time baseball writer who recently published the book, “Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports-Industrial Complex at Its Own Game”. With Cub fans left out of the post-season again, watching Kyle Schwarber hit bombs in Philly and waiting to see whether the next Cubs team could be the next great Cubs team, it’s a good time to step back and take a look at what it means to be fan.
We’ve had our frustrations as Cub fans watching favorite players leave as management cut spending and ownership has not always seemed to do everything possible to compete.
Craig and I discuss how he came to write the book, how fandom is impacted by the business side of baseball and the accessibility of baseball to young fans today.
We also talk about what fans can do when ownership isn’t competing or we don’t like the direction of the team or some of the players’ off-field activities.
You can find Craig on Twitter @CraigCalcaterra and check out his “Cup of Coffee” newsletter and more of his writing at  CraigCalcaterra.com.

Every year, I dread the end of the baseball season. As a kid it meant a long, dreary Iowa winter…now that I live in a warmer state, it just means no baseball. I’ll thoroughly enjoy this World Series, but I’m ready for the season to be over…but not because the Cubs narrowly avoided a 90-loss season, but because I think this is going to be a really exciting offseason. When the World Series is over, things can begin in earnest – qualifying offers will be issued, players will declare for free agency and teams can begin signing players and making trades. The Cubs are rolling into the offseason with some glaring holes to fill, but also with a lot of available cash and a deep, Top 10 farm system. Last week, we talked about Jed’s favorite phrase – “intelligent spending”. This week we’ll put that to work and look at which free agents make sense for the Cubs. Will the Cubs rise to get Aaron Judge? Will they dig deep to get one of the elite shortstops? Will the Cubs look to Japan again?
The MVP Machine by Ben Lindberg & Travis Sawchik

Welcome to Episode 13! Baseball is down to it’s Final Four, which means the games are getting bigger and bigger – and if you’re a Cub fan, it means what could be an action-packed off-season is getting closer by the day. Last week, I talked about the impact arbitration can have on a team budget and compared the Cubs history of handling arbitration with the Braves – this week, I dive into free agency. What does “intelligent spending” really mean? Why does arbitration impact free agent budgets?  And how did those things converge to lead the Cubs from the 2016 promised land to the depths of 2021 & 2022? Does any of that history indicate what the Cubs will do this offseason?
Let’s find some answers.

In this bonus episode, I give my thoughts on the new playoff format, talk about the performance of some top prospects and touch on the upcoming postseason. As always, you can find me on Twitter & Instagram @CubsPSPlus, a spin on the baseball metric OPS+.

Welcome to Episode 12! If you’re listening, you’re missing Cubs baseball as much as I am – especially Cubs playoff baseball. In this episode, I’m going to take a look at some of the comments Jed Hoyer made this week about the upcoming offseason and dive into the potential for contract extensions – most notably, looking at the kinds of lessons the Cubs could take away from the Braves recent activity, which includes extending yet another young player, rookie pitcher Spencer Strider. At the end I make the case for extending 5 Cubs players this offseason.

There’s no Cubs baseball today, but that doesn’t mean that today – October 6th – isn’t a huge day in Cubs history. Come join me on a journey through the ghosts (and goats) of Cubs baseball past. We’ll visit Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig, talk about Dizzy & Steve Trout and learn a little more about a goat and a shooting while we wind our way through 6 stops in 85 years of Cubs post-season history. Like any trip through a Cubs postseason, it’s a bumpy ride, so buckle up.

In today’s episode, I take a look back at how this Cubs team fell so far early, how they’ve managed to finish strong and then lay out some paths for improvement as the Cubs head into the offseason. Will this be another offseason ending like a Chicago Bears drive in another punt? Or could we see a lineup with star power next year?

In today’s episode I do a quick sweep of the last week of Cubs baseball - like the Cubs did in New York - and highlight some fantastic pitching performances.
From there, I jump into the rule changes recently announced by MLB. I talk a walk through the history of baseball rule changes and how change never seems to come easy, but usually seems to stick to become the next generation’s baseline of the good ol’ days.
Here are the written works I reference in this episode:
”But Didn’t We Have Fun” by Peter Morris
”Why Baseball Games are so Damned Long” by Grant Brisbee (SB Nation)
”Here Are 111 Seconds of Pedro Baez Not Pitching” by Jeff Sullivan (FanGraphs)
 

In this episode, I welcome in my first guest, former pro player and current coach Chris Vasami. In this episode we discuss hitting development, the growth of young players, get his thoughts on the shift and talk about catching up to velocity.
Chris was an All-American in high school, played college baseball at Notre Dame and Elon before being drafted by the Colorado Rockies and spending four years in their system. He’s spent more than 15 years coaching young players. You can learn more about his work atVasamitraining.com.

In this episode, I start with a quick summary of the road trip to Milwaukee and Toronto, highlighting Jeremiah Estrada’s major league debut among a few other highlights. Then, around the 4 minute mark, I spend the rest of the episode highlighting why Ohtani is available, why the Cubs should trade for him and what a trade might cost.