It has been over a week since we last did this so let’s look at status of the Cubs. We don’t care about any other teams in this report. Soon we’ll start covering the horse races in various divisions. Here are team status lines from today and the last report.
| BAT | PITCH | Rs | Ra | W | L | UR | LR | TeamID | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.1 | 40.8 | 587 | 535 | 64 | 57 | -8.7 | 0.9 | CHN | 8/19/2017 |
| 36.7 | 42.2 | 648 | 575 | 70 | 60 | -8.7 | 2.8 | CHN | 8/29/2017 |
BAT improved, PITCH about the same, and the Cubs went 6-3 gaining 3 wins. Not bad at all. Their BAT and PITCH very above water and very balanced. Those +3 wins get distributed amongst the players. Let’s look at the current roster.
Starters
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +066+ | 3.09 | Jake_Arrieta_CHN | PITCH | |
| +127+ | 2.16 | Kyle_Hendricks_CHN | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | -0.04 | Jose_Quintana_CHA | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | -0.15 | Jose_Quintana_CHN | PITCH | |
| -087- | -2.02 | John_Lackey_CHN | PITCH | |
| Total | 3.04 |
Overall positive starting pitching. Arrieta is climbing the MLB ladder ranked #66. In earlier reports the Cubs hardly had any players in the top 200. Now they have 10, 3 in the top 100. They are also 10 games up compared to hovering around 0.500.
Relief
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +091+ | 2.73 | Mike_Montgomery_CHN | PITCH | |
| +110+ | 2.39 | Brian_Duensing_CHN | PITCH | |
| +118+ | 2.25 | Wade_Davis_CHN | PITCH | |
| +177+ | 1.64 | Justin_Wilson_DET | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | 1.24 | Carl_Edwards_CHN | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | 1.07 | Pedro_Strop_CHN | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | 0.46 | Koji_Uehara_CHN | PITCH | |
| +177+ | 0.08 | Justin_Wilson_CHN | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | -0.38 | Felix_Pena_CHN | PITCH | |
| XXXXX | -0.67 | Hector_Rondon_CHN | PITCH | |
| Total | 10.81 |
Relief is still top tier MLB. Although Montgomery starts a lot he is listed as a reliever. It doesn’t matter, he’s top 100 status now. Wilson accrued most his value playing for Detroit this season but he’s still in the top 200.
Hitters
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +039+ | 4.09 | Anthony_Rizzo_CHN | 1B-2B | |
| +114+ | 2.31 | Javier_Baez_CHN | 2B-SS | |
| +149+ | 1.87 | Kris_Bryant_CHN | 3B | |
| +170+ | 1.68 | Ian_Happ_CHN | CF-2B-LF-RF | |
| XXXXX | 0.69 | Alex_Avila_CHN | CR | |
| XXXXX | 0.67 | Tommy_La_Stella_CHN | 3B-2B | |
| XXXXX | -0.00 | Kyle_Schwarber_CHN | LF | |
| XXXXX | -0.02 | Jason_Heyward_CHN | RF-CF | |
| XXXXX | -0.06 | Albert_Almora_CHN | CF | |
| XXXXX | -0.13 | Alex_Avila_DET | CR-1B | |
| XXXXX | -0.40 | Jon_Jay_CHN | LF-CF-RF | |
| XXXXX | -0.71 | Rene_Rivera_NYN | CR | |
| XXXXX | -0.94 | Ben_Zobrist_CHN | 2B-LF-RF | |
| Total | 9.05 |
Rizzo is best Cub and he’s close to top 25. The numbers for starters, relief, and hitters will make more sense when placed in context with the other teams. The Cubs are in first place 2.5 games ahead of MIL and 5 games ahead of the Cardinals. According to the table published here the Cardinals had a WAA total of 22.5, MIL and CHN were around 18. If you add the three categories above the Cubs are now around 23. That table was published two weeks ago. Right now the Cards are at 20.5. We’ll publish an update for the entire league tomorrow.
Blast from the past
| BAT | PITCH | Rs | Ra | W | L | UR | LR | TeamID | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.6 | 1.0 | 593 | 593 | 71 | 59 | -6.9 | 0.3 | CHN | 8/29/1977 |
Cubs were +12 on this day in 1977 but the Phillies were +29. DeltaWAA between the two teams was 17 so the Cubs were 17/2=8.5 games back. They finish the year even steven at 81-81 so the next month wasn’t good for this team The 1977 Cubs were in first place for much of the first half of this season and then got tired and slowly slid into mediocrity. <anti jinx on> This is opposite of what is happening with the current Cubs <anti jinx off>
Let’s look at the top Cubs’ players on this day in 1977.
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +010+ | 5.98 | Rick_Reuschel_CHN | PITCH | |
| +011+ | 5.94 | Bruce_Sutter_CHN | PITCH | |
| +029+ | 4.93 | Bobby_Murcer_CHN | RF | |
| +123+ | 1.97 | Willie_Hernandez_CHN | PITCH | |
| +159+ | 1.43 | Bill_Buckner_CHN | 1B | |
| +182+ | 1.09 | Larry_Biittner_CHN | 1B-LF | |
| +189+ | 1.01 | Jerry_Morales_CHN | CF |
Cubs had 7 guys in the top 200 then compared to 10 today. Reuschel and Sutter almost in the top ten of the league. Numbers drop off sharply and they had these guys dragging them down.
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -177- | -1.30 | Ivan_DeJesus_CHN | X | |
| -088- | -2.12 | Bill_Bonham_CHN | PITCH | |
| -070- | -2.44 | Mike_Krukow_CHN | PITCH | |
| -020- | -3.67 | Jim_Todd_CHN | PITCH | |
| -013- | -3.95 | Ray_Burris_CHN | PITCH |
Sometimes baseball is a cruel sport.
Finally, let’s look at the top ten, both batters and pitchers ranked together as always, in MLB on this day in 1977.
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +001+ | 10.35 | George_Foster_CIN | LF-CF | |
| +002+ | 9.68 | Frank_Tanana_ANA | PITCH | |
| +003+ | 8.53 | Nolan_Ryan_ANA | PITCH | |
| +004+ | 7.85 | Larry_Hisle_MIN | LF-CF | |
| +005+ | 7.73 | Greg_Luzinski_PHI | LF | |
| +006+ | 7.08 | Rod_Carew_MIN | 1B | |
| +007+ | 6.70 | Bert_Blyleven_TEX | PITCH | |
| +008+ | 6.47 | Steve_Carlton_PHI | PITCH | |
| +009+ | 6.03 | J.R._Richard_HOU | PITCH | |
| +010+ | 5.98 | Rick_Reuschel_CHN | PITCH |
Many of the above have a plaque in Cooperstown somewhere. That is all for now. Tomorrow or the day after we’ll do a roster dump. Until then….