Posts by Matthew Trueblood

The Dodgers are still, if you count the games up right, one of the hottest teams in MLB history. The truth, though, is that The Streak (not consecutive games without a loss, but a sustained… Read more »

Ryan Dempster got his comeuppance Tuesday for throwing at Alex Rodriguez Sunday night. Major League Baseball suspended him for five games. Guess the pance wasn’t coming up as much as we thought. Dempster will also… Read more »

The news seemed to come from nowhere, and given what we’ve learned since, perhaps it did. The Chicago Cubs unexpectedly dealt David DeJesus to the Washington Nationals for a player to be named later, after… Read more »

On the first pitch he saw, Miguel Cabrera simply uncoiled. It wasn’t difficult, and it wasn’t majestic, and it wasn’t terribly impressive, since Bruce Chen was on the mound, but just like that, Cabrera had… Read more »

With the Minnesota Twins mired in a third straight slog of a season, it’s more than tempting to look for a silver lining in the storm. Sure, help is on the way, but the team… Read more »

Although an active and even hectic trade deadline period is a source of great joy to engaged baseball fans, I don’t know that it’s an absolute virtue. Player movement keeps the game fresh and exciting,… Read more »

It seems a remote possibility, but Jeff Samardzija should absolutely be on a roster other than that of the Chicago Cubs by the passing of Wednesday’s non-waiver trade deadline. That’s the one trade I’m eagerly… Read more »

On Tuesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers traded Francisco Rodriguez to the Baltimore Orioles for infield prospect Nick Delmonico. That’s convenient, because I had been meaning for a couple of days to talk about a certain… Read more »

The Washington Nationals were as close to a unanimous pre-season favorite to win their division as baseball has seen in 20 years. Despite the Braves’ splashy two-Upton winter, Washington got the plaudits from the punditry. Multiple… Read more »

Two major stories broke within 20 minutes of one another Monday afternoon. First, the Cubs finally finished trading Matt Garza, getting in return three prospects and a player (or two) to be named later from… Read more »

With just under 10 days left until the trade deadline, there are 13 bona fide contenders and buyers, and four fringe teams who better fit a buyer’s than a seller’s mold. Here’s what each of… Read more »

Coming out of the All-Star break, baseball fans are being treated to some great series that are setting the scene for a tremendously entertaining stretch run. Although neither of the first two games between the… Read more »

At age 30, Robinson Cano is on the cusp of free agency, and about to get paid the big bucks. I absolutely could not care any less who his agent is, and won’t get into… Read more »

Amid heavy rumors that Matt Garza will be dealt sometime later this week, I think it’s high time we take a moment to truly evaluate the asset in motion. Fans all over baseball (especially Cubs… Read more »

At their best, sports are unscripted movies. Society can experience rich, complex, interwoven plots that reward their investment of emotion, time and money. There are clear protagonists and antagonists, although the roles are never concrete,… Read more »

Justin Verlander won the MVP and the Cy Young Award in the same season in 2011. Miguel Cabrera won the first Triple Crown in 45 years in 2012. In 2013, Max Scherzer began the season… Read more »

In general, it’s a bad idea to throw money at the problem of buying your wife or girlfriend a birthday, Christmas or anniversary gift. Sure, a diamond might be pretty, and a vacation might be… Read more »

No team in the NL West is much good this season. The Arizona Diamondbacks have taken a slim lead into the All-Star break, but their margin over .500 is all one-run wins and home-field advantage…. Read more »

I wrote a few weeks ago about the Twins, and how they have apparently used hard take signals and a drilling in of patience and working counts to wring some value out of bad hitters,… Read more »

Three anecdotes: Several weeks ago, watching Joe Buck and Tim McCarver call a game on Fox, I got all worked up–apoplectic, really–as McCarver dismissed and derided the high fives some player got after flying out… Read more »

As the All-Star break looms, trading season reaches full throttle. Matt Garza could be something other than a Chicago Cub by the weekend. Buyers and sellers are deciding whether to be buyers or sellers, and… Read more »

Don’t Label Me! A very good Matt Garza article on FanGraphs Wednesday ended up leading to a lively Twitter debate that I think is worth fleshing out without character limits in place. I’ll try not… Read more »

The Chicago White Sox are currently among the five worst American League offenses since integration. Let that sink in. Baseball Prospectus has the most useful and readily readable holistic offensive metric available for historical analysis…. Read more »

Before you mock me for the following, please remember that I’m telling you this free of obligation. No one reads my blog, and I’m not sure I published my picks, anyway. I am accepting responsibility… Read more »

In a 5-3 loss to the Miami Marlins Wednesday night, the Minnesota Twins sent 39 batters to the plate. Only six of them swung at the first pitch. The Marlins, in a game they won, threw… Read more »

When my Cubs are rebuilding, as they have been the past few seasons, it becomes hard to invest too much emotion or excitement into their games at about this time of year. It slowly becomes… Read more »

I’ve watched a fair amount of Minnesota Twins second baseman (nee shortstop) Brian Dozier lately. It’s a frustrating, somewhat uneven experience, but for the first time since I first saw him last summer, it’s hard… Read more »

In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates have had the platoon advantage in a smaller percentage of their plate appearances than all but three teams, a mere 49 percent of the time. Their lineup is… Read more »

The Los Angeles Angels lead the American League by wide margins in times reaching base on error; double plays grounded into; productive outs, as recorded by Elias Sports Bureau; and infield hits. They hit more… Read more »

Starlin Castro got the night off Tuesday in Milwaukee, marking the first Chicago Cubs game of the post-Jim Hendry era in which Castro was not the starting shortstop. His streak of consecutive games without a… Read more »