Interview with Counsell:
“I think Matt Shaw is going to Japan. That’s probably the big news.”
“There’s no hesitation on our part. We just needed time to make the decision.”
“We wanted to make sure he’s healthy. And then going into this, he’s got an upper hand. So we’ve [encouraged him] to be who you are. He’s got a huge chance to be an impact player and this is the start of it.”
Maybe the biggest puzzle piece left to Cubs Opening Day has been solved now and that’s awesome. Matt Shaw makes the 26-man roster for Opening Day, likely including his debut.
First and foremost: congratulations to Matt Shaw. Lost in all this shit is that a young player gets to achieve a lifelong dream of making the big leagues. And from the appearance and tone of things, it seems well deserved and he’s going to be here for awhile. So that’s awesome especially when you use a 1st round draft pick on the guy. Especially with just 35 AAA games to his career. Probably feels real good in the front office to get this one right.
My next thought is that I would like to see him start at 2nd base if that’s possible while Nico Hoerner recovers.
I imagine he’s better at 2nd base than 3rd by a mile.
But he hasn’t been concentrating on those reps and that could be weird.
Or it could also just mean he doesn’t need to mix in those reps nearly as much because he’s gearing up to play 3rd… if he has to go to 2nd then he can easily do that because it’s much easier than 3rd.
If he can play 2nd: either Gage Workman or Justin Turner can play 3rd base
If he can’t play 2nd: Shaw starts at 3rd and either Jon Berti or Vidal Brujan play 2nd
Observations from that:
- Justin Turner is slugging .211 this spring which means he’ll probably be on fire to start the year.
- Berti is better than Brujan, but Brujan has had a slightly more explosive spring.
- Berti is a reverse split guy meaning he hits righties better than lefties and the Dodgers are starting two RHP’s so I would lean Berti
- My preferred infield for Opening Day right now is: Gage Workman, Dansby Swanson, Matt Shaw, Michael Busch
And then finally, I need to consider the fact I’m rushing the shit out of Matt Shaw. It’s not like he’s been that good much less healthy this spring training. In fact you could say it’s been horrible because he’s got shitty obliques and only 14 at bats. How could he be ready to play? Isn’t that a fair consideration?
I think so if you want to be cautious or salty.
But the reality is that he’s by far and away one of our best infield options at this point. We’ve come far enough in scouting and player development to know when a guy should be ready for the big leagues and he’s far past that point. Otherwise he wouldn’t be going to Japan in the first place.
Next order of business: cutting someone from the 40-man roster to make room for Matt Shaw. The chatter online says reliever Gavin Hollowell is on the chopping block and that’s fine with me. I trust Jed Hoyer enough for me not to complain too much about the 40-man roster.
Playing time and lineups? That shit’s different.
But whoever Jed cuts from the 40-man makes sense in the long-run because we’re adding Matt Shaw anyways. However the oblique injury stuff from this spring has me cautious enough to say Berti and Brujan have to stay at least for the first 6 weeks of the season. It would suck to cut one of those guys and then lose Shaw or Nico. Not to put that bad energy into the universe but I just want to cover my bases.
Finally: the lineup is going to be fun to watch on a day to day basis when Nico returns and Shaw is the everyday 3rd baseman. At that point, my least favorite player to watch on the team becomes Michael Busch and that’s simply because he’s boring to me. And even then, I enjoy watching him play very much. He’s a fine ball player.
My bigger point is that I really like the Cubs brand of baseball for 2025. There’s enough star power from Kyle Tucker to individually carry the lineup, which has been missing for a couple years now. And it’s an extremely balanced and deep roster to lead. We’ve got active gold gloves at 5 positions while a rookie could still be the best defender out the entire group. And everyone can score from 1st base on a double standing up. And all the starting pitchers control the game and create weak contact and don’t walk the world.
You add all of it up and it’s actually a nice roster that could really come together season.
For now though we’re just happy to know Matt Shaw is making it to Japan.
PS – This should surprise nobody but he’s my pick to click for NL Rookie of the Year.