Trey Mancini intended to play for Italy in the World Baseball Classic next month … until the Cubs finalized Mancini’s two-year, $14 million contract and both sides agreed that it made more sense for him to spend all of spring training getting to know his new teammates and coaches. Especially since Mancini comes with a reputation for being a great clubhouse presence and the Cubs made adding more leadership skills an offseason priority.
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With the Mancini example in mind, Matt Mervis planning to play for Israel in the World Baseball Classic could appear to be a sign that he will start this season at Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs, however, have stressed to Mervis that they don’t want him to view spring training as a tryout camp. The total evaluation will not hinge upon a few Cactus League games. Some of this may be out of Mervis’ control anyway because he’s not on the 40-man roster yet. Seeing more high-level pitching and experiencing international competition would be a good opportunity for a young player to grow.
At this point, the Cubs don’t have to rule anything in or out with Mervis, who was not selected as a draft-eligible college junior or after his abbreviated senior season at Duke, when Major League Baseball and the Players Association cut the 2020 draft to five rounds. There are two months to go until Opening Day at Wrigley Field. Injuries will inevitably happen and the roster is always fluid.
The Cubs are planning to go into the season with Eric Hosmer as their primary first baseman. Mancini is preparing to move around as a right-handed designated hitter who can play first base and both corner spots in the outfield. There could be DH at-bats for Mervis, a left-handed hitter who exploded as a prospect last year, generating 36 home runs, 119 RBIs and a .984 OPS at three minor-league affiliates.
The Cubs respect Hosmer’s accomplishments as a Gold Glove/Silver Slugger winner who helped lead the Royals to back-to-back American League pennants and a 2015 World Series trophy. The Cubs needed more know-how at the major-league level and some left-handed options for their lineup. Hosmer was also traded by the Padres last summer and released by the Red Sox this winter. There will not be endless patience with a 33-year-old player making the $720,000 major-league-minimum salary. Mervis Watch will be a storyline throughout spring training and into the season.
Dexter Fowler, who announced his retirement this week after a 14-year career in the majors, is joining Marquee Sports Network as a studio analyst, primarily for pre- and postgame shows around Cubs broadcasts. Fowler made such a smooth exit from the Cubs that everyone understood why he signed with the rival Cardinals after the 2016 World Series. There was no awkward back-and-forth with Cubs management through the Chicago media and his agency. Fowler priced himself out of Chicago with an All-Star season, a strong playoff run and the ability to play center field and switch-hit, a combination of skills that is hard to find. The Cubs weren’t going to come anywhere close to matching a five-year, $82.5 million offer when several young players were positioned for huge raises through the arbitration system and the organization wasn’t producing enough homegrown pitching talent.
Welcome to Marquee, @DexterFowler! pic.twitter.com/aPCiF5EHA1
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) February 2, 2023
There wasn’t the what-if element that lingered after so many other decisions as the Cubs fell into another rebuilding period. It already felt like playing with house money once Fowler returned to the Cubs on a one-year, $13 million contract after multiple reports linked him to a multiyear deal with the Orioles in February 2016. It certainly did not foreshadow all the drama that surrounded the eventual breakup of the rest of the 2016 championship team.
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The Fowler headlines this week became another reminder of how much the Cubs have struggled to replace him, though he was clearly not the same “you go, we go” presence for the Cardinals. From Opening Day 2017 through the end of last season, the Cubs used 21 players in center field, everyone from first-round picks to one-game cameos to a former MVP to a Gold Glove right fielder:
Albert Almora Jr. (2,419 1/3 innings)
Ian Happ (1,626)
Jason Heyward (1,029)
Rafael Ortega (944 1/3)
Christopher Morel (458)
Jon Jay (340 1/3)
Jake Marisnick (266)
Michael Hermosillo (201)
Nelson Velázquez (198)
Kris Bryant (89 2/3)
Billy Hamilton (32)
Johneshwy Fargas (28)
Cameron Maybin (27)
Leonys Martin (21)
Trayce Thompson (17)
Nico Hoerner (17)
Joc Pederson (12 2/3)
Patrick Wisdom (7)
Narciso Crook (5)
Matt Szczur (1)
Tony Kemp (1)
During that same timeframe, the Cubs gave at least 100 plate appearances in a single season to 14 leadoff hitters. The Cubs could play matchups and rotate leadoff hitters again this season while hoping that Gold Glove center fielder Cody Bellinger takes advantage of the same kind of “pillow contract” that set up Fowler for success. In terms of a long-term solution, top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong could someday fill both of those roles if he lives up to the hype.
It would be a surprise if the Cubs didn’t add another experienced reliever before their first formal workout for pitchers and catchers Feb. 15 in Arizona. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and manager David Ross both agree that the bullpen is an area where it’s particularly important to have veteran players setting an example for younger pitchers. While most of the free-agent market has already been picked over, there are still solid relievers out there looking for jobs.
The Cubs can sell their recent history of helping pitchers relaunch their careers. After midseason trades from the Cubs to contending teams, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Chris Martin re-entered the free-agent market and signed two-year contracts worth between $13 million and $17.5 million. (Chafin opted out of his deal with the Tigers after the first season and remains a free agent.) David Robertson, who was sidelined for nearly three full seasons, proved his health with the Cubs last year, pitched for the Phillies in the World Series and then got $10 million guaranteed from the Mets as a setup guy nearing his 38th birthday. What the Cubs probably won’t promise is the chance to be a full-time closer.
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“Rossy will have to figure that out,” Hoyer said during Cubs Convention last month. “Candidly, I don’t expect a situation where we have an anointed closer. We may well have a guy that emerges that gets a lot of saves, but some of the best teams have been able to mix and match and use guys in the right leverage positions. Rossy did a great job with that last year at the end of the season. We didn’t have a perfect solution after we traded Robertson away and traded (Mychal) Givens and Martin. I’ve talked to Rossy this winter about how I think that helped him think about how he would use a different bullpen. We have a lot of good arms. We’ll have to figure out exactly how to get the last three outs.”
• Draft-pick compensation is part of the calculus whenever the Cubs are evaluating free-agent deals. By extending a qualifying offer to Willson Contreras, the Cubs gained the No. 68 pick in the 2023 draft after the All-Star catcher signed a five-year, $87.5 million contract with the Cardinals. By signing All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million contract, the Cubs lost their second-round draft pick. Those picks don’t exactly cancel each other out — the trade-off represents a drop of nearly 20 spots and a loss of roughly $600,000 for their bonus pool. But in the big picture, it won’t crush this year’s draft budget or alter the scouting strategy this spring.
• Miguel Amaya was scheduled to resume catching bullpen sessions this week in Arizona, a significant development for a prospect whose post-Tommy John surgery recovery process was delayed by a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot. Amaya is the third catcher on the 40-man roster behind Yan Gomes and Tucker Barnhart, but the Cubs can’t rely on him as the next man up until they see him back in action. The Cubs added catching depth with minor-league deals for Luis Torrens and Dom Nuñez.
• Ed Howard is on target to leave Arizona at the end of spring training and start the season with a minor-league affiliate, according to a source familiar with his rehab program. That would be a big step forward for Howard, who played in 23 games with High-A South Bend last year before suffering a freak hip injury that required season-ending surgery. Howard, a 2020 first-round pick out of Chicago’s Mount Carmel High School, would have been a draft-eligible college junior this year if he had decided to follow through on his commitment to Oklahoma instead of signing with the Cubs.
(Photo of Matt Mervis: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
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