The Cubs Javier Baez Plans, Perfectly Being Executed
Early in the 2015-16 off-season, the Javier Baez plans seemed to be surrounded around trading the young slugger. With a crowded infield, and equally crowded outfield, it seemed as if there were no room for him on the Northside, and his potential would be just enough to acquire a young and talented pitcher.
As the offseason played out, and as the cost of young pitchers began to rise, the Cubs might have begun to rethink their future with Baez. Then once the team signed Ben Zobrist their future Javier Baez plans were cemented. He will become the next Ben Zobrist.
When I spoke to Jaron Madison , Cubs scouting director, he confirmed to me last season that Baez would continuously work at both shortstop and second. Then he was also tested at third base for a couple of games, and he has also been tried out in center field during winter ball this offseason.
With all of this work, he is becoming the most versatile player on the Cubs roster, and that roster includes Zobrist.
This is an effort to find an everyday spot for Baez, and the Cubs need to find an everyday spot sooner than later. If he is sent back to the minors, eventually he doesn’t continue to grow as a player, risking all the buildup in a potential 35 plus home run type of player. Similarly, placing him on the bench to fill in every third or fourth day at second or shortstop is equally damaging to his growth.
“He’s definitely an everyday kind of player,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said before Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
If the Cubs could rotate Baez between four or more different positions, he suddenly becomes an everyday player for the team. He could logically play shortstop, second base, third base, all three outfield positions, and could possibly play first base as well. Not only would Baez become an everyday player, he would allow multiple others to take important days off, allow for Maddon to have more versatility in righty/lefty matchups, and expand the Cubs everyday players from eight to possible ten (including Chris Coghlan and Zobrist in that conversation as well).
“With Javy, he has a chance to be what Zobrist was in Tampa,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. “He can play everywhere and play everywhere well. And if someone gets hurt, he can slot into that position and play there for a long time.
“But if we were healthy, the ability to move around is very valuable. And Joe being able to move Zobrist and Baez gives the roster so much flexibility. That’s how we’re envisioning things going forward.”
This very well could be Joe Maddon’s dream roster. With guys like Kyle Schwarber, Coghlan, Baez, Zobrist, and Jason Heyward the team can plug any one of those guys into multiple positions and run strong lineups out at the same time. Baez also gets to learn how to manage going out daily at a different position by baseball’s best utility/everyday player, Zobrist.
Its strange, but by flooding the team with talent, will actually create more opportunity for Baez to play.
“And then going forward, long-term, this will give more opportunity for Javier Baez as well with Zobrist’s flexibility and ability to play all over the field,” President Theo Epstein said. “I think you look at the corner outfield and a lot of days we’ll have Kyle Schwarber out there, who is just learning the position, and (right fielder) Jorge Soler, who hasn’t quite managed to play the 162 games (but will be spelled on occasion by Chris Coghlan). So I think Zobrist protects us all over the infield as well as the outfield.”
So while the Cubs might still be listening to offers for the talented Baez, his real future continues to remain with the Cubs and becoming one of baseball’s most versatile players.
