Article: Monday Morning North Sider: Suzuki, Amaya, Wicks, Dune II, and More

[Brandon Glick]

Another week of Chicago Cubs spring training is in the books. Seiya Suzuki looks ready for a breakout season. I finally saw Dune II. There’s so much to discuss.

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome back to Volume II of the Monday Morning North Sider. If you missed last week’s edition, feel free to check it out for some introductions, Cubs chatter, and general administrative notes. Today, let’s just get right into the swing of things. 

• The Cubs are up to 15-8 in Cactus League play. Technically, that’s the most wins in the league, but because of the wonky spring training schedules, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies are ahead of them in the standings by percentage points. 

• Seiya Suzuki is having a monster spring: he’s slashing .444/.483/.926, with three home runs. Perhaps even more importantly, he's struck out just four times in 29 plate appearances. If he can keep the strikeout rate below 20% in the regular season, watch out. 

• Speaking of hot springs, have you all been keeping up with what Dominic Smith’s been doing? He’s up to a 1.029 OPS through 20 at-bats, and even as a non-roster invitee, he has a shot to make the Opening Day roster. (If he doesn't, he's at least auditioned well for other teams throughout the league, with whom he might latch on instead.)

• In 2019 and 2020, Smith finished with an OPS above .880. He hasn’t quite reached the same level of productivity since that pandemic-shortened season, but he did hit 34 extra-base hits in 153 games with the Washington Nationals last year. As a lefty bench bat who can play first base or the outfield corners in a pinch, he’d fit this iteration of the Cubs roster pretty well.

• Of course, if Smith does make it, two of Patrick Wisdom, Garrett Cooper and Miles Mastrobuoni won’t make the Opening Day roster. With Mike Tauchman already guaranteed the fourth outfielder gig by manager Craig Counsell, the Cubs may not have the appetite to hang onto too many more lefty hitters for their bench. 

• The Cubs' bench is one of the few camp battles still ongoing. Check out a full primer on the situation from Sean Chapin this weekend.

• One of the bench spots that is locked in is for Yan Gomes, the Cubs’ backup catcher. I say backup, because the team appears prepared to put a much larger workload on Miguel Amaya’s plate as he heads into his sophomore season. 

• Amaya is hitting just .231/.259/.346 in 26 at-bats this spring, though he won’t need to hit much better than that to be a league-average contributor at an offensively bereft position. He’s been lauded for his work behind the plate and with the pitching staff, and if he can introduce some more power, Amaya will immediately enter the higher echelons of the catcher ranks in MLB.

• The pitching side of things has seen a number of interesting developments this spring, though perhaps the most important is Jordan Wicks’ dominance. 

• In a team-leading 17 1/3 innings, Wicks has pitched to a 2.60 ERA and 12/2 K/BB ratio. He’s looked the part this preseason, and at this point, he’s all but secured the fifth starter spot in the rotation. 

• Speaking of the rotation, Kyle Hendricks hasn’t been great in the Cactus League this year. He’s posted a 6.00 ERA and he’s been uncharacteristically wild, giving up five walks in 12 innings pitched.

• With Jameson Taillon set to miss at least the first turn through the rotation with back troubles, the Cubs will need Hendricks to right the ship quickly. If things play out as expected, he’ll start game two of the regular season against the Texas Rangers on Mar. 30. 

• A lot of Cubs pitchers on the cusp of the roster are struggling this preseason. Drew Smyly has a 7.71 ERA, Hayden Wesneski’s ERA is 8.00, Daniel Palencia is up to a 5.40 ERA, and Richard Lovelady has posted an unsightly 9.64 ERA.  

• On the bright side, all of Ben Brown (0.90), Thomas Pannone (1.13), Cam Sanders (1.42), Luke Little (0.00), and Adbert Alzolay (0.00) have ERAs below 1.50 through March 17th. 

• Lastly, if your fantasy baseball draft is coming up and you need to know which Cubs players are worth drafting, our Josh Illes has you covered.

Okay, that’s it for the baseball chatter for now. Come discuss these points in further detail in the comments with me, or bring up something else that’s exciting or concerning you. 

Before we get into the entertainment section, a few bullets on the administrative side of things. 

• If you missed it, Ethan Staple and I posted our first video for NSBB this week about Shota Imanaga. Part two is coming soon (it’s a more in-depth analysis on him as a pitcher). Feel free to keep checking the home page and/or videos tab to see new content as it’s uploaded!

• If you’ve been keeping track of who is writing the articles for NSBB, you’ve probably seen quite a few new names over the last month. There are too many contributors to list here, but the readership isn’t the only thing that’s growing!

• We’re very excited with the writers we have aboard, from old heads to the newbies. It’s going to be a great year of Cubs coverage around here!

As promised, a brief administrative section. There’s a lot of happenings going on around North Side Baseball, both on the backend and the front page, so keep an eye out on the site and our socials for updates.

Let’s get into a bit of general sports talk. 

• I was DMed by multiple people about my failure to cover the NHL in last week’s column. Full disclosure: I don’t follow hockey until the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

• I will take a peek at the Blackhawks’ record though and… yikes. Uh, at least Connor Bedard crossed the 50 points threshold?

• The NBA churn continues as well, and the Bulls are as mediocre as ever. They’re currently ninth place in the lesser conference, and odds are they’ll bow out in the play-in. 

• Speaking about the Bulls, if you were watching the broadcast on Saturday, you’d think Derrick Rose retired this weekend. Turns out, the announcers were duped by a fake tweet. It was hilarious and a little heart-palpitating. 

• NFL free agency began this week, and the Bears made it as interesting as ever. 

• There were some great moves (Kennan Allen for a fourth-round pick!) and some not-so-great moves (Justin Fields for a conditional sixth-round pick?). 

• The Fields trade all but guarantees the Bears will select a quarterback with the first overall pick in April. The odds-on favorite is Caleb Williams (USC), but Jayden Daniels (LSU) is receiving some major prospect helium these days. 

That about covers it for the other major sports. TLDR: the Blackhawks stink, the Bulls can’t get off their mediocrity treadmill, and the Bears are making moves that make it seem like they’re straddling multiple timelines. So, all in all, pretty usual stuff for Chicago sports. 

Now, time for a brief discussion on the biggest movie of the year. 

• I finally saw Dune II (2024). I’ll refrain from spoilers in this section, but you should know: it’s a pretty good movie.

• I’m not the biggest sci-fi fan on the planet, so these kinds of movies rarely sink their hooks into me. The performances are solid, the cinematography is stunning, and the score is brilliant. All the ingredients are in place for an excellent film, but I still came away with the sentiment that it’s just a “pretty good movie”. 

• One thing I’ll note about the performances: Javier Bardem can do no wrong. He’s brilliant in everything he’s in - his performance as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men (2007) remains one of the most exceptional acting displays ever - and he steals the show as Stilgar in Dune II. Unfortunately, Christopher Walken kinda phones in his role as one of the main baddies. 

• I’m excited to see how they adapt the book in the finale to Dennis Villeneuve’s trilogy. I never actually read the novels (they’ve been on my list forever), so whatever happens will be fresh for my eyes, even if the genre as a whole remains as predictable as ever (yes, I realize the irony in calling Dune “by the book” when it is the book). 

Alright, we’ll wrap it up there, folks. One more full week of spring games before we get to the real deal on March 28th. I’m antsy and nervous for this season, but mostly just excited to get back to watching Cubs baseball. I imagine most of you feel the same way. 

Have a great week, everyone! Go, Cubs, Go!

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[Derek_Lee_Truther]

Good stuff Brandon. Enjoying these articles.

[CubinNY]

Agree on the Dune II review. 
 

ST results may be illusionary, but the Cubs (likely to make the team) have looked great for the most part. This might be the swan song for Hendricks and I worry about the SP in general giving up too many HRs. But, the division is wide open. I’m more optimistic about this year than I have been in a long time. 

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

Agree on the Dune II review. 
 

ST results may be illusionary, but the Cubs (likely to make the team) have looked great for the most part. This might be the swan song for Hendricks and I worry about the SP in general giving up too many HRs. But, the division is wide open. I’m more optimistic about this year than I have been in a long time. 

It might be a swan song for Hendricks. But this spring doesn’t concern me. I think he will be fine. ERA beteeen 3.70 and 4,00 IMO. He is fine as a MOR starter. Maybe if he does stay healthy and pitch to an era in the 3’s he plays a little longer. Not sure it will be with the Cubs, however. 
But this year, I do expect the Cubs to win the division with close to 90 wins. 

[Brandon Glick]

14 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Agree on the Dune II review. 
 

ST results may be illusionary, but the Cubs (likely to make the team) have looked great for the most part. This might be the swan song for Hendricks and I worry about the SP in general giving up too many HRs. But, the division is wide open. I’m more optimistic about this year than I have been in a long time. 

I'm very happy with how productive (and, generally, healthy) the team has been in ST. I've always been high on Wicks, but I'm expecting huge things from him this year (perhaps a fallacy after Wesneski's smoke-and-mirrors show last Spring). 

The rotation definitely doesn't have a ton of swing-and-miss, and no Stroman means practically everyone is a fly-ball pitcher. It's a dangerous game to play, but at least the Cubs outfield defense is good, right?

[Brandon Glick]

13 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

It might be a swan song for Hendricks. But this spring doesn’t concern me. I think he will be fine. ERA beteeen 3.70 and 4,00 IMO. He is fine as a MOR starter. Maybe if he does stay healthy and pitch to an era in the 3’s he plays a little longer. Not sure it will be with the Cubs, however. 
But this year, I do expect the Cubs to win the division with close to 90 wins. 

Would like to think Hendricks still has some magic in him. He was up to ~90 last year for the first time since 2020, which makes all the difference for a guy like him. I just think I'd feel more confident in Hendricks if he was the team's 4th starter, rather than the no. 2.