Cubs Week In Review: Alex Bregman Snub Focuses Spotlight on Matt Shaw (Gulp)

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After one of the most protracted processes of the offseason, the Cubs' biggest free-agent target signed with the Boston Red Sox this week. You could hear the collective sighs of disappointment, from the Cubs' headquarters in Wrigleyville down to their spring home in Mesa. 

Image courtesy of © Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

 

Jed Hoyer and his braintrust made a competitive, "creative" offer, but Alex Bregman ultimately chose a different, even more unusual one. You feel dejected by it, as you should. It's clear how badly the Cubs wanted to make this happen. It's clear that new Cubs Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly would have loved to reunite with their longtime teammate. It's also clear that other organizations' baseball leadership badly wanted Bregman. The truth is, sometimes managers like Craig Counsell, A.J. Hinch, and others, shoot for second team-ups with their favorite players, and the business side intervenes.

Like many other moves that never came to be, like (say) reunions between Counsell and Corbin Burnes or Willy Adames, it's easy to get frustrated by what it could have done—but it didn't come to fruition, partially because of what it couldn't have done. It couldn't, for instance, have made the team favorites to reach the World Series. But with six players in the MLB Network Top 100 Players Right Now, the Cubs are a popular choice to win their division and make their long-awaited return to the postseason. 

Posts on Instagram and Facebook will inform you, dear reader, that the Cubs are primed for a big year, with or without the help of the fickle Friendly Confines. And for once, maybe, I'm with them. I've never been more excited for a prospect than I am the young Matt Shaw. His 2024 slash line of .284/.379/.488 says the hype is real. He can run, he can hit, and hopefully, he will patrol the "hot corner" with ease for years to come. 

The baseball public won't have to wait long to get a first look at the 23-year-old infielder, as the Cubs start spring games this week. Their Cactus League campaign begins Feb. 20, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shaw is already nursing a tender oblique, but it seems so mild that he just might get into one of the early contests, anyway. So much of his chance this year will hinge on his ability to adjust throughout the exhibition schedule—and so much of the Cubs' chances will hinge on his performance, now they're without Bregman—that this week will be an important first step. Here's hoping he's ready to take it.

 

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