How Cubs Lineup Could Look with Alex Bregman in Fold

Alex Bregman will be the straw that stirs the drink for the Cubs over the balance of this decade. He joins the team as a dynamic offensive force designed to make up for the team's otherwise left-leaning core pieces, and as a forceful personality who fits perfectly into their clubhouse. Craig Counsell's daily duty of filling out the lineup card just got a lot easier.

Let's project a few ways the team's batting order could take shape each day, based on matchups and the talent they've collected over the last handful of years. First, when they face a right-handed starter, things seem likely to shake out in pretty straightforward fashion:

1. Michael Busch - 1b
2. Alex Bregman - 3b
3. Ian Happ - lf
4. Seiya Suzuki - rf
5. Moisés Ballesteros - dh
6. Nico Hoerner - 2b
7. Pete Crow-Armstrong - cf
8. Miguel Amaya - c
9. Dansby Swanson - ss

This (effectively) has the Cubs alternating left- and right-handed batters all the way down to the bottom of the order, where righties Miguel Amaya and Dansby Swanson double up. It gives them four extremely well-established on-base standouts at the top of the order, each with 20-homer power, and it leaves lots of upside clustered into the remaining spots. Bregman's arrival takes considerable pressure off Moisés Ballesteros, pushing him down to fifth in this configuration of the lineup.

Speaking of which, against lefties, Ballesteros might not need to start at all. Here's one way the team could set up against southpaw starters.

1. Nico Hoerner - 2b
2. Ian Happ - lf
3. Alex Bregman - 3b
4. Seiya Suzuki - dh
5. Tyler Austin - 1b
6. Dansby Swanson - ss
7. Carson Kelly - c
8. Kevin Alcántara - rf
9. Pete Crow-Armstrong - cf

Swapping out Michael Busch and Ballesteros for Tyler Austin and Kevin Alcántara makes the team very stout against lefties. Bregman's .280/.372/.489 career line against lefties comes with more walks (196) than strikeouts (181); he's the lefty-masher the lineup needed in its upper half. Subbing Busch in for Austin as soon as the opponent goes to a righty would still leave him protected by righty sluggers Suzuki and Swanson, so the opposing manager would be in a tough spot if they sought to bring in another lefty to face Busch the next time around.

One notable name doesn't appear in either of the formulations above. Thus, let's consider a third setup, most likely to be deployed against lefties but designed to maximize different strengths, and perhaps platoon-neutral.

1. Nico Hoerner - 2b
2. Alex Bregman - dh
3. Ian Happ - lf
4. Seiya Suzuki - rf
5. Michael Busch - 1b
6. Dansby Swanson - ss
7. Pete Crow-Armstrong - cf
8. Miguel Amaya - c
9. Matt Shaw - 3b

Bregman is a good enough hitter to add value even when he doesn't play the field. Sliding him to the DH spot occasionally makes room in the lineup for Matt Shaw, whose opportunities will otherwise be limited for a team now loaded with infield options. Shaw had an uneven rookie season, but he's developed into a plus defender at the hot corner, and when going well, he can be a boost at the bottom of the batting order, too. This is probably the best defensive alignment the team can muster, though to truly maximize that, they could swap Alcántara in for Suzuki in right field.

Without Bregman, lots of these potential setups left Ballesteros or Austin batting cleanup, or Busch in a key lineup spot against lefties. They were likely to be reliant on getting the good things they've seen from Pete Crow-Armstrong, Miguel Amaya and Shaw over the last two years, without the bad. That's a lot to hope for, and they no longer need to pray on those dice rolls with the same fervor. Bregman ties the lineup together, and even if the group lacks an elite power hitter, they've achieved depth they had lacked ever since they traded away the core of their championship team.