Hoyer expects Cubs to handle pressure of playing on expiring contracts
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer talked mostly about Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs' other impending free agents Wednesday. But he did address a few different topics during his preseason Zoom chat with reporters.
On players feeling the pressure of contract years and needing a fast start to avoid a sell-off:
"That's reality," Hoyer said. "Listen, if we talk about pressure of a contract year or pressure of the first three months - this is the big leagues. There's pressure. All of our players for the most part have played in a big market for a long time and they've played in a lot of playoff games and World Series games.
"So the idea that pressure is somehow going to crumble these guys, I just don't believe that for a second. We have to be able to handle that. That's life in the big market, life in the big leagues."
On adding catcher Tony Wolters to replace an injured Austin Romine:
"We liked him this winter, we actually talked to them a lot. He ended up going to Pittsburgh. For us, it was really about adding catching depth with Romine's injury. I think it's the kind of injury where it's hard to give a time frame, but certainly it's already probably been a touch slower than we thought it would be at the beginning. So making sure we have depth in that position is important.
"We actually have a ton of faith in P.J. Higgins. I thought he did a great job this spring. Acquiring Wolters wasn't demeaning to P.J. in any way, it was more that we had a chance to get a guy we think is a real good defensive catcher, a left-hand bat that complements Willson (Contreras) and adds to our depth. As I've said ad nauseam, depth is going to be the key to the 2021 season."
On the second base competition:
"(David Bote) earned it, he had a fantastic spring. With Eric Sogard, I think he came in and played great. He's a really good complement to David at second. Talking about the Nico (Hoerner) decision, David won that job. He's going to play a lot. We need to give Sogard starts at second base because otherwise it's impossible to be an effective bench player if you don't get at-bats.
"So it was our decision that since David won the job and Eric's on the team, we felt like carrying Nico in a role where he was sort of the 26th guy, so playing sparingly, we didn't feel like that was the best thing for his development, and frankly didn't think that was the best thing for the Cubs.
"We see him as a starting player. He has a real impact on the clubhouse and a real impact on the team. But having him on the team, getting stale and then not being as effective if we have an injury, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us."
Hoyer didn't have an exact number on the players heading to the South Bend alternate site. Major league teams will also bring a five-man taxi squad on the road this season.
The Cubs completed their Opening Day roster by placing three players on the 10-day injured list - pitcher Jonathan Holder (right shoulder strain), pitcher Rowan Wick (left oblique strain) and Romine (right knee sprain).
They opened the season with 14 pitchers, but just two left-handers, Rex Brothers and Andrew Chafin.
Twitter: @McGrwDHBulls