Cubs lose in Toronto; would offseason aggressiveness include a new SS? Or Ohtani?
Jed Hoyer promised the Cubs will be aggressive during the offseason, pursuing trades and free agents.
MLB.com's Jon Morosi went on WSCR 670-AM last week and said it "wouldn't surprise" him if the Cubs traded for Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani.
OK, that would be heavily aggressive. But the question floating over the winter all season is whether the Cubs should chase one of the four free-agent shortstops that will likely be on the market when Nico Hoerner has played so well.
Hoerner went 1-for-5 with an RBI on Monday in Toronto, but the Cubs squandered a 4-0 lead and lost 5-4 in 11 innings, spoiling another strong start by rookie Javier Assad. The Cubs collected 14 hits, but had 4 runners thrown out on the bases.
Looking ahead to this winter, Atlanta's Dansby Swanson and the Dodgers' Trae Turner will be free agents after the season. Boston's Xander Bogaerts and Minnesota's Carlos Correa can opt out.
Offensively, all four of those players rank ahead of Hoerner in most every category besides strikeout rate. On the defensive side, Swanson and Hoerner rank 1-2 in MLB in outs above average, according to Statcast.
The other three are way down on the list, so there would be no way to justify playing any of them at shortstop ahead of Hoerner. Bogaerts has a little bit of third base experience, but not since 2014.
Turner might be the least likely to change teams, since the Dodgers let Corey Seager walk as a free agent last year and rarely have spending issues. Bogaerts might be most likely to leave, since the Red Sox already added former Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.
Swanson, 28, will be interesting, because while Atlanta has been trying to keep its core together, it let Freddie Freeman leave last year and the team's top-rated prospect is shortstop Vaughn Grissom. He's already off to a good start in the majors filling in for the injured Ozzie Albies at second.
Swanson at short and Hoerner at second would give the Cubs the best defensive middle infield in the game. Bogaerts, 29, has played for two World Series winners, including 2013 with Cubs manager David Ross as a teammate. Bogaerts posted the best offensive season among these five shortstops in 2019, when he hit .309 with 33 home runs and 117 RBI.
Hoerner talked about the free-agent shortstop dilemma during the last homestand.
"What the Cubs do in free-agency this offseason, if they make moves that are going to help us win baseball games, that's not going to be a huge issue around here," he said.
"Obviously I believe in myself as a shortstop. I've said that for a while and people believe that now. Just continue on. If we have the issue of having too many good players, then I like that problem."
Ohtani can be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher and a huge home run threat, but what would a trade even look like? Well, start by picking out the Cubs' five best assets and assume the Angels would get all of them.
On the major-league level, that would seem to include Hoerner and pitcher Justin Steele. Maybe the Cubs could talk the Angels into younger, higher-risk prospects like Kevin Alcantara and Christian Hernandez instead of, say, Brennen Davis and Alexander Canario, but who knows how talks would go? And it's all speculation for now.
Wherever Ohtani lands, he'll be expensive. The 2021 MVP is arbitration eligible this winter and becomes a free agent after next season. His next deal figures to be in the range of $35 million per season, if not more.
On Monday, Assad made his second major league start and completed 5 scoreless innings, with 4 hits and 2 walks. He's now gone 9 innings total without allowing a run.
According to STATS, Assad is the first pitcher in the modern era to have a scoreless start against a team 10-plus games above .500 in his first two career appearances.
P.J. Higgins delivered a pinch-hit, 2-run double in the sixth to put the Cubs ahead 4-0. But catcher Dan Jansen hit a 3-run homer off Erich Uelmen in the seventh. Then in the eighth, Manuel Rodriguez got the first two outs before a Cavan Biggio double and Matt Chapman single tied it up.
The Cubs failed to score in either of the extra innings, in part because Nelson Velazquez was doubled off second base on a line drive, then Franmil Reyes was thrown out trying for a double when his pop fly landed in center field.
Before the game, the Cubs officially placed Justin Steele and Adrian Sampson on the restricted list due to vaccination status, and added Brendon Little as a substitute player. They'll be able to add Jeremiah Estrada, one of the top closers in the organization, on Tuesday.
Sunday time change:
The Cubs announced the Sept. 11 home game against San Francisco will move to a 7:08 p.m. start and air on ESPN.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports