Maddon likes Schwarber batting second for Chicago Cubs
CLEVELAND - No doubt the Chicago Cubs and their fans were focused only on Tuesday and Game 6 of the World Series.
But the Cubs are in the enviable position of being able to think about the possibilities for next year. With Kyle Schwarber batting second Tuesday night, manager Joe Maddon was asked if that was an option for next year, when Schwarber presumably returns fully healthy after knee surgery.
"Absolutely," Maddon said. "No doubt. We liked him there before. We really like him there again now. You want to force the other team to pitch to him. With a good leg, normally he's going to have a high on-base percentage.
"He's a good baserunner, even though he's not the fastest guy out there. You just want to get him up there often enough, and you want to get him in a position where they have to pitch to him."
The second young player setting the stage for 2017 is Javier Baez, who has taken the second-base spot and run with it. That has pushed Ben Zobrist into left field.
Baez is one of the top defenders in the game. The Cubs signed Zobrist to a four-year contract before this season. Center fielder Dexter Fowler may leave via free agency, and the Cubs are counting on a bounce-back season at the plate from right fielder Jason Heyward.
"It just depends on how we configure the team," Maddon said. "Of course, Schwarber being healthy, and what do you do in center field? Heyward? Then there comes the Zobrist thing. How do you configure all that? That would be it.
"I don't know the answers to those questions right now. Those are the kinds of questions you'll ask and try to address in the off-season when I have a chance to talk with Theo and Jed once the off-season kicks in, or the lack of the off-season kicks in, which is a great thing.
"We'll try to figure that out. I'm sure they already have some ideas."
Hello, Cleveland, a little later:
The Cubs did not arrive in Cleveland until late Monday night, as Joe Maddon gave his team a break.
"Oh, yeah, there was no urgency to get here last night," Maddon said. "We had talked about that before. Those three games at home, we were going to do it regardless. But I also believe after the last game at home and how that played out and how late we all got back, I thought it was great that we went back and got a regular night's rest.
"We got here last night in good shape. Eight o'clock start again. They had plenty of time to get themselves ready for tonight."
The mental side of baseball:
Joe Maddon said his talks with Javier Baez also have involved hitting coach John Mallee and assistant Eric Hinske and have focused more on the mental aspects of the game at the plate. Baez entered Tuesday struggling offensively during the World Series.
"It's just trying to get him to readjust his thought process at the plate, more than anything and just to have him slow things down," Maddon said. "He's a young man, and when things move quickly, especially right now, it's hard to put the brakes on.
"Between me and John and among me, John and Ske, we're attempting to do that with him, just to slow it down mentally. We gave him some ideas to work with today. I don't like to give you physical ideas. I like to give you mental ideas because you can handle a lot of mental concepts. You can't handle a lot of physical concepts.
"I've always believed you can handle almost an infinite amount of mental concepts before a game, the mental mechanics. But it's really hard power on any physical mechanics."