Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki has been swinging a hot bat all spring training.
John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. – The Cubs held a series of Q&A sessions in the clubhouse throughout spring, a veteran and a younger player addressing the group each time until they’d made it the most of the way through the room.
Much of the content, as they opened up to their teammates about their experiences and careers, they wanted to keep within the group. But the result was clear.
“We’re going to have to use this whole room,” veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks told the Sun-Times. “So that goes back to all being in it together. When a guy does get brought up, he’s going to be asked to be in big situations, so just to have that familiarity with the group, already to feel connected, that we’re all in it together, it’s just super important to winning games.”
Said veteran catcher Yan Gomes: “The clubhouse is such a sacred place, and if you can’t get comfortable here, we’re not getting the best out of you. And I think that’s the biggest thing that [manager Craig] Counsell and the rest of us are trying to do.”
The Cubs broke camp on Tuesday, heading west to Texas, where they’ll open the season against the Rangers. They go into it with a similar group to the one that fell a game short of the playoffs last year. They also grew together and individually that year, and added key reinforcements over the offseason, including starting pitcher Shota Imanaga, veteran reliever Héctor Neris and outfielder Cody Bellinger, who re-signed partway through spring training. They now have a renowned manager at the helm in Craig Counsell.
“You’re excited about it, because we’re at the start of something fun,” Counsell said. “But we have to start writing the story on Thursday.”
The Cubs aren’t a favorite to win the World Series, but they should be pushing for the NL Central title. Their in-division competition includes a snakebitten Cardinals squad, and Reds and Pirates teams made up of a lot of young talent — which comes with excitement but also uncertainty.
“We have a lot of good players, which we did last year, and I just feel like those good players have gotten better,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “We don’t ever put enough stock into that, that players can get better. We just kind of see them for what they were last year, or what we think they are, when in reality, what matters most is what each player thinks they are. We have a lot of guys in here that believe in themselves and make necessary adjustments to get better and to make a difference for our club.”
The bullpen has a chance to take a big step forward. Last year’s back-end trio of Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merryweather were in personally uncharted waters in those roles last season. Now, they have that experience and veterans like Neris and Yency Almonte to lean on.
The offense has both Seiya Suzuki, who has been wielding a hot bat all spring, and Christopher Morel each entering their third year in MLB. Through the learning curve of their first two seasons, they could provide a real boost to the lineup. Plus, the Cubs traded for first baseman Michael Busch, who, as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer put it, doesn’t have any more to prove in Triple-A. He’ll have the runway to show what he can do at the big-league level.
Some players are bound to regress; it happens on every team. But the Cubs’ balance of youth and experience promises upside. And if they perform well in the first half, they can always add at the trade deadline – ideally avoiding the mad dash they had to pull off last year to scrape their way into contention just in time to be considered buyers.
“We went through things last year that were very valuable,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said when asked about team identity. “And I think we’re closer to having a sense of that. But I think something that Counsell’s done a nice job of is talking about setting good standards and things that we value as a group, but also being open to, the season is really what brings those things out of a group, and every year is different. And what this group is going to be is going to be determined by how we respond to things as the year goes on.
“I do think we have a very resilient group. I think we’re consistent, this and that, but as far as what this team is going to be is just up to us and what we do throughout the year.”
Hendricks, the only player left on the roster from the 2016 World Series team, sees some parallels between the group that broke the curse and this group that’s trying to make the Cubs a championship contender again.
“We had so many guys that just loved baseball, loved being here, wanted the ball, just loved playing, wanted to be in that big moment,” he said.
Gomes, who won the 2019 World Series with the Nationals, zeroed in on a specific part of that tie between love and on-field success.
“In a way, you’re trying to create to where guys love being around this group, love coming here,” he said, “which is just going to lead to, when we step on the field, to be able to back each other up. I’ve seen through some teams that I’ve played on, that’s the stuff that makes a difference.”