MESA, Ariz. — Cubs reliever Ryan Pressly says he isn’t explicitly recruiting his Astros teammate Alex Bregman to join him and Kyle Tucker on their new team. But he is in touch.
“It’s just more like, ‘Hey, how you doing? What are you hearing?’ and stuff like that,” Pressly said Tuesday. “Would I like to play with him? One-thousand percent. I would love to play with him. But he’s got to make decisions for his family as well. So whatever decision he makes, I’m going to support him.”
Just because spring training has begun doesn’t mean Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has put the final touches on this roster. The team is also thin at first base behind regular starter Michael Busch, for example. But the lack of depth and experience at third, paired with Bregman’s free agency has naturally spurred the most chatter.
“He’s a special guy,” Pressly said. “A special guy to have in the clubhouse as well. The Astros organization would tell you the same thing. The guy is just super competitive. He wants to win, and it doesn’t matter what it’s at. He wants to be that guy. And to have him in this clubhouse would be pretty special.”
Right-hander Jameson Taillon said he’s heard both Pressly and Tucker speak highly of Bregman.
“Obviously, he’s an incredible player,” Taillon said. “Getting these guys from Houston — that team went on a crazy run for a lot of years. And a guy like Ryan Pressly has played in very big moments. So has Alex Bregman, so has Kyle Tucker. That’s pretty cool to add to this room, just winners and people who expect to win.”
Assad injury update
An MRI on right-hander Javier Assad’s left oblique showed a “mild strain,” manager Craig Counsell said. The Cubs will have him wait until symptoms subside to resume throwing.
“I don’t think it’s going to be many days that we’re without throwing,” Counsell said. “The MRI was good news.”
The injury started bothering Assad around the middle of last week, according to Counsell. But because it wasn’t acute or serious, the team gave it time to potentially resolve before sending out Assad for imaging on Monday.
Feeling the urgency
The Cubs’ offseason moves, and especially the acquisition of Kyle Tucker, projected a sense of urgency for 2025.
“It feels like there’s increased pressure,” Hoyer said of building a winner for this year. “I think there probably should be, given that we’ve spent some time to get to this place. And it should be a lot of fun.”
The rebuild that began at the 2021 trade deadline has yet to produce a playoff berth.
“I don’t think we should be putting crazy expectations on ourselves Day 3 of camp or whatever,” Taillon said Tuesday. “But I think it’s healthy to have some urgency and some expectations. When we’re working, we’re working towards a goal, and that’s OK to communicate.”