Now that Isaac Paredes has been traded to the Houston Astros the Chicago Cubs need a third baseman. Hold on, though, maybe the Cubs have been planning to have a new third baseman for a bit longer than we thought.
The Kyle Tucker trade talks seemed to have progressed rapidly during the Winter Meetings, culminating in a four-player deal that finally landed a star on the Cubs. Despite Astros’ GM Dana Brown first acknowledging that Houston would be open to trading Tucker on Dec. 9, it turns out that the Cubs had already been in contact about a potential trade since November.
Via Bleacher Nation.
Hoyer talks about the timeline of getting the Tucker trade done. Says first convo with the Astros was right after the GM Meetings. (So waaaaay earlier than the public knew Tucker was available.)
The GM Meetings took place from Nov. 5-7, in San Antonio, Texas. Meanwhile, Shaw was playing for Team USA at the Premier12 Tournament and the infield prospect was starting at third base throughout the international competition.
What really stood out was that USA manager Mike Scioscia not only praised Shaw for his performance at the plate, but he was especially impressed by Shaw’s improvement on defense at third.
While discussing Shaw’s work with coaches on Team USA, Scioscia may have revealed early on that the Cubs were indeed going to have third base open for Shaw because his comment about the top prospect certainly came out of nowhere.
At the time it seemed like a throwaway line from the skipper, but maybe Scioscia inadvertently spilled the beans on the behind the scenes talks between the Cubs and Astros. Remember, once those talks became public, it was obvious that Paredes was going to be part of the trade no matter what.
Via The Japan Times.
“I talked about our young players in this experience, and I don’t know if anybody benefited more than Matt Shaw did,” Scioscia said. “From when we started working out about a month ago in Arizona and where he ended up.
“He had the opportunity to work with two of the best infield coaches that we have in the United States — Dino Ebel and Keith Johnson. The work they put in with Matt — it paid off quickly. You saw him play great defensive third base in this tournament. It’s a newer position for him, but with the Cubs, I think that’s where they’re projecting him to play as he gets in the major leagues.”
In 2024, Shaw started 63 games at third, compared to 24 each at second and shortstop, respectively. That included 21 of 31 infield starts at the hot corner once Shaw was promoted to Triple-A Iowa in early August.
Putting aside our initial speculation on Scioscia’s comment about Shaw and his projected position with the Cubs, the biggest development that happened in November was that Shaw did get better defensively. There have been question marks regarding the infielder’s defense, regardless of where he’s started, so it’s great to see that Shaw has improved playing with Team USA in the offseason.
Cubs fans, I can report that Matt Shaw is putting on an impressive defensive clinic at 3B in Tokyo today.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 23, 2024
Join us on @DAZN_Sport now for the call of Team USA vs. Team Venezuela. @MLBPipeline @WBSC @670TheScore @WatchMarquee
Shaw finished the tournament slashing .412/.500/.706, with a pair of home runs and led the United States with 14 RBI. The right-handed hitter also had great plate discipline, drawing six walks to only five strikeouts.
“On the defensive side, he improved so much in just one month. On the offensive side, I think you saw his ability to drive the ball to all parts of the ballpark, and he runs the bases well. He’s got a great future.”
Matt Shaw: RBI Machine
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) November 23, 2024
pic.twitter.com/2wc9jNWqJn
The Cubs remain in the market for another utility bat and you’d assume one who can play third base to at the very least provide more depth off the bench. Although the Cubs aren’t handing Shaw the job, it does appear as though the team is comfortable with the idea of the prospect stepping into the position in 2025.
Cubs top prospect Matt Shaw will get "long look" at 3B, Hoyer said: "He has to earn that job, I'm not going to gift him that on a conference call in the middle of Dec."
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) December 17, 2024
Michael Busch does not sound like 3B option. Hoyer said they see him as a Gold Glove 1B & that's their focus.
So yeah, maybe Scioscia was telling Cubs fans way before we actually knew what the team was planning at third base for the 2025 season.
Yep, a big secret that the Cubs have been keeping by playing him at 3B almost exclusively so far. Shhhhhhh, don’t tell anyone.