Both manager Joe Maddon and general manager Jed Hoyer have said second baseman Javier Baez needs to prove himself in order to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. However, that may not be the case.
Baez has not improved (offensively) since his 52-game stint with the Cubs in 2014. This offseason he struggled mightily in the Puerto Rican Winter League and that has continued into spring training, where he's batting just .128/.190/.205/.396 with four runs scored, one home run, one RBI, three stolen bases and 14 strikeouts in 42 plate appearances.
That doesn't seem to matter much to the Cubs.
"Struggling, strikeout-prone Javy Baez said Tuesday he has been told with two weeks left in camp that he will be on the Opening Day roster, and a team official confirmed that Baez was told he'll make the team as the second baseman," writes Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.
And the Cubs refuted that.
"He was not told by me, he was not told by Theo [Epstein], he was not told by Jed [Hoyer]," Maddon told Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com. "I have no idea where that came from."
It wouldn't be much of a surprise if he was actually told he made the team, considering Maddon's comments before the team's loss to the Oakland Athletics on Mar. 24.
"I might be the only guy sitting around here to tell you I'm really not concerned about that right now," he said of Baez's hitting woes, via Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago. "The swing has nothing to do with it for me. And that's the obvious, surface-layer kind of stuff. That's the part that's gonna change. But if you're breaking down the other components of his game, this is one of the best young players I've seen. Period."
Maddon noted he "comes from the land of run prevention," referring to his tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays and that Baez's defensive skills will help the Cubs save runs. He also noted that the longer Baez is up in the big leagues, the quicker he'll develop into a better offensive player. All that matters is Maddon acknowledging he is "impressed overall" with Baez's play during spring training, because it's the manager's call to pencil him onto the roster.
Maybe the MLBPA will have something to say if Baez makes the team, while top prospect Kris Bryant (.464/.531/1.500/2.031 with 11 runs scored, 9 home runs and 15 RBIs in 11 games) starts the season at Triple-A Iowa.
