The Rundown: Morel Is Counsell’s Ride-or-Die, Darvish Helps Cubs Recruit Japanese Players, Chaos Rocks MLB’s Opening Day

Craig Counsell doesn’t make rash lineup decisions, so Christopher Morel will be his ride-or-die at third base this season. The Cubs’ new manager has said repeatedly that the end of spring training is not a final exam and that Morel will continually be evaluated as the season progresses. What should we expect?

• The Good: Majestic power, instant offense, draws walks at a solid rate, and fiery hustle. His average exit velocity, barrel percentage, and hard-hit percentage all ranked in the top 10th percentile of major league hitters.
• The Bad: Morel’s 31.6% K-rate is, well, not good.
• The Ugly: His fielding percentage was in the .840-ish rate this spring last time I checked. In 2022 while playing 141.1 innings at third base, he was a -4 outs above average defender.

Morel’s defense has always been a concern and he’s probably better suited to be a designated hitter. Counsell prefers to rotate players in and out of that position to reduce the wear and tear that comes with fielding a position day in and out. He also wants to keep Morel’s bat in the lineup as much as possible.

Morel is a joy to watch when he’s producing eye-popping numbers at the plate. The 24-year-old can also be a little hard on the eyes when he’s slumping and his poor defense is a little more obvious. He has a rocket for an arm, but his footwork and accuracy are imperfect at best and unsatisfactory at worst. Counsell hopes repetition is the key to improving those defensive metrics. That’s why 2024 will be a full-season audition, or at least until Matt Shaw is MLB-ready.

The swing-and-miss can be off-putting as well, but Javier Báez struck out at a 31.3% rate during his time with the Cubs. Morel has also improved his groundball rate, so he’s less likely to hit into double plays. Counsell believes trading the good for the bad and the ugly is worth a full-season tryout. That means the Cubs are beyond the experimental stage, for better or worse.

Cubs News & Notes

• Labeling Patrick Wisdom a bad hitter just because he strikes out a lot shows a misunderstanding of the third baseman’s value to the lineup. Succinctly put by EIC Evan Altman, “Wisdom is a solid player who makes a ton of sense as a cheap power bench bat who can slot in at a few different positions for a team that could use a little pop.”
• Yu Darvish still has a warm relationship with the Cubs front office ($) and helped as an ambassador of sorts when the team recruited Seiya Suzuki and Shōta Imanaga, according to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.
• Imanaga has shown a strong ability to adjust to what hitters are trying to do against him.
• The Cubs had a bullpen game on Wednesday while Imanaga and Jordan Wicks pitched in a minor league game.
• Both were sent to pitch in minor league games to give the Cubs relievers a chance to add more spring training innings ahead of next week’s season opener.
• The coaching staff believes Imanaga’s fastball is a big-time weapon when he throws it up in the zone.
• Of the Cubs’ eight pitchers on Wednesday, Héctor Neris was the only one who allowed runs. The veteran right-hander had three strikeouts, but he also gave up home runs to the Rockies’ Nick Allen and Brent Rooker in the third inning.
• Brennen Davis is not currently active with any of the Cubs’ minor league groups.
• Jameson Taillon threw a 10-pitch, “touch-and-feel” bullpen session Wednesday at the 12-pack at Sloan Park. He played long toss on Tuesday and the Cubs will assess the next steps after they see how he recovers.
• The NL Central has the potential to be baseball’s most competitive division, but the Cubs are still viewed as the favorites.
• The Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, and Orioles had the best offseason according to CBS Sports.
• The Cubs are No. 15 in the 26-and-under power rankings at Yahoo Sports.

Odds & Sods

The start of the 2024 regular season hasn’t quite been the gala affair that MLB was hoping it would be. Shohei Ohtani has been thrust into a theft and gambling investigation and members of the MLBPA are trying to oust the union’s second in command.

Jeff Passan writes about the players' unrest about the union leadership. https://t.co/nDX5Ye1QnA

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 19, 2024

 

Central Intelligence

• Milwaukee: If you like beer cheese soup and beer-battered walleye while watching baseball, then you simply must attend a Brewers game.
• Cincinnati: The Reds have acquired infielder Santiago Espinal in a trade with the Blue Jays. Toronto gets minor league pitcher  Chris McElvain in return.
• Pittsburgh: The Pirates expect to graduate three pitchers to the bigs this season, including top prospect Paul Skenes.
• St. Louis: The Cardinals have nowhere to go but up after a disastrous 2023 season.

Spring Training News & Notes

Here’s your guide to the chaos that rocked baseball’s Opening Day.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his MLB debut this morning and things didn’t go so well.

The Braves and Dodgers have the game’s best lineups and pitching staffs this season.

The Yankees are reportedly interested in Jordan Montgomery as a replacement for the injured Gerrit Cole.

The Rangers have agreed to a deal with pitcher Michael Lorenzen.

Former Braves outfielder Gary Cooper missed qualifying for his pension by one day of service time.

Giancarlo Stanton had quite a game against the Pirates in Wednesday’s Grapefruit League action. The behemoth slugger hit three home runs totaling 1,300 feet and plated eight runners.

Extra Innings

Morel was the ultimate hype man when Alexander Canario hit his grand slam late last season.

Alexander CanSLAM!#NextStartsHere pic.twitter.com/5AsxBX4l2K

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 20, 2023

Apropos of Nothing

It’s March Madness, and bracket pools are the rage. I didn’t fill one out this year, but I know who my Final Four teams are.

1. UConn
2. Alabama
3. Marquette
4. Gonzaga

UConn takes it all, and I honestly don’t see a challenge for them in any round.

They Said It

• “He’s a great salesman for our organization. We have guys coming over that trust what Darvish did. He set the foundation for these guys to come over and transition and prove that you can pitch in this league for a long time and have a lot of success. Let Shōta be Shōta. That’s what Darvish said” – Tommy Hottovy
• “I think Shōta’s got the ability to kind of like hear it, ‘Oh, that doesn’t work,’ kind of throw it out and then keep the stuff that works for him. And that’s just how his mind works and how his head works and it’s what allows him to adjust pretty quickly.” – Counsell

Thursday Walk-Up Song

One week until Opening Day! Celebrate accordingly.