Chicago Cubs: Baez on rumors “Hopefully I stay here”

As the Chicago Cubs head into an offseason with a ton of questions, homegrown product Javier Baez is hoping to remain with the team long term.

As the Chicago Cubs offseason gets into full swing, a number of changes may occur going well beyond just a new manager. Whether the team decides to bring in Joe Girardi, David Ross, or someone else, they will have to make a decision on Javier Baez this offseason. Drafted as the ninth overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, Baez smacked his first home run in his big league debut in the 12th inning against the Colorado Rockies.

He’s been a terrific defender with flashy plays at both shortstop and second base and has continued to get better every year at the plate. Baez is never going to be a high percentage walk guy, that’s just not who he is. But he’s shown great development to hitting to all parts of the field as his 36.1 percent pull rate was the lowest of his career over the course of a full season. Consequently, his opposite-field rate at 27.9 percent was the highest of his career in 2019.

The rumors are going to swirl this offseason and Theo Epstein is reportedly going to try to lock up some of the young core players this offseason, including Baez. And if they don’t express the interest in sticking around for a while, Epstein hinted that trades may be explored but it sounds like Baez wants to remain in Chicago for his entire career.

"“I grew up here and hopefully I stay here my whole career,” Baez said Sept. 29. “We’ll see.” – Chicago Tribune"

One of the players that could be sent as part of a trade package is Kris Bryant, and likely due to his representation in Scott Boras who is notorious for high-profile negotiations. Most recently, Boras helped Jake Arrieta get the big-money deal with the Phillies in the 2017 offseason. Bryant is likely going to be the most difficult player for the Cubs to re-sign and fans should be prepared for a departure this offseason.

Epstein stated in his season-ending press conference that real changes are needed this offseason. I would expect that the untouchables could be counted on just one hand. On a personal preference, trading Baez away this offseason doesn’t make a ton of sense. Certainly, he’s going to get paid a handsome amount in whatever contract extension but he’s worth it. His 15 defensive runs saved were good for third-best in baseball at the shortstop position while logging significantly fewer innings than Nick Ahmed and Trevor Story, who finished above him.

The real question that needs to be answered this offseason is what the team plans to do to finally address the second base position. Right now, it appears that Nico Hoerner would be the ideal candidate given they tried Addison Russell, Ben Zobrist, David Bote, Daniel Descalso, Robel Garcia, and Tony Kemp at the position in 2019. Hoerner, 22, played great in limited action but I worry about the league adjusting to him next season added to the fact that he skipped Triple-A entirely.

We’ll see what develops in the coming weeks, especially once a manager is finally named but something needs to change this offseason. The nostalgia from the 2016 World Series has worn off and keeping players around just because they were on that roster makes little sense in order to get this team back into a deep postseason run.