Chicago Cubs: For the Cubbies, it’s “who’s on second?”
By Bill Felber
The signing of Jason Kipnis gives the Chicago Cubs one more option to fill their vacancy at second base. Who gets the job?
Tuesday’s signing of free agent Jason Kipnis to a minor league contract gives the Chicago Cubs one additional option to fill the hole at second base created by the departure of Addison Russell.
Realistically, that hole has existed since the middle of August in 2018 when the Cubs shifted Javier Baez to shortstop to fill a gap created by an injury to Russell. When Russell returned, he batted .158 and then was suspended for domestic violence.
In 2019, when Russell’s suspension ended, he batted only just .237 and made just 47 starts, just 34 of them at second.
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To cover for Russell, the Cubs had signed free agent Daniel Descalso to a two-year, $4 million deal with an option for 2021. But Descalso had the worst offensive season of his 10-year career, batting just .173 in his 194 plate appearances. As a result, Descalso made just 38 starts at second, leaving more than half of the team’s starts at that position to somebody other than those two.
And in this case the term ‘somebody’ covers virtually everybody but you and me. Eight different players got at least one start for the Cubs at second during 2019, only two for more than 15 games. On three different occasions during the season, the Cubs added a player to the roster with the idea of filling the second base gap, and that doesn’t count Nico Hoerner, a natural second baseman who was called up in September to plug a gap at shortstop created by injuries to Russell and Baez.
Entering 2020, there remains no clear favorite to handle the pivotal middle infield duties. Russell, Ben Zobrist, Robel Garcia and Tony Kemp – who made a combined 95 starts at second in 2019 – are all gone. But the Chicago Cubs depth chart lists veterans David Bote and Descalso in the running with rookie Hoerner. And that doesn’t count either Kipnis or Ian Happ, who is competing for time center field and/or second.
Here’s a look at how that positional battle shapes up.