There's a lot of fallout that will result from the Cubs’ trade with Houston that landed outfielder Kyle Tucker in Chicago. One guy, in particular, was for sure happy to read about it: Matt Shaw, who now has a home — third base — to call his own.
The Cubs got Tucker Friday in a four-player swap that sends incumbent third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski, and infield prospect Cam Smith to the Astros.
Beyond installing Tucker as a middle-of-the-order piece, the trade opens up space for Shaw, the team’s No.1 prospect and No. 22 overall per MLB.com, to play third base in 2025. Shaw has been one of several members of the franchise’s prized prospect pool who are blocked at the major league level.
Shaw hit .284 with an .867 OPS during two minor league stops last season. He is 23 and was a first-round pick when the Cubs took him 13th overall out of the University of Maryland in 2023.
It also reduces the likelihood of a trade involving incumbent second baseman Nico Hoerner, since the motivation for that trade was always to find playing time for Shaw. Now Shaw, Hoerner, shortstop Dansby Swanson and first baseman Michael Busch can peacefully co-exist in the same infield.
What the deal does not do is resolve the team’s even larger logjam, that being in the outfield. Tucker’s arrival gives Chicago — for the time being at least — five established regulars since they already roster Ian Happ in left field, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center, Cody Bellinger in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH.
That fact alone makes a deal involving either Bellinger or Suzuki — or both — sound inevitable and imminent. But even assuming Bellinger or Suzuki is packaged out of town, the Cubs will still be left. for 2025 at least, with an outfield prospect logjam.
That logjam includes Owen Caissie, the club’s No. 2 prospect right behind Shaw, plus Kevin Alcantara (No. 6) and Alexander Canario, who is no longer considered a prospect but was a Top-100 mainstay just a few years ago.
One step the Cubs have already taken to alleviate the pressure for playing time those prospects are dealing with is to jettison their outfield supporting cast from last season, principally Mike Tauchman. He was cut loose to free agency and signed by the White Sox. Patrick Wisdom, an infielder who served as a sort of fifth outfielder, has also been released.
That means there’s room on the 26-man team that breaks camp in March (at the end of spring training) for at least one of the three top prospects as a backup outfielder, if nothing else. The inevitable trade of Bellinger or Suzuki would appear to open up a second such spot, assuming of course that the return on that deal isn’t another outfielder.
Tucker will play in his final pre-free agency season for the Cubs, meaning they are essentially getting a one-year rental. But that may be okay with team president Jed Hoyer and GM Carter Hawkins since it gives Caissie, Canario and Alcantara a full season of major league opportunity to grow into the notion of being a team leader — and a low-cost one at that — when 2026 rolls around.
There is one other theory circulating around regarding the Cubs' plan for 2025, but it is too fraught with complications and problems to be taken seriously. By that theory, the Cubs don't trade Bellinger or Suzuki at all.
Instead, they start the season with Tucker in right field, Bellinger at first base, Suzuki at DH and last year's first baseman, Michael Busch, moving to the third base vacancy.
The problems with that concept are numerous, and they go beyond the added expense of keeping all of those higher-priced players. First, it requires Busch to re-learn an old position one year after having established he can handle first base. Second, it locks Suzuki in at DH, a task he has said he does not want to be consigned to at this point in his career.
And third, it blocks the development of Shaw or any of the team's vaunted prospect class for another full season.
Having acquired Tucker, the far more logical next step is to trade Bellinger and/or Suzuki — probably for pitching — and commit to Shaw.