This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
There is no denying that Nico Hoerner has proved to any and all doubters that he can handle being an everyday shortstop. His high-contact bat has remained steady this year -- with some added pop -- and his defense has ranked among the best at his position in a variety of advanced metrics.
But that will not stop the Cubs’ front office from closely examining this coming offseason’s impact class of free-agent shortstops.
“I think it's like when you want to buy a new car, but you don't have to,” Cubs manager David Ross said recently. “You can be picky, right? We've got a really good shortstop here. If something works out, where they identify a middle infielder that is a value that they feel like fits really well, I think everybody's on board with that, including myself and Nico.
“Those are good problems to have. We'll let the front office kind of pick and choose on that.”
Hoerner is 25 years old and working through what has been his first full season in the Majors, following three tours defined, respectively, by a late-season promotion, a pandemic and injuries. He has been praised for his emerging leadership skills behind the scenes and his desire to put the team ahead of his own interests.
Ross reiterated that stance in his recent chat with reporters about the possibility of targeting one of the high-end shortstops who could be up for grabs this winter. That group includes Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts, who can opt out of their current contracts, plus Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson.
“What I know about [Hoerner] is he wants to win,” Ross said. “And if something were to change, and we asked him to do anything different, whatever we want to communicate that to him, he's a winner. He wants to win, and when you've got a really good player, you want as many of those guys as you can get. The willingness to move around for him is real.”
This past week, David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago reported that there is already “mutual” interest between the Cubs and Turner. It is a little early for free-agent rumors, but that is an early taste of what this winter could be like for the North Siders. Expect the Cubs to start being linked to players in the deep end of the free-agent pool again.
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts stopped to chat with a few media members recently at Wrigley Field and emphasized that “the ball’s in Jed’s court,” referring to how president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer can utilize the team’s payroll.
“We're starting to build that good young core,” Ricketts added. “I feel great about our team next year. I'll let Jed decide how to put resources to work to get us back on top.”
The Cubs know Hoerner could be an elite defender at second base, if he were asked to shift back to that side of the infield to accommodate a major addition. For Hoerner’s part, he has echoed Ross’ view of things when asked about the possibility of moving off shortstop, even after showing he can handle the position at a high level.
“What the Cubs do in free agency this offseason, if they make moves that are going to help us win baseball games, that’s not going to be a huge issue around here,” Hoerner said in August. “Obviously, I believe in myself as a shortstop and I’ve said that for a while, and people believe that now. But [my focus is just to] continue on. And if we have the issue of having too many good players, then I’ll like that problem.”