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12 hours ago
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There’s plenty of praise to go around for the Chicago Cubs’ hot start.
The team has seized first place in the National League Central division thanks to blockbuster trade addition Kyle Tucker, young spark plug Pete Crow-Armstrong and surprise contributor Carson Kelly, among others.
However, rookie infielder Matt Shaw was unable to meet expectations in his debut with the team and now the front office is openly searching for his replacement, according to Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.
“Patience is in short supply this year in Chicago, where the Cubs have not hosted a playoff game since 2020 and Hoyer is working through the final year of his contract,” per Mooney and Sharma. “Cubs manager Craig Counsell was not interested in giving Shaw the longer runway that he provided last year for Pete Crow-Armstrong, whose plus speed and elite defense in center field could not be easily replaced by anyone else on the roster.”
The Cubs turned some heads when they relegated Shaw to the minors after just 18 games, but clearly they are laser focused on returning to the postseason.
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Mooney and Sharma reported that Hoyer “will explore all options at third base leading up to the July 31 trade deadline” but that the external options are likely to be pretty limited. As a result, the team might turn back to Shaw at some point, but Hoyer shot the infielder a warning as the team mulls its paths forward.
“This is not a place for a young player to tinker,” Hoyer said, per The Athletic. “We want him to be our third baseman. We want him to be back up here. But he needs to go work on some stuff now and reset.”
Hoyer finished off his warning to Shaw with a stark five words: “Hopefully, he can do that.”
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
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