MESA, Ariz. – Matt Shaw, the third baseman for the Chicago Cubs, was in his apartment Wednesday night when his phone went bust. It was a text message from one of his best friends in Massachusetts, and he breathlessly told him the broken news.
Free agent 3 baseman Alex Bregman had signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the Boston Red Sox.
Cooping and screaming from certain apartments in town while everyone in Chicago moaned and moaned, from the Cubs front office to the players to the Peanuts Benders in Wrigley Field expressed their frustration .
Taking minor tense, oblique muscles, Shaw went for a stroll to camp on Friday for his first official training as the happiest man in the Cubs uniform.
Bregman, the third baseman in his second All-Star and Gold Glove winner, has not gone to the Cubs, which will start his third baseman in the next four years. The opportunity now belongs to Show, the top prospects across the organization. They are given every opportunity to get their first job and run with it for the rest of his career.
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“Oh, yeah, what a roller coaster of emotions,” Shaw spoke to the media before quietly telling USA Today Sports. In the way that such a big decision also influenced my career in certain ways, like a young man.
“Now you’re looking at yourself in these conversations and seeing yourself playing in the big leagues and having the opportunity to influence your team.”
The show was told all winter, and repeatedly said at the Cubs competition in January – he said he would be given the first crack to win the first 3 base job. Then February rolled, and Bregman was still a free agent. Spring training began and Bregman was still a free agent.
Suddenly, Jed Heuer, president of baseball business and agent Scott Bolas, spoke regularly, and numbers were exchanged, and the Cubs made a four-year, $115 million offer to sign him. It was there.
The show knew the impact.
If Bregman signed, he would be out. Ah, he probably was asked to switch position to 2 base, just like he switched from a shortstop to 3 base last year. Perhaps he will be sent back to a minor. He was even traded.
“Now,” Shaw said. It’s great for the team and the media to grasp that work for all of us. There are fewer questions about it and we can move forward together. This is our team. ”
Certainly, there are no difficult feelings that Shaw said. He only played 35 games in Triple A, so he wasn’t trying to manage that he was making a mistake by not believing he could handle his work now at a rate that is much cheaper than Bregman.
“I mean, at the end of the day, you know it’s business,” Shaw said. “You want to have a team that can win the championship. You have a great player player like Bregman. That’s always good for your team. Sign him.”
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The Cubs player last week said how much he wanted Bregman and told him how badly he wanted him, not necessarily recruiting him. Two former Houston Astros teammates, Ryan Presley and Kyle Tucker, did not hide their enthusiasm for the possibility that he would join Chicago.
“Breggie first and foremost,” Tucker said Friday. Obviously, I’m saddened that I won’t be able to play with him this year, but you don’t know what the future will be like.
“He’s such a phenomenal person and player. I wasn’t trying to shake him in any way. That’s a personal decision. But I wanted to have him. It was there.”
Show understands. He didn’t make it personal. He appreciated it, but certainly didn’t expect Hoyer, GM Carter Hawkins and manager Craig Counsell to talk to him two days ago.
“I think he knows it’s going to be faster for him,” Heuer said. “He’s in the 2023 draft (13th overall). He’s moving really fast. In the end, he gets a spot for the team. He knows that. He.
“He’s here to play well and we’re watching what happens.”
Cubs veterans also say they don’t need to say anything to the show. He is a 23 year old and has never played a day in the big leagues. It’s not like Shaw was a veteran veteran and the Cubs were trying to abandon him to improve the club.
“I think he understands that,” said veteran Shortstop Danceby Swanson. “It’s hard to explain, but I think he knows and understands how valuable he is and I think he’s smart enough to understand all of that for himself.
“It’s not as harsh as it sounds, but I think we often have a kind of coaching or overhelp, he’s such a talented player.
Veteran savior Ryan Brasser said: “He says, ‘I’m supposed to be a man. I want a job.’ But when you can get a guy like Bregman, that’s what you can do about it. I will stick to you and move. ”
Shaw knows he is a top prospect in the organization, but it’s still not proven. The rookie has a great spring, but whether it’s for more experience or manipulation of service hours, it’s still being sent to minors.
“You have an incredible spring and you’re in a young player who has no opportunity,” said Nico Horner, a dual baseman. “There’s a chance that can’t affect the spring training game, there’s a lot out of your control.
“I think he has a good sense of that. He hit me as a person with a very strong sense of who he is as a player. There are always new challenges and the next thing is , he is very, very, very, very, very, very, skilled at dealing with anything that comes his way.
“I’m excited to see a player like he is.”
Having a slash line of .298/.395/.534 on Triple-A Iowa, the show wants to prove the Cubs correctly by not dealing with players who could block the road for the next four years. He wants to show his teammates that there is no reason to be disappointed that he hasn’t played with Bregman.
He doesn’t have a tip on his shoulder or a grim, but he certainly has confidence that one day people will be able to talk about him as an all-star like Bregman.
“I don’t think anyone said that they have something useful in any way,” Shaw said. “They are just honest and honesty about the situation is that Bregman is a great player, so I don’t think anyone needs to say anything to me.
“At the end of the day, it’s business and you’re trying to put together a great team that wins. I want to make a similar impact, help you make a successful season and win the division.
“Really, that’s all I can ask for.”
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