The Cubs have attempted to retool their roster this winter in an effort to get back to the playoffs for the first time in a 162-game season since 2018. As they’ve done so, one of the biggest question marks facing the team this winter has been the status of second baseman Nico Hoerner. The Cubs revealed in late October that Hoerner had undergone flexor tendon surgery without providing a timeline for his return. The injury ultimately didn’t stop teams such as the Mariners from pursuing Hoerner on the trade market this winter as the Cubs tried to open up a spot on the infield for top prospect Matt Shaw, but rumors of a deal died down after Chicago shipped third baseman Isaac Paredes to Houston as part of the Kyle Tucker trade.
With those trade rumors seemingly a thing of the past, Hoerner figures to be in the Cubs organization on Opening Day 2025. Whether or not he’ll be in the lineup is another matter, however. As noted by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Hoerner discussed his injury and rehab in detail at the Cubs Convention in Chicago earlier today. Per Montemurro, Hoerner noted that he played through the issue throughout the 2024 campaign and that it had the largest impact on his throwing in the field.
That reality is borne out in his defensive metrics last year. According to Statcast, the fielding that earned Hoerner a Gold Glove award in 2023 faltered somewhat last year. While his +10 Outs Above Average remained in this 95th percentile of all MLB fielders last year, Hoerner’s Fielding Run Value dipped from +11 in 2023 to +8 in 2024. Looking specifically at his arm strength, Hoerner saw his throws lose more than three ticks of velocity year-over-year as he averaged 79.1 mph on his throws in 2023 but just 75.7 mph in 2024.
Given how noticeably the injury was impacting Hoerner’s elite work on the infield, it’s not necessarily surprising that he and the Cubs are taking his rehab process slowly. As relayed by Montemurro, Hoerner has not yet begun a throwing program or hitting since he went under the knife back in October. With the Cubs’ first game of the 2025 season against the Dodgers in Tokyo just two months away, that casts some doubt on the second baseman’s ability to be ready for the start of Chicago’s season. To that end, Montemurro reports that Hoerner not only could not answer whether or not he’d be ready for the Tokyo Series in March, but also couldn’t comment on whether or not he’d be back on the field in time for the Cubs’ home opener on April 4.
That leaves Hoerner missing at least the season’s first couple of weeks on the table, and without a clear timeline for return the possibility of a somewhat longer absence cannot be fully ruled out. With Shaw seemingly set to take over for Paredes at third base, the club’s internal options to fill in for Hoerner currently appear to be Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman and utility infielder Vidal Brujan. Those options don’t exactly inspire confidence as fill-ins for Hoerner in the event he’s not ready for the start of the season, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Cubs appear to be focused on bolstering their bench mix ahead of Spring Training. Chicago was connected to Yoán Moncada earlier this month, and other players such as Paul DeJong and Jose Iglesias could also make sense as depth options who could fill in for Hoerner to start the season and provide insurance in case Shaw struggles in his first taste of big league action.
If they think Hoerner will be ready by mid-April, maybe Triantos is a better option than Gage or Vidal?
Anybody is better than those 2 .
Aloha folks, I wish the Cubs could have a whole season injury free from Nico. He’s productive in his role at the plate and of course in the field. This may be his last year, possibly a trade candidate. Good luck Nico! Mahalo
Aloha my friend, hope all is well.
Aloha Jiggs! What is our Cubs doing? I’m afraid before Jed runs away he’ll trade more of our good young talent away for rentals! You still at your old email address? I miss the days of Carrie’s Muskat blog for we Cub folks. Hope your Cardinal family members aren’t giving you too hard a time, lol ! Mahalo!
The Cubs just need to let Nico heal completely and not rush it. It’s not the worst thing in the world if Triantos gets an audition for a bit at the start of the season. Getting him some MLB at bats to see where he’s at would probably help him out immensely. It’s still a month until Pitchers and C’s report and 2 months away from Japan. I definitely wouldn’t play him in Japan but Brujan and Workman? Spare me. Wisdom-Madrigal-Mastrobuoni? Workman-Brujan-Cowles? The names are different but that’s about it. The strength of moving forward should have been the farm system. I mean Cowles went 0 for the AFL and they keep bragging about this guy like they got something. From everything I’ve heard Workman is Wisdom 2.0. Maybe they prove me wrong, Maybe not. That’s what ST is for. Rushing Nico back helps nothing.
Hey unc. I think you’re being a little rough on some of the backups – but I digress.
I know you had to be watching the convention this weekend, like many of us,
‘that Carter Hawkins, sure is an impressive guy, isn’t he’? I bet he gives you a whole lot of confidence. Sort of a Ricketts ‘light’.
If you’re like me, And for the most part you are, If you watched that Hoyer-Hawkins segment, You came out of it dumber than you were at the beginning. I think I liked it better when I thought he was a mute.
Meanwhile, they also have no real closer. Another 83 win season most likely.
I predict that within two weeks they will sign one of Yates, Estevez and Scott, unless they somehow are able to trade for a reliever from the Padres, which seems very unlikely.
They need to win 91 games. Tucker should add four. Sure need to add a late inning arm and another infielder. I’m not for Shaw starting the season in the majors.
Considering how many games their bullpen blew, through late June – that alone should contribute about 4 or 5 more wins, alone.
Plus the bats didn’t perform very well from May through July. The question will be if the SPs can duplicate their overall performance of 2024.
I would expect the same. Steele shines and rebounds. Shota regresses. Taillon same as 24. Hendricks swapped out for Boyd. Should be an improvement. Assad Brown Wicks for the fifth spot. Still might get another established starter too. Hope Crow Armstrong doesn’t have a sophomore slump and whoever is playing third can hit. Suspect they will hold Shaw at Iowa for April and May. Too bad Arenado is already in the division. He would fit as a third baseman this season and a 1b/DH the next two. Would be smart to take a one year flier on Moncada. Think he plays second too.
Just my opinion, but they were fine with Busch beginning the season at 1B last year, and unless he really screws up in ST, they are probably ok with Shaw beginning at 3B this year. Let the ponies run. Also I’m not sure if Arenado’s bat helps the batting order any longer – in any way. He seems to be headed downhill.
Dogbone, check out Alonso’s post season batting stats. They’ll make your eyes bulge and his fielding numbers remain quite good.
Alonso’s post season batting over a total of 16 games, most of which was just last season, 5 HRs, 11 RBIs, a slash line of .278/.429/.574 and an OPS of 1.003. I think Alonso focuses really well in big moments, which can help provide leadership. He’s not afraid to face big moments.
If the Cubs do what I asked them to at the beginning of FA and sign Scott, It will probably take 17-20 million a year. But it would be the single most thing they could do that will raise the win total. It would give Counsell a LH-RH 9th inning team with Hodge he could use depending on who is coming up in the 9th. Since they have about 45 million left until the Tax now they have 28 or so left. If they can still find a decent LH hitting back up IF cheap go for it but it shouldn’t be expensive and save the rest for the deadline so you could make moves for a change. Every year Hoyer spends up to the Tax before the season and has no moves to make. You’d think he would learn. Injuries happen and you have no idea what can happen. The starters are deep and with Scott I love the bullpen. They didn’t need much but they do NEED the Right guys. Alonso helps none of that more than what they have for the money he’s going to cost. Sorry but I pass. Whatever Alonso gets has the potential to become an albatross ala Bellinger. For a team that has been adamant about being a Tax team that would hurt.
Wrigley was the worst place to hit last summer, think that played into it. Bullpen though, that closer role lost a lot of games for them.
Ohhh no!! A Cubs article after a Cards article, must be a conspiracy by the writers. Let me send them a report that they can’t find in their email because I never sent it, then ill whine to Mark on a subscriber article I can’t even read because I don’t subscribe.
Uhhhh…ok?
Oh, blackpink, you’ve changed your name again? Lol.
I think he’s referring to bita who complains regularly about imaginary Cub ‘bias’ on here.
Just looking for a way to get Alonso to be a cub. Pretty small sample size like 14 games with the Dodger big league club for Busch at 3B. Maybe he was bad there while in the minors. Alternatively, Busch could move to 2B and shift Nico to 3B.
I think this team needs more right handed pop in the lineup. Why not make an acceptable offer to Alonso and move Busch to 3B and let Nico and Shaw share time at 2B and Shaw can spell Busch at 3B occasionally. The club should still have enough left in the budget without going into the luxury tax level to sign a 2nd tier closer to start the season and could possibly trade Nico or Suzuki and the 2nd tier closer at the deadline to save $ and afford a 1st tier closer. If it was Suzuki that gets traded, there are right handed OF prospects in the club’s minor league system that need playing time, besides it’s been reported that Suzuki is not thrilled about being a primary DH with the addition of Tucker as the everyday RG. Would love to see the L/R power combination of Tucker and Alonso hitting in the 3 and 4 lineup spots.
They’re not moving Busch. 3rd base never worked for him in LA and by the middle of last season, his defense at first base had improved dramatically.
Busch is just fine at 1B, no need to mess with him. And I think Shaw will be ready to meet the challenge at 3B.
But personally I would hate to see the Cubs tie up that much money on a one dimensional player at 1B – as well as making that type of a positional commitment, when they have so many talented positional players in the upper minors.
Let other teams fight over an aging, non athletic limited player like Alonzo.
Hey Dogbone, I just would like Alonso’s power right handed bat in the heart of the order. He’s been an All Star in 4 of his 6 MLB seasons averaging over 40 HR and more than 110 RBIs along with a 134 OPS+. I don’t think he’s going to fall apart between age 30 to 34. I appreciate Busch’s play and his lefty bat but if you could get Alonso for 5 years at ~ 27 mil per, I think they should do it. There’s been a lot of chatter how the Cubs have good players but lack stars, well there’s one who’s available to match up with Tucker but from the right side. The club needs to take some risk to try to win it all again.
Correction: Meant Tucker as the everyday RF in the above post.
Could become the Mariners 3rd baseman. We will see if the budget constrained ownership can pull out a deal. They like him a lot.
Gage workman is the goat I guess
If only Hoyer had signed Chapman instead of bringing Bellinger back, none of this would be an issue.
The move that has me scratching my head is signing Colin Rea. So Hoyer is paying 5 million this year for Smyly to go away. OK that’s cool. But then you sign another one of your pets( Rea) for 5 million. And Thielbar too. So you’re basically paying 13 million for Rea and Thielbar when Smyly could have done what those 2 guys do for 5. This is how Hoyer screws the pooch every year and ends up with dead money that he ends up regretting and pushes the tax closer to the bottom line. That’s what makes him the WRONG guy to let manage the roster.
Hoyer is the problem with this team, every move he does makes you scratch your head. IDK why they keep him, they don’t even have a closer.
Look I was all for dumping Smyly if they signed somebody better. But they didn’t. They just signed the SAME GUY!. It was dumb.
Gonna be a fun summer and October. Buckle up Cubs nation.
Oh, Nico Hoerner, Oh Oh Nico Hoerner, Oh, Nico Hoerner, me love you long time!