Is Matt Shaw The Missing Piece For The Chicago Cubs?

[@rds990]

Busch was a ROOKIE last year. Look at his years in AAA , AA, etc. He’s a monster hitter. Busch will set it on fire as time goes by. He did it at every single level. Watch. He will hit 25-30 Hrs this year. He has done it year after year.

[@dave-pm9bu]

All of that may be but he's 26, his time should be NOW, not sometime down the road.

[@mango8918]

Sam, rather than commenting on all the "what ifs", I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your baseball knowledge and the work you do on the podcast. I don't know what you do for a living but, it seems to me that you should be in the Cubs front office. Between you and Matt, this has got to be the best show on the Locked-On network!

[@TtoTheRock]

The offense is just one part of his game. He can run and steal bags and his defense at 3b has been on display in the Team USA games recently. He is a complete package. My preference is you keep Nico at 2b and get rid of Parades at third.

[@mr.bohner6819]

Alot of places actually are projecting Shaw to be on the big league club. The different outlets see him as about a 2.1 WAR player on average for the Cubs his rookie year. Now i think he can be a 3 WAR guy his rookie year but that's not enough outperforming to do much. We Need Swanson & Parades & Busch & Bellinger & PCA to have good seasons & 1 or 2 of them breakout years. Parades & Busch & Bellinger being the most likely... PCA & Swanson have the defense to fall back on but need a .750 OPS or higher to be a MAJOR contributor of "overperforming". Happ/ Seiya/Hoerner/Amaya we pretty much know what we are going to get, maybe Seiya can play 150 games at the lvl he has been & that will help a bit. Pitching is where they have to stack up talent.. If run prevention is top notch then guys like Shaw/PCA/Amaya dont need to be relied upon as much to win most games. So best option for the Cubs in '2025 is to go buy a mid tier SP at least & a high leverage RP or 2 & a good defensive catcher (who can hit some at least) so the pitching & run prevention is on LOCK!!.

[@therealdjway]

Yeah man, Shaw, I like the cut of his jib too!

[@BigLar56321]

It’s easy to forget now how lacking our “core” guys were in the clutch last season. Hoping these guys each take a step forward seems like a wish rather than a plan. I’m ready to see what Shaw and other prospects can do. I don’t see another actual plan, and this one is very uncertain too. But at least it’s more interesting than just running out basically the same act and expecting or hoping for change.

[@dave-pm9bu]

Don't know if Shaw is ready or not guess their's only one way to find out.

[@Serpico1954]

Excellent breakdown for this scenario. Would like to see it happen.

[@Higs8091]

Shaw reminds me of what happened in 2015 with Bryant. He probably starts in AAA and it's not a matter of "if", but "when" he gets called up

[@Youngstomata]

Bring Shaw in and trade one of the infielders. Cubs need atleast 2 new names in the lineup

[@mr.bohner6819]

Shaw upgrading Hoerner could be enough till the deadline if they think Shaw's defense doesn't compromise the Cubs run prevention gameplan. Cuz we know the offense is going to be an upgrade from Nico but how much & we know Nico is better with the glove but how much??.. If its not enough either way to justify trading Nico for a pitcher/bat to make room for Shaw then they keep Nico & make Shaw the utility man playing 3rd/2nd/SS/DH any chance they can

[@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui]

Sam I am really enjoying your show.

[@berniebarron6442]

Bring Shaw in! Look at the guy in Milwaukee, and the guy from Kansas City Royals. I can’t remember their names off my head, but they’re young and they’re good. Come on just bring Matt Shaw. I want to win!!

[@rogerdodger723]

Churio and Witt. I agree.

[@berniebarron6442]

@ Thank you😊

[@RWildekrav66]

Shea Langeliers would be a nice addition to the team .

[@dave-pm9bu]

Don't know is Shaw is ready or not, guess their's only one way to find out.

[@t.keithcason3618]

I think we bring up shaw, maybe Cassie as well. Roll with the guys we have. Last season was an enigma. We can get there. Also, bring in a catcher to relieve Miggy, and some pitching and let's roll!

[@DavidRoberg-v8b]

Ballasteros will be a good righty / lefty catcher rotation!

[@terencio1117]

Having trouble placing bet on the Illini when I’m in Illinois but thanks for the tip! Agree totally on tyson fight.

[@ynotcougar]

Hey Sam, Do you know how Copper Wire was invented? Tom Ricketts and Jed Hoyer Fighting over a Penny!

[@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui]

Looking forward to Shaw joining the Chicago Cubs major league team. I'm really hoping we sign roki sasaki.

[@jamespullos8027]

Cubs are playing checkers

[@johnlenon8872]

Ok, then he has to play 3B and trade Isaac. But he may start out at 2nd if Nico is out. Sasaki would be a help and Fried would too.

[@plus790]

For me, *best case scenario* for Matt Shaw is Jeff Kent. That doesn't mean peak production in the first 2 or 3 years, and even *IF* he reaches Kent's prime, that is all-star level, but not a superstar/Mookie Betts type talent. What is Shaw's more likely comp? Ian Happ.

[@mr.bohner6819]

Projections for Seiya actually range between .780 & .800 OPS. They still don't buy his talent at the plate. But he he is highest projected bat. Parades his our highest projected WAR player at like 3.3 fWAR so hes the projection sites bet on our most likely "outperformer". & guys like Happ/Busch/Bellinger/Shaw all project between .750 & .775 OPS. Hoerner/Swanson/PCA/Amaya all below .730 OPS projections... Its going to take a HELL of a breakout for this offense to be a serious contender against the likes of the Phillies/Braves/Padres/Dodger/Mets.

[@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui]

First of all I'm not sure about this but here is an idea. Bucsh at first Shaw at second horner at shortstop and Swanson at 3rd. Happ PCA and bellinger in the outfield

[@Gnar_Dogg]

I don't know if Swanson is capable of playing 3B but I do know his arm is extremely weak even for a SS so that would be even more pronounced at 3B.

[@jonvel812]

I was going to say the same thing. Swanson doesn’t have the arm to throw from third.

[@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui]

@Gnar_Dogg okay, how about trading horner for a really good hitting third baseman

[@Gnar_Dogg]

@@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui Yea that may work better. I'm somewhat biased because I've never been a fan of Paredes. I'm a firm believer in the fact his style of hitting will not have good results at Wrigley. An I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't manage even 20 HRs in a season as a Cub.

[@johnbrennan4449]

non-tender Paredes, Wisdom, Madrigal & Mastrobuoni. Ballesteros/Amaya C Bellinger 1B Happ 2B Shaw SS Busch 3B Caissie LF Crow-Armstrong CF Canario RF Suzuki DH bench: Swanson/Mervis/Tauchman. disabled list: Hoerner. Triple-A Iowa: Alcantara/Triantos/Cowles/Long. Double-A Tennessee: 3B Cam Smith.

[@naturallawman2965]

Regardless of what they do, fans need to start letting Ricketts feel heat at this point. Big heat. 2016 might as well be 1908 at this point. The Ricketts Family is starting to look like they have piggybacked onto the Cubs brand (which WE built, not THEM) in order to empower their family, get Pete elected, make Wrigleyville what it is, build a TV network... yet Ricketts now suddenly doesn't want to re-invest in the team with ACTUAL "Marquee" players. He's acting like a typical billionaire and it ain't cool. The good days are over. The fact that Soto isn't their #1 priority shows they're clueless, and the reason why Marquee WILL fail! Every other team in this game that have their own SN's ALL have star players except one... the Cubs. Step up Tom, or will make you.

[@cambium0]

Just having watched the prologue here, I would agree with all of what has been said. Hodge might be another example of a guy coming up and performing at a big league level just about right away. It seems pitchers are more likely to be ready. But with the injuries to Wicks and Brown, I would say maybe these guys got too much too fast in terms of burden. So did Bryant come up in the Cubs system? also we might think about the coaches for hitters in triple AAA and see if we can upgrade. Another idea I had for right now is if you have callups on the roster but not starting every day, try and get them batting practice every now and then with some our STAR rotation guys, to give them more major league at bats without costing us. anyway we obviously have to figure this out or we're going to be noncompetitive in the near future or we're simply going to use or farm system guys as trade tokens and never benefit directly from their potential. [edit] I heard something about Cubs' interest in Walker Buehler. That sounds like a typical Hoyer bargain shopping move and I hope they don't do that. He got hot in the world series, which is great for the Dodgers, but he was bad most of the year. Don't do it.

[@berniebarron6442]

Matt Shaw bought a Cubs Jersey before he even started play in SB.

[@laylowe7528]

The Cubs had 3 of the top 50 players according to OPS…the only teams with more were the Dodgers and Phillies. The other teams with 3 in the top 50 were the Astros, Braves, Orioles, Guardians, Brewers, Padres and D-backs. So the only teams with 3 or more that didn’t make the playoffs are the Cubs and D-backs…we are on the cusp. And I believe Belli will be top 50 again in 2025!!

[@laylowe7528]

And we played 81 games in the second hardest park to hit in in 2024…Wrigley will probably be more hitter friendly next season!!

[@EV-ok2kv]

Happ did not have a good year. WTH

[@COMICSSOLDIER]

Shaw reminds me of Craig Biggio

[@DavidRoberg-v8b]

What about the BREWERS????

[@mr.bohner6819]

I agree Shaw will adjust quickly at the plate & be able to contribute but i dont feel like he's going to be our Kris Bryant. He COULD & i feel like eventually he will!! but i don't see it happening his rookie year

[@joshuasteward6097]

Outperforming projections is how the good teams like the Dodgers get over the hump and win a championship. It should not be the philosophy of a team that is lucky to get to 83 wins. When will the GM and President outperform expectations?😊

[@dkopec0411]

Anything below.

[@jasonlew8074]

There's a lot of missing pieces.

[@donaldmiller7628]

No they need about 4 new names

[@mikecrespi1184]

Lol… Chicago fans don’t learn… dont turn Shaw into Caleb Bahahahah, “the savior”. Let the kid breath and have no pressure coming in as the “best hitter on the team”

[@donaldmiller7628]

Hey the cubs keep losing bears stinks,?bulls can't play.sox doesn't have nothing hawks lost thier way maybe we need another chicago team.

[@John-qm8xw]

Fu... stop it your talking bout a prospect wtf guys he adds to the roster hes not the missing piece.Freid vladdy are missing pieces. Getting bad in cubtown when you think a prospect will save our season

[@joshuasteward6097]

Being fair, he only said Shaw is a shot at outperforming projections. Nothing more is hoped for or expected.

[@allengattone4367]

So you want all these young guys to carry this team of overpaid veterans? Nah. Go get Arenado & Fried! Now we can compete in this weak division. 😉

[@Laflair420]

This franchise is so frustrating ⚾️ bring back rizzo

[@robertkidnley93]

No and probably wont be for another 3-5 years please stop with the prospect talk spend money CUBS!!

[@Georgeglinos-bh8wy]

3-5 years for Shaw? I'll assume you're referring to serious playoff contender. You Ricketts won't go over the threshold unless we're in serious contention at the trade deadline. And that could be very possible. What happened in the first half last season, is unlikely to repeat itself. The big question is whether the starting pitching can repeat it's performance again

[@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui]

@@robertkidnley93 if the richest family can't afford to put a good team on the field unless get some new ownership in Chicago with some deep pockets

[@liveanddieinchicagoliveand7074]

@@JohnDePewIII-tn6ui we need new ownership bad but it won't happen. Soto right there and ownership telling the ppl onces again no we Can't afford this player.

[@liveanddieinchicagoliveand7074]

You know better you know ricketts aren't going to spend big money. You might as well play the prospects and see what you got because the Cubs not going to playoffs in 2025 and 2026. so bring up matt shaw and cassie ,horton for 2025 let them play.