In the past week the Chicago Cubs have DFA’d three players who each had some time in the big leagues since 2021. Right-handed pitcher Erich Uelmen, left-handed hitting first baseman and outfielder Alfonso Rivas, and right-handed hitting catcher and infielder P.J. Higgins were all cleared from the team’s 40-man roster. Those moves were made to make room for the additions of pitchers Drew Smyly and Anthony Kay and most recently catcher Tucker Barnhart.
Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami brought up the Cubs ending the 2022 season with the fourth most steals by a team in MLB.
As a team, the Cubs stole 111 bases last season (4th most in MLB).
If you sub in Cody Bellinger (14 SBs) for Rafael Ortega (12) and Dansby Swanson (18) for Nick Madrigal (3), they would have been tied for the most stolen bases in MLB.
That got me thinking about my 2023 Cubs predictions and I’m going to add Dansby Swanson hitting at least 20 home runs and stealing at least 20 bases to my list. In case you forgot, MLB will not only have bigger bases in 2023, but new pitch clock rules will also limit the times pitchers can attempt pick-off throws. Of course, the Cubs were more aggressive in 2022 stealing bases mostly out of necessity as they needed to gain whatever advantage they could with a sub-par offense. But it’s still good to know that they have several guys on the team capable of swiping some bags if that becomes a valuable part of the game again. You can read more about the rules here.
One of the lesser known moves of the offseason from the Cubs was getting veteran left-hander Roenis Elías. He was with the Seattle Mariners in 2022, but spent most of the year pitching in the minors after coming back from Tommy John surgery. The 34-year-old has been a starter, multi-inning reliever and was even closing games back in 2019 for the Mariners. Elías is now back to starting games and he’s dominating in the Dominican Winter League.
Incredible playoff start by Elías: retired first 17 he faced; 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K.
Curve has been a thing of beauty all night, and impressed with the changeup command vsRHH. Changing speeds has allowed him to not get barreled on a few mid-mid heaters. Really fun to watch.
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