MLB Rumors: Braves trade target, Trea Turner on Dodgers departure, Cubs excuse
By Mark Powell
MLB Rumors: Why won’t Cubs call up Matt Mervis?
The Chicago Cubs are off to their best major-league start in years behind an impressive rotation and strong play from Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, Cody Bellinger and more. Still, there’s something missing, and its an infusion of much-needed young talent.
Chicago has just that waiting in the minor leagues in Matt Mervis and Christopher Morel. Mervis, for one, has been raking ever since he was sent to Iowa. For some reason, though, the Cubs continue to keep him there and allow Eric Hosmer to create a gaping hole in their lineup. Chicago’s reasoning for sticking with Hosmer makes even less sense than playing him in the first place, per Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic:
"“Getting rid of Hosmer so early in the season would be a bad look in the clubhouse. It could rub some the wrong way in the sense that a well-respected veteran was given little time to work his way out of a slump. Fans certainly don’t want to hear that, which is understandable. Their focus isn’t often going to be on these types of things. Results drive fan emotions, which is natural.”"
Hosmer was a very late addition to the clubhouse, so it’s hard to believe he’s the glue that is holding this whole thing together. Chicago has a stable core of veterans, including the aforementioned Swanson, who was a clubhouse leader in Atlanta and often jokingly referred to as ‘The Sheriff’. You’re telling me that guy can’t explain Hosmer’s departure to the rest of the group?
Cubbies Crib’s Jordan Campbell said just as much in his write-up of the team’s excuse:
"“The very first is that if the Cubs’ clubhouse is in a position where the waiving of Hosmer may create a fractured clubhouse, then the team does not have a stable clubhouse to begin with. Hosmer was one of the last signings that the Cubs made this off-season and at the league minimum salary, it was a move that the Cubs made because of how easy it would be to cut ties with the veteran if he continued being the average to below-average offensive player that he has been since his last All-Star season in 2017.”"
If Chicago can’t sustain Hosmer’s departure, then perhaps this start is fool’s gold after all.