It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by. Come on in out of the cold. We’ve got a fire going on inside and the music is hot. We can take your coat for you. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you about the possibility of the Cubs signing free agent right-hander Zac Gallen. You were mostly in favor of the idea, with 46 percent of you thinking the terms I proposed were a solid offer. Another 24 percent of you thought the Cubs should pass on Gallen with the rest of you quibbling with the contract terms I put forth, with most of you thinking that you’d sign Gallen if the price were really low.
On Tuesdays I don’t normally do any movie stuff, but you still have time to vote in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic between Blade Runner and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. But I always have time for that, so you know the drill by now if you don’t care for the tunes.
Tonight we have Steve Turre and Group playing the Miles Davis classic “All Blues” in Brazil back in 2001. The first thing that you’ll notice from this video is that Turre plays a collection of seashells in this performance. It sounds like a gimmick, but it actually works quite well.
Javon Jackson plays tenor sax, George Cables is the pianist, Buster Williams is on bass and Victor Lewis is the drummer.
Welcome back to all of you who skip the seashell music.
The Cubs insist that they’re not done making moves this winter, and Jon Heyman dropped this note yesterday.
Miguel Andujar came up with the Yankees in 2018 and quickly established themselves as their starting third baseman. He hit .297 that year with 27 home runs and finished second to Shohei Ohtani in Rookie of the Year balloting.
Unfortunately for Andujar, he missed almost the entire 2019 season with a torn labrum and struggled to come back in 2020. By the time he was healthy, Gio Urshela had established himself as the Yankees third baseman and Andujar got moved to left field. He didn’t hit much and spent the next few seasons bouncing around the majors as a utility player.
Over the past two seasons, however, Andujar has rediscovered his bat. In 75 games with the Athletics in 2024, Andujar hit .285/.320/.377. The A’s traded him to the Reds at the deadline last year and between the two teams, Andujar hit a strong .318/.352/.470 with ten home runs in 94 games.
So let’s posit that Andujar is a good bench player. At least he has been the past two years. On top of that, he probably won’t cost much. Andujar earned $3 million last season. I’d say the Cubs could get him on a one-year, $5.5 million deal. Yes, that would put the Cubs over the luxury tax threshold, but we’re all assuming they will go over at some point anyways. The tax on Andujar’s contract would amount to petty change for the Cubs.
But is signing Andujar a good idea? In the sense that adding more good players to the team is always a good idea, then yes. But I do have some problems with the concept.
The Cubs current roster is pretty much set, at least on the position player side. There’s some give and take with the pitching staff, but the 13 position players they’d start the season with, should it start today, is pretty clear.
There are nine starters:
Carson Kelly
Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
Dansby Swanson
Alex Bregman
Ian Happ
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Seiya Suzuki
Moisés Ballesteros
That leaves room for four bench players:
Miguel Amaya
Matt Shaw
Kevin Alcántara
Tyler Austin
So if the Cubs add Andujar, one of those four players is going to get squeezed off the roster. It’s not going to be Amaya, as the Cubs will not go with Ballesteros as their second catcher. It won’t be Austin, as they just signed him from Japan on a major league deal and he doesn’t have any options left from his first stint in the majors. It probably won’t be Alcántara either. There are conflicting reports as to whether Alcántara has an option left, but I believe he does. But Andujar has only played third, first and left field in the majors. (He’s played right field in the minors.) Without Alcántara, the Cubs really don’t have anyone backing up PCA in center. Alcántara may yet start the season in Iowa, but it probably won’t be for Andujar.
So there are only two options (well, maybe two and a half) options to get Andujar on the roster. One is that if they want Mo Baller to get more work in catching, then the Cubs could send him to Iowa and that would open up a spot for Andujar. Andujar could DH or he could take the field to give Bregman or Happ a half a day off as they served as the designated hitter. But Ballesteros looked pretty impressive at the plate in his late-season call-up. Maybe he can’t catch, but it looks like he would be a big asset in the lineup in 2026, even if it does hurt his development as a catcher.
The other option is Matt Shaw. Now Shaw does have options, so the Cubs could send him down to Iowa to play everyday while Andujar serves as a backup in the infield. Andujar has never played second base or shortstop, but Alex Bregman has, so Andujar could move in to third base and Bregman could shift over to a middle infield position to cover all the bases, so to speak, were Shaw in the minors.
The other option with Shaw is to trade him. We’ve been down this road before, but Shaw would probably bring a lot back in trade. He’s a young player with six years of control left. His bat in the second half was very good. The defensive metrics on Shaw at third base were all over the place last year (some very positive, some less so), but people thought enough of him there to make him a Gold Glove finalist. In any case, most teams would play Shaw at second base where he probably would be a pretty good defender.
Of course, the things that make Shaw valuable to other teams also makes him valuable to the Cubs. And if Nico Hoerner leaves as a free agent after this year, the Cubs need Shaw to fill in at second base.
There is another options which is to trade Nico Hoerner, but the Cubs have made it clear that they would have to get the equivalent to what they gave up for Kyle Tucker to deal Hoerner. I don’t see that happening. I guess it’s possible but unlikely.
So with all that in mind, should the Cubs sign Miguel Andjuar?
Thanks for stopping in tonight. We’ve enjoyed seeing your smiling faces. Please get home safely. Call a ride if you need to. Stay warm out there. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
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