I was rather surprised to see the Cubs tender contracts to all the arbitration-eligible players on the roster. It was rather expected they would retain Marmol, Marshall, Soto, and Gorzelanny, but holding on to Koyie Hill and Jeff Baker makes very little sense. Hill is a decent enough backup catcher, but he worthless offensively and the Cubs have both Wellington Castillo and Robinson Chirinos making their way through the system, either one of whom would be an adequate backup.
Baker, in particular, indicates a substantial misjudgment on the Cubs part. He is a mediocre backup infielder with limited range and he just absolutely, positively, cannot hit right-handed pitching. Although he hit .350 against left-handers, he batted .106 against righties, collecting just 7 hits all season in roughly half the number of ABs. This is just ridiculous, and what it means is that he is worthless even as a platoon player because he is an automatic out should he have to face a right-handed pitcher, meaning the Cubs would have to remove him from the game whenever there was a pitching change.
I expect this means the Cubs infield, with the exception of first base, is set, as I would assume Darwin Barney would be the other reserve infielder, especially given the fact that he is the only other player who could be used at shortstop to rest Castro. They would have been better off looking for a left-handed bat as the other sub. Not an especially encouraging move on Hendry's part, is it?
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