{"id":37680,"date":"2025-02-28T22:15:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T22:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680"},"modified":"2025-02-28T22:15:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T22:15:54","slug":"nico-hoerner-matt-shaw-and-the-cubs-trip-to-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680","title":{"rendered":"Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and the Cubs\u2019 trip to Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two of the keys to the Cubs\u2019 success in 2025 are the players expected to be the starting second baseman and third baseman, Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw.<\/p>\n

In BCB After Dark, Sara Sanchez covered the question of who\u2019ll play second base if Nico can\u2019t start the season there, and you can discuss that portion of the question over there.<\/p>\n

Meghan Montemurro of the Tribune confirms, in this article, that Nico won\u2019t play the two games in Japan against the Dodgers, but could be ready for the North American start to the season:<\/p>\n

\n

Hoerner won\u2019t make the trip with the team, manager Craig Counsell said Thursday. Hoerner is \u201cvery much tracking toward\u201d being ready for the Cubs\u2019 domestic opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 27 in Phoenix, Counsell added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s tough for Nico, not being able to travel to Japan as one of the senior members of the team (only Ian Happ, among players on the current roster, has been with the Cubs longer). But it\u2019s good news that he\u2019ll likely only miss those two regular season games. He\u2019ll obviously continue workouts in Mesa while the Cubs are overseas and likely play in the final five exhibition games when they return.<\/p>\n

As for Shaw:<\/p>\n

\n

The Cubs haven\u2019t made a decision about third baseman Matt Shaw\u2019s availability for the Tokyo Series. Shaw, who has been sidelined by an oblique issue, likely will play in his first Cactus League game Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So that\u2019s good news. Beginning Sunday, the Cubs still have nine Spring Training games before they depart for Tokyo, and if Shaw could play in maybe five or six of those and not have any further adverse effects from the oblique issue, I\u2019d think he\u2019d be a go for Japan. In any case, like Hoerner, even if Shaw can\u2019t play in Tokyo, he\u2019d almost certainly be ready for the series against the Diamondbacks beginning March 27.<\/p>\n

Lastly, here are a few details about the Cubs roster for the Tokyo Series:<\/p>\n

\n

The Cubs won\u2019t need to put Hoerner on the injured list before the games in Tokyo. The two-game series has unique roster rules in which each team can bring 31 players to Japan and deem 26 to be active for the games. An additional three players who don\u2019t make the trip can be listed as inactive and don\u2019t have to be put on the IL. Hoerner would fall in that group.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So there will be a five-player \u201ctaxi squad\u201d brought to Japan in case of injury. It should be noted that if Shaw does go to Japan for the two-game series against the Dodgers, he\u2019d have to be placed on the 40-man roster before the series, mandating a move of someone else off the 40-man. If not, the Cubs could wait until just before the March 27 game against Arizona to put Shaw on the 40-man.<\/p>\n

As always, we await developments. Personally, I hope Shaw is ready to go. We\u2019ll likely see how ready he is beginning Sunday, when the Cubs host the Reds at Sloan Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We now know more about all three of the key points in the headline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":37681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nNico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and the Cubs\u2019 trip to Japan - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and the Cubs\u2019 trip to Japan - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We now know more about all three of the key points in the headline.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-28T22:15:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/avtvip-6-7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37680\",\"name\":\"Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and the Cubs\u2019 trip to Japan - 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