SAN ANTONIO \u2013 In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 season, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner added nuance <\/b>of his to the discussion about building 90-win teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also don\u2019t think 90 wins should necessarily be the goal,\u201d he told the Sun-Times, standing in front of his locker after the last game of the season. \u201cI mean, it gets you to the playoffs \u2013 obviously, first thing\u2019s first. But you want to dominate. That\u2019s what the Cubs should do; that\u2019s what the standard should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Craig Counsell\u2019s comments after the Cubs mathematically fell out of the NL Central race made building \u201c90-win teams\u201d a common topic in the last week and a half of the season. He called it the \u201cplayoff standard.\u201d And, indeed, every NL playoff team won at least 89 games in the regular season, and tiebreakers pushed the Diamondbacks under the threshold with that very win total.<\/p>\n
The Cubs won 83 games, performing to projections. That put them 10 games back of the division-champion Brewers and tied with the Cardinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see any reason this team couldn\u2019t have won 90-plus games,\u201d Hoerner said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t win a lot of big moments in close games, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a lack of preparation, but definitely things that we\u2019ll build on and learn from and be better equipped for in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as the players believed in their ability as a collective, it\u2019s the front office\u2019s job to keep strengthening the team\u2019s odds to make the postseason. And even if president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his team are going to count on some players outperforming projections, the higher they aim, the safer that bet.<\/p>\n
Hoerner is one of those hitters who the Cubs thought had untapped potential even going into this past season, especially when it came to his power numbers. They weren\u2019t looking for him to morph into a 20-homer hitter, but supplementing his contact ability with improved slug could help the team optimize its lineup.<\/p>\n
Even battling through a fractured right hand and hamstring issue this season \u2013 he avoided IL stints for both \u2013 Hoerner hit a career-high 35 doubles this past season.<\/p>\n
His flexor tendon surgery last month, however, will shape his offseason. Hoerner had been dealing with the injury for at least half the season, Hoyer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you go back now and watch \u2013 we knew about it \u2013 you can see some double play turns where he probably didn\u2019t have as much on the throw as he wanted,\u201d Hoyer said.\u201d You can see him running balls over and kind of short-arming some balls. So, it\u2019s a credit to his toughness that he was able just to play through and play really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hoyer said the timeline for Hoerner\u2019s return is \u201cuncertain.\u201d But the Cubs have middle infield depth that stretches into the prospect ranks with Matt Shaw and James Triantos. And they could always add to the group this offseason. A left-handed batter who could push for regular time as a utility man, for example, could complement the current roster.<\/p>\n
The range of possible recovery times, however, make it unclear whether the Cubs will have to tap into that depth early in the season. As long as Hoerner doesn\u2019t experience setbacks, he isn\u2019t expected to miss significant time for the injury.<\/p>\n
Several young pitchers also ended the season injured. Rookie Ben Brown is scheduled to have another scan in mid-November to make sure the benign area of concern in his neck has fully dissipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hope is that he has a no-restrictions off season,\u201d Hoyer said Monday. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll know that for a couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Left-hander Jordan Wicks\u2019 season ended a couple weeks early, when he began feeling discomfort near his oblique. He\u2019d already spent two and a half months on the IL for a strained right oblique. But he and the Cubs were encouraged when imaging showed that his late-season injury was actually a rib issue, which was causing tightness in the area.<\/p>\n
The team doesn\u2019t expect the injury to hinder Wicks\u2019 offseason.<\/p>\n
The Cubs\u2019 top pitching prospect, right-hander Cade Horton, had a strain of the subscapularis in his right shoulder wipe out all but nine starts last season. Before the injury, he\u2019d seemed likely to debut in 2024. Horton is on track to start a throwing progression this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The GM meetings this week also provided injury updates for Cubs pitchers Ben Brown, Cade Horton and Jordan Wicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n