With less than a week to the 2021 MLB season, teams are now trimming their rosters. For transaction junkies, it's a veritable flurry of moves. For casual fans, it's much ado about nothing. Occasionally, however, there are actions that move the needle. Notable in this space are a trio of infield moves from National League teams. Let's take a quick look at each.
Cubs option Hoerner
The Cubs have sent 2018 first-round pick Nico Hoerner to the minors to open the season. Understandably after the Kris Bryant situation, there are those who want to hand wring about service-time considerations. Of course, that was in 2015 under Theo Epstein. It's 2021 and Jed Hoyer is running the show. And Hoerner isn't Bryant.
Yes, Hoerner is hitting a robust .368/.405/.632 in spring training. He's also a career .247/.309/.333 hitter in 208 MLB plate appearances in the regular season. He's only played in 89 minor-league games in his career with zero of them coming at the Triple-A level. It's very reasonable to believe Hoerner could benefit from some time in Triple-A the same way Ian Happ did. Worrying about service-time manipulation in this case is assuming that spring training stats matter and that Hoerner is going to command a colossal contract six years from now. If you want to head down that road, feel free. I won't be joining you.
The Cubs will start the year with David Bote at second base. He hit just .200 last season, but he led the team in RBI and peripherals indicate he was incredibly unlucky on balls in play (he was in the 91st percentile in exit velocity and 95th percentile in hard hit percentage, for example). Oh, and if we're worried about spring stats, he's hitting .317/.378/.659.
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The 2016 Nationals' first-rounder has been optioned as well. Kieboom has been ranked as high as 11th in prospect lists from major publications and there's been hope that he was the third-base heir to Anthony Rendon's vacated hot corner throne in D.C. In 11 games in 2019, Kieboom hit .128 with 16 strikeouts in 39 at-bats. He got 33 games last season and hit .202/.344/.212. He's done nothing in the spring.
In and of itself, it's not a huge deal. Kieboom is still 23 years old and there's plenty of time for him to pan out.
It's just that the Nationals are still looking to win in their window of contention with the Scherzer-Strasburg-Corbin trio of aces. They added Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber in the offseason to beef up their offense, but now that Kieboom didn't make the team, they have Starlin Castro and Josh Harrison manning half the infield. The next option at second, short or third is veteran Jordy Mercer.
I'll again point out that any "service time" complaints are off base. Surely the Nationals would have wanted nothing more heading to the season for Kieboom to have taken the third-base job and run with it. Instead, this seems to be a case where a player is developing more slowly than the organization hoped.
Before Scott Kingery debuted in 2018, the Phillies gave him a six-year, $24 million contract. He drew comparisons to Dustin Pedroia (I'll leave aside how unfair stuff like that seems to me). He had a wholly disappointing rookie year, but was productive in 2019, gathering 34 doubles, four triples, 19 homers, 15 steals and 2.8 WAR in 500 plate appearances. Last season, though, he hit .159/.228/.283 in 124 plate appearances.
Though we listed Kingery as an infielder -- second base will likely be his permanent home at some point and he's played shortstop more than any other position in the majors -- Kingery looked like the Phillies' everyday center fielder entering spring training. Instead, he's going down to the minors, and it looks like either Odubel Herrera or Roman Quinn will man center.
Kingery is older than Hoerner and Kieboom. He's turning 27 in a month. He also only has 109 games in Double-A and 63 in Triple-A under his belt. It's entirely possible he works things out and even gets a bit of a confidence boost with some time spent in Triple-A.
Of course, the caveat to all three cases here is the minor-league season is delayed by a month and players will instead work at a team's alternate site for the next month. The Triple-A season is tentatively scheduled to being May 4. It's unfortunate for Hoerner, Kieboom and Kingery that their development will be delayed in this fashion, but the demotions for all three have the capability of being better for the players. They are certainly interesting cases to watch.
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March 29, 2021 at 12:14AM
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Phillies, Nationals and Cubs make notable roster cuts ahead of 2021 MLB Opening Day - CBS Sports
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