The Cubs second basemen made his Spring Training debut today
Welcome late night and/or early morning Cubs fans to the late-week, indie coffee shop that is serving up all the beverages to fuel a sports-fueled March Madness weekend or the caffeinated coffee and tea you need to power a weekend shift at work.
That’s right it’s the time of year where most eyes are focused on college basketball for a few weeks and listen, with some of the exciting finishes these week I can’t say I blame them. But here in Cubslandia we are focused on the looming baseball season. The Cubs were thwarted in two games against the juggernaut Dodgers overseas, but they still have 160 games to go in this baseball season. Those games will begin on March 27th in Arizona.
One question heading into those games is certainly whether their gold glove second baseman will be ready to play. Hoerner did not travel to Japan with the team as he recovers from offseason surgery to repair a right flexor tendon tear. He had not played in a Cactus League game until Friday afternoon. It was nice to see Nico in the lineup on Friday, but the question remains: Will Nico Hoerner be ready for Opening Day?
Let’s dive in after some tunes.
If you’ve been watching March Madness you’ve probably heard a lot of Lady Gaga. Her recent song Abracadabra has been everywhere during the tournament. It’s got a pounding beat and the lines about the intensity of the dance, or dance sending you into a trance plays perfectly into the dancing theme used every March in the tournament of 64.
But it also had me thinking of Lady Gaga’s first hit from 2009:
Comparing the two songs is a bit of a peak into 15 years of experience and musical influences. Just Dance is substantially more pop-oriented. It’s the type of song that describes the wild nights and excesses of your late 20’s or maybe early 30’s depending on how long you kept up those party vibes:
I’ve had a little bit too much, much
All of the people start to rush (Start to rush by)
A dizzy twister dance, can’t find my drink or man
Where are my keys? I lost my phone, phoneWhat’s goin’ on, on the floor?
I love this record, baby, but I can’t see straight anymore
Keep it cool, what’s the name of this club?
I can’t remember, but it’s alright, a-alright
16 years later Lady Gaga has a darker and more forceful take on dancing:
Like a poem said by a lady in red
You hear the last few words of your life
With a haunting dance, now you’re both in a trance
It’s time to cast your spell on the nightAbracadabra
Amor oo na na
Abra ca da bra
Morta oo gaga
Abracadabra
Abra oo na na
In her tongue she said
Death or love tonight
Maybe that’s just what 16 years does to anyone, or maybe it’s specific to the last 16 years. Either way, it’s been fun to think back to Lady Gaga’s radically different takes on dancing as dancing takes center stage for the best college basketball teams in the country.
Back in Cubslandia, it’s not like the Cubs have a shortage of second basemen on the roster. Jon Berti started both of the games in Japan and was the most offensively valuable player during that extremely small sample size of two games. But even if Berti returns to Earth the Cubs could play Vidal Bruján at second or Rule 5 pick Gage Workman.
Which is all to say, that while the Cubs would clearly prefer a lineup and defensive alignment that had Nico Hoerner in it, there is no reason to rush him back from injury — especially if there is any long-term risk he were reinjured.
Hoerner did not play back-to-back games and was out of the lineup on Saturday. That’s likely more about not pushing him to hard with the season less than a week away. That said the Cubs early schedule is not exactly easy. They kick off the bulk of the regular season against a tough Diamondbacks team, followed by three games against the Athletics in Sacramento. After that, it’s back-to-back three-game series against the Padres and Rangers before heading to LA to face the Dodgers.
It’s a rough spot because in an ideal world the Cubs would probably love to bring their best second base option along more slowly. But, it does raise the question, should the Cubs give Nico more time to recover given their middle infield depth?