MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Craig Counsell wasn\u2019t about to throw shade on the World Baseball Classic, an intense and exciting event that fans and players have embraced. It seems to be good for baseball. The experience of playing in high stakes competitions has value for players.<\/p>\n
That said, the Cubs manager\u2019s joy of watching his daughter win a state championship basketball game Saturday night in Green Bay, Wis., was tempered to some degree by news of Seiya Suzuki leaving Japan\u2019s semifinal loss to Venezuela in the WBC with a right knee injury, which also occurred Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Suzuki, who walked off the field with a minor limp after being tagged out attempting to steal second base, was en route from Miami to Cubs camp Sunday. Cubs medical and training staff are eager to examine him and get images of the right fielder\u2019s knee. Until then, Counsell is taking a \u201cwait and see\u201d approach before assessing the extent of the injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to see him,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s on a flight back here, lands late afternoon, it\u2019s going to take us through [Monday] to get our hands on Seiya and see what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s best we wait and see, let our doctors and trainers take a look at him and see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suzuki, who batted .245\/.326\/.478 with 32 homers in 151 games as the primary designated hitter for the Cubs last season, had a strong tournament as Japan\u2019s center fielder, going 3-for-9 with two home runs, five walks, two runs scored and five RBI. He was 2-for-4 with a home run in Cactus League games before heading to the WBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never want to see your players come out of a game,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd you know you\u2019re not going to have all the information. We just have to wait. There\u2019s nothing we can do but wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Shaw, the slick-fielding third baseman turned super utility player after the signing of three-time All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman, was the first name Counsell mentioned as he assessed the Cubs\u2019 depth in right field.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight is good,\u201d Shaw told the Sun-Times of the work and innings he has played there this spring. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a challenging position, especially at Wrigley, but It\u2019s enjoyable out there. I love playing with [center fielder] Pete [Crow-Armstrong], by game 2 or 3 our communication was pretty awesome. I\u2019m definitely ready to rock and roll wherever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaw, who was scheduled to play center against the Dodgers Sunday with Michael Conforto in right, said he\u2019s ready to step forward and assume more reps in right field, if needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always easier to play one position versus playing four or five,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cMental preparation, all those things. Not knowing where you\u2019re going to be every day. But of course I\u2019ll be prepared for whatever that looks like. If that means it looks like more time at one position, I\u2019m ready for that. If it looks like moving around all over the place, that\u2019s the more difficult of the two but I also feel I\u2019m ready for that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
In any case, with less than two weeks until Opening Day, it would be a significant loss should Suzuki be out for an extended period. Michael Tucker\u2019s signing with the Dodgers in free agency slotted Suzuki, who is in the last year of a five-year, $85 million deal, to be the primary right fielder with left-handed hitting Moises Ballesteros pegged as a primary DH.<\/p>\n
The Cubs have multiple options behind Suzuki on the right field depth chart.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear,\u201d Counsell said Sunday. \u201cMatt Shaw has played a lot of right field and then we\u2019ve got three other guys in camp. Conforto, Chas [McCormick] and Dylan Carlson and we also have Kevin [Alcantrara] on the roster. The outfield is an area where we have the most depth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Never a bad thing. Stuff happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year you\u2019re kind of battling the difference between \u2018This is what our team looks like\u2019 and things are going to happen,\u2019 \u201d Shaw said. \u201cSo you have to be prepared for both those things. \u201cThings always end up happening. It was unfortunate and Seiya was having an unbelievable [tournament], just crushing the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Craig Counsell wasn\u2019t about to throw shade on the World Baseball Classic, an intense and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-538686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}