Spring Training Games Twelve and Thirteen

With so many players off to the World Baseball Classic, the outcome of the Spring games are probably even less meaningful then normal. But hey, anytime you can beat the Brewers is a great day. And to follow that up with a convincing victory against the Diamondbacks, I could be persuaded that these games DO have meaning.

• There are only a couple of Cubs players: Javier Assad and, to a lesser extent, BJ Murray, who are fighting for a spot on the 26-man roster. The rest are all either assured of a roster spot or don’t have a chance. So, while I’ll be rooting for their success with their relative teams, I’m much more concerned about their health than how they do.
  
  The one thing that would be really nice to see would be some improvement from Jameson Taillon, as compared to his first three abominable performances this Spring
  
• The race for the 4th outfielder plus last bench guy is heating up, with Michael Conforto having a nice game against the DBacks.
  Here is the latest 4TH-OF-o-METER. The stats in the Italy game do not show up here:

• One guy who may be getting overlooked, including by me, is Colin Rea. It was kind of a no-brainer for the Cubs to pick up his $6.5M club option, and take up the same role that he had at the beginning of last season as a swingman, who can provide long relief or start if needed. But he was solid as a starter in 2025, and has looked good this spring. As much as Taillon has struggled, I see a possibility that he gets the 5th starter spot to begin the season. Conspiracy theory incoming: this might involve an early IL stint for Taillon, perhaps from a “minor injury” he picks up in the WBC. Regardless, I see Rea picking up lots of starts this season as the current #6.
  
• Dansby Swanson was never an amazing hitter, with his career high OPS at .809 back in 2020. But his number the last two seasons (.701 and .717) have been a large step down from the previous five (which ranged from .744 to .809). It would be nice to see him get back to the .750 range, and maybe his early Spring hitting is indicative of the possibility. Or maybe it’s just Spring, and we need to expect good defense and the occasional home run.
  
• Luke Little was my sleeper pick to make the team before the season, but two more walks in one inning (against Diamondbacks subs who won’t see the majors this year) has me all but abandoning that prediction. One of those walks was against Brady Counsell, and none of the pitches were even close (including the strike call), so maybe he was just being careful not to hit the son of his manager. Unless it was a sweeper on his foot.
  
• There was some overall improvement from the Lefty relievers, as MiIlner and Thielbar had spotless innings, and Little managed to avoid giving up runs.