In the sleepy spring training camp, besides the injury news, comes the short feature that the coaches may have found their "new Joe Mather." One would think that is not earth shattering news. The powers that be are looking to Brian Bogusevic as a potential 5th outfielder, back-up first baseman. The left handed hitter is batting .444 this spring, but mostly in split squad games.
So why are the Cubs salivating over the "next" Joe Mather?
Mather, 30, was a utility player last season. He played OF, 3B, 1B and pitched a scoreless 1/3 of an inning. He had a woeful .870 fielding percentage at third. He was not a stellar hitter either. He batted .209 in 243 PA, with 5 HR, 19 RBI, 5 SB, 256 OBP, and a negative 2.0 WAR.
So when the Cubs coaches say they may have found their "new" Joe Mather, one should ask "why do you want to find another Joe Mather? He was terrible."
So why is Bogusevic such a prize?
He is 29 years old. He is from the Chicago area, so maybe his family will buy a few more baseball tickets this year. He played for the lowly Astros last season. He was a three-position outfielder, and pitched one inning in mop up duty. So he is not as versatile as Mather. He hit .203 in 404 PA, with 7 HR, 28 RBI, 15 SB, .297 OBP and a negative 0.1 WAR. Not very good.
And the concept of Bogusevic learning to be a major league quality first baseman during the few weeks of spring training is far-fetched pipe dream.
It goes to show that the Cubs interest in Bogusevic is an admission that the organization is devoid of any roster depth at the major league level. Bad teams rotate in journeymen major leaguers or the career AAAA talent that hangs on at the fringe of small market team rosters. The Cubs new management has had two years to bolster their AAA roster to find players for the back-up roles at third, first, second and pitching but they have failed to even budge on the huge talent gap. Instead, the emphasis has been on scouting and signing rookie and Class A players. That leaves the major league roster a patchwork of Mathers and Bogusevics to field a team.
