Cubs vs. Rockies – Cubs Lineup, Pitching Matchup, How to Watch, More

March 14, 2023, by Michael Cerami Chicago Cubs

An off-day? In Spring Training?? On a Monday??? FOLLOWED BY AN 8:05PM START TIME???? What were they trying to do to us! This is unacceptable.

Tom Ricketts and Rob Manfred will be hearing from my attorney, Bertrum A. Trailer. He’s quite adequate.

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

Nico Hoerner, 2B
Ian Happ, LF
Dansby Swanson, SS
Trey Mancini, 1B
Cody Bellinger, CF
Eric Hosmer, DH
Patrick Wisdom, RF
Edwin Ríos, 3B
Yan Gomes, C

David Ross is clearly zeroing in on an Opening Day — or at least “normal circumstances” — lineup here lately. The order is almost identical to Sunday, and the personnel/positioning is close, too.

Nick Madrigal became Edwin Rios. Tucker Barnhart became Yan Gomes. With both positions batting in the same spots in the order.
Meanwhile, Eric Hosmer (1B to DH) and Trey Mancini (DH to 1B) swapped positions.

I think with a lefty on the mound, we’re not likely to see Hosmer at first base, which could open up more opportunities for Nick Madrigal (by way of Mancini covering first base and Wisdom playing right field or DH (leaving 3B open)). And with a righty on the mound, we might see Rios get his shot at third (Madrigal to the bench?), assuming he makes the Opening Day roster. That would leave Mancini at DH (or right field), Wisdom at right field (or DH), and Hosmer at first.

Yes, I am already concerned about how much run that means Hosmer will get at first base.

The odd man out here, if you didn’t notice, is Mike Tauchman, who has certainly played well enough this spring, but isn’t necessarily a lock for the roster, even absent Seiya Suzuki (oblique).

As a reminder, the Cubs got Rios on a big league deal and Tauchman on a minor league deal, but Rios has a minor league option remaining and Tauchman does not. In other words, keeping Rios, while optioning him to Iowa, is actually easier than keeping Tauchman, who may require a roster bonus *and* may have an opt-out early in the season (that’s just the nature of the new CBA and minor league deals for veteran players).

I … keep starting to type more on the fringe roster battle(s), which has just become crazy complicated and loaded with Eh, maybe I can see it” guys like Bote, Mastrobouni, McKinstry, Morel, Velázquez, DeLuzio, Madrigal, Rios, Tauchman, etc. But we’ll just have to save that for another day.

Pitching Matchup:

Cubs: Justin Steele, LHP

Rockies: German Márquez, RHP

Justin Steele is all set to make his second start of the spring, hopefully dispelling any concerns that arose from that first scratched outing at the start of camp (do you even remember that?). Seeing as he’s a game behind the rest of the starters (though he did throw a bullpen), I wouldn’t necessarily expect him to definitely go 3.0+ innings yet. Probably more like two or exactly three if he’s feeling froggy, just depending on where he is in his ramp up. No concerns there; plenty of time left to get up to full strength.

Steele’s first outing featured two scoreless, hitless, walk-less, strikeout-less innings against the Padres.