MESA, Ariz. — When the Cubs open the 2023 season March 30 at Wrigley Field, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner might be the only position players back in the opening-day lineup.
The signings of Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Eric Hosmer and Tucker Barnhart, who will share catching duties with Yan Gomes, have changed the Cubs in significant ways.
Did the so-called “intelligent spending” spree officially end the Cubs rebuild?
“I don’t know if I can answer that,” Mancini said Friday morning at Cubs camp. “But especially with the moves that were made, we’re expecting to compete here. We don’t see this as being a steppingstone year or still rebuilding. We’re here to win, and that’s what the attitude has got to be every day.
“In Baltimore I went through a whole rebuild and saw it all the way through just about. And after being in Houston especially, you see what it takes to win. It’s a belief. It’s 26 guys playing for each other and a full belief that they can win.”
It’s a different feel for sure, and one that bears watching as spring training unfolds.
What do these veterans bring to camp that’s any different than what since-departed veterans such as Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Villar and Frank Schwindel brought last spring?
Three championship rings among Mancini, Hosmer and Bellinger, for one. If any returning Cubs player wants to know how it’s done, all they have to do is look around the room and ask.
“It definitely changes things,” Hoerner said of the influx of veterans. ”You want to be in a locker room full of guys that have played the game at the highest level and have experience, and we’ve got several World Series champions coming into the locker room.
“That’s what it’s all about, right? So guys who haven’t actually done it, seeing what that looks like in the clubhouse, what it takes. … At that point, you’re not hoping (to win). It’s guys that have actually done it. That’s the real deal. That’s what we all want to do.”
Mancini, who turns 31 next month, figures to be one of the keys if the Cubs hope to contend. He hit 35 home runs with 97 RBIs and an .899 OPS with the Orioles in 2019 before being diagnosed with colon cancer on his 28th birthday, forcing him to sit out the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The cancer has been in remission since, and Mancini will platoon with the left-handed-hitting Hosmer at first while also spending time as designated hitter. Mancini knows he’ll have to prove himself again.
After being dealt to the Astros in August, Mancini struggled with a .176 average and went 1 for 21 in the postseason. He went 32 days without a hit going into Game 5 of the World Series, when Mancini made a stellar defensive play robbing Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber to help the Astros to a 3-2 win. They took the Series in six games, then he left as a free agent, signing a two-year, $14 million deal in January.
“I got off to a really good start the first three weeks in Houston and honestly I just slumped at the wrong time,” Mancini said. “I had some mechanical stuff going on that I couldn’t figure out. Probably overthought a little bit, and that’s what happened. It’s as simple as that.
“It was, unfortunately, not a great time to slump, but I had a tough last month and a rough postseason, up until the last couple games there. You’ve got to stay ready. Then (first baseman) Yuli (Gurriel) went down in Game 5 and I went in to play defense for the first time in a month.
“You have to have that belief you’re going to come in and impact the game. And that (belief) matters. Going through that really helped me — not losing faith in yourself and having too much self-doubt. I knew I was a good player, that I could impact the Series in some regard. And I wasn’t sure I would get a chance to do that.
“Luckily I did. But going through that you learn a lot about yourself.”
Mancini’s bout with cancer also taught him about himself and how life can change in a second. He was coming off a career year with the Orioles in spring training of 2020 when doctors discovered a cancerous mass in his large intestine. Three years later, Mancini concedes he is a different person.
“I don’t want to say wiser, but that’s the only word I can think of,” he said. “It does put life into perspective a lot, but at the same time, to my core, as far as baseball goes, I’m still the same intense guy who wants to play well for the guys around me. That desire to be great hasn’t changed at all. But you definitely change as a person when you go through that.”
Mancini obviously had the support of his loved ones and everyone in baseball, but he was unable to go to the ballpark and see his Orioles teammates while undergoing treatment.
“It was the COVID year, my white blood cell count was low, so I couldn’t go in,” he said. “That made it even tougher. I wanted to go in on the weeks I was feeling good at least. But with COVID I couldn’t, so I had to watch and cheer from afar.”
When Mancini heard this winter about White Sox closer Liam Hendriks’ non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, Mancini asked for his cellphone number and immediately texted him.
“I’ve talked to Liam a couple times since he’s been in treatment,” he said. “The biggest thing for me going through it was talking to people who had been through the same thing, whether it be a different type of cancer or the same kind.
“Because everybody can wish you well, and it’s great to have a good support system, but seeing someone who has gone through it is one of the biggest inspirations when you’re going through it yourself. I’ve been there, know what it’s like, so I try to do the same thing whenever I can.”
Mancini now hopes to bring the lessons he has learned the last three years into the Cubs clubhouse, knowing firsthand the power of positive thinking.
