The Chicago Cubs had their third base problem solved—until they didn’t.
Last year’s deadline deal for Isaac Paredes gave the Cubs a stabilizing force at the hot corner. But instead of building on that momentum, they flipped Paredes to Houston this past offseason for a one-year rental of Kyle Tucker. And now, with contract talks between the Cubs and Tucker going nowhere, the front office might be left with neither solution nor long-term payoff.
Meanwhile, the team is watching 23-year-old Matt Shaw try to learn third base in real time—and it hasn’t been pretty.
Matt Shaw’s Growing Pains
A former top prospect, Shaw is hitting just .203 with a .570 OPS across 60 games. His July numbers are even worse: a 1-for-22 slump forced manager Craig Counsell to start giving him breathers. The underlying numbers are alarming. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rate are among the lowest in the league. Sometimes, it feels like the Cubs are hoping Shaw magically becomes Paredes. But that kind of leap takes more than optimism.
“I mean, look, Matt’s gotten a great opportunity,” Counsell said this week . “That’s how you keep looking at it. He’s got a great opportunity.”
That’s a generous way of saying: If he’s not the solution soon, the Cubs may have to look elsewhere—fast.
They’re Not Alone in the Market
Chicago isn’t the only team scanning the market for third base help. The New York Yankees have cobbled together innings at the position using DJ LeMahieu , Jazz Chisholm Jr. , and Oswald Peraza , but their production has fallen off a cliff. The Detroit Tigers , a sneaky top contender, have struggled with consistency at third and could benefit from a power bat at the hot corner.
And then there’s the Milwaukee Brewers , who know firsthand how fragile a lineup can feel when one corner spot produces below league average. Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio have been serviceable, but for a team fighting to catch up to Chicago in the NL Central, a surefire third baseman would go a long way toward shoring up the infield.
The Hot Commodity: Eugenio Suárez
One name that keeps surfacing across multiple contender wishlists: Eugenio Suárez .
The veteran third baseman has had a bounce-back year with the Arizona Diamondbacks , playing solid defense and flashing newfound power to make him attractive to teams with lineup holes. He’s not a long-term answer, but he’s the kind of midseason stabilizer who can help a postseason team get through the grind.
With the Diamondbacks falling out of the NL West race and Wild Card race, Suárez is increasingly seen as a lock to be moved. The question is: Who gets to him first? If they move him at all .
Cubs Have the Most to Lose
The Cubs created their own dilemma. They traded Isaac Paredes—with two years of team control left—to Houston for Kyle Tucker in a flashy move that now looks shortsighted. Unless they extend Tucker, they’ve sacrificed positional stability for a star who could leave by November.
While GM Jed Hoyer and Counsell remain optimistic about Shaw, the numbers tell another story. This isn’t just a rookie slump—it’s a structural weakness on a team that can’t afford one.
Chicago could wait. They could hope Shaw figures it out and delivers a Pete Crow-Armstrong-style second-half surge. But they could also act like a contender and plug the hole before the Yankees, Tigers, or Brewers beat them.
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