Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez injury proves how valuable team’s depth is

Despite its minor severity, last week’s injury to Javier Baez shows how valuable the Chicago Cubs’ positional depth will be over the course of the season.

When the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, the roster experienced tremendous levels of health. Aside from the Kyle Schwarber injury, the club avoided serious DL time for virtually every single player. Last season, however, proved to be a very different story.

Addison Russell played in just 100 games, Willson Contreras 117, Jason Heyward 132 and Ben Zobrist, 128 – all missing time with injuries. The pitching staff saw its fair share of sidelined players, as well with Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks both missing starts during the year. By the time the season drew to a close, this team was physically running on empty.

Last week, the Cubs saw their second injury of the spring. After Zobrist missed the first couple weeks of game action, Javier Baez tweaked a hamstring and will be reevaluated next week. While the injury is not expected to be serious, hammy issues can linger – and the team’s depth could become very important right out of the gates.

And depth in the middle infield isn’t enough, either. There are several areas where the Cubs need to safeguard against injury – here are the most important ones.