Chicago Cubs: Who is Terrance Gore and what does he bring?

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago Cubs made another move Wednesday, adding further depth. While this move is not major by any means, it could be interesting in September.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs traded for speedy outfielder Terrance Gore from the Kansas City Royals organization in exchange for cash considerations. Gore, 27, is on a minor league deal and will begin his career as a Cub with Triple-A Iowa.

Gore has spent his entire professional career with the Kansas City organization. He has 49 career games under his belt from 2014-2017 and has 21 total stolen bases in 25 attempts. In those 49 games he has participated in, he has 11 career at-bats and 14 plate appearances with no hits and one walk. It is also worth noting he has four stolen bases in the postseason. In 654 minor league games he has a career slash line of .241/.336/.272 with 111 RBI and 288 stolen bases.

Remember when the Cubs had Quintin Berry in 2015? Well this is probably going to be a lot like that.

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What he brings to Chicago

Gore will likely stay with Iowa until Sept. 1 when the rosters expand. When called up, he will be a pinch-runner and the last outfielder on the depth chart. He will not be in any starting lineups (unless they have clinched everything and Joe Maddon wants to REALLY mess around) and will not get many plate appearances.

Expect a late substitution on the bases in tight games for guys like Kyle Schwarber, Ben Zobrist or Albert Almora. All of his MLB fielding experience is in left field (23 innings worth), which again can be useful for subbing for Schwarber late with keeping Almora in center and Jason Heyward in right. Overall though his main purpose will be to wreak havoc on the bases.

Not only can he be useful in September, but he could be a Dave Roberts-type in the postseason. Of course this is reference to his utilization as a pinch-runner for the 2004 Red Sox. Similar situations in a late September game could call for a speedy runner to advance from first to scoring position in a flash. Outside Javier Baez, the Cubs do not have much speed and he really helps out in a big moment.

dark. Next. Can El Mago swim his way into October lore this year?

Imagine Game 7 of the 2018 World Series, Schwarber gets on and represents the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Terrance Gore pinch-runs for him, steals second…then third. He scores the winning run on a ball in play to win it all. Not to get ahead of ourselves of course!