Chicago Cubs: Terrance Gore needs to be a member of this team in 2020
By Bill Quinn
Chicago Cubs: You’d see a lot of this with Gore on the roster for 162 games
Gore is one of the most elite base stealers in an era where stealing bags is no longer a thing. One of the reasons it’s no longer a thing is that it’s not worth the risk with most would-be thieves. Unless you can steal bases three out of four times or better, it’s just not worth it. While run expectancy value and data changes from year to year and is obviously different from team to team, having a guy that can swipe bases at an 80-90 percent clip consistently is worth his weight in gold.
Thing is, most teams don’t have that guy or don’t want to waste a spot on that guy. Whether it’s Gore or another guy like him who is just blistering the base paths, most teams don’t consider carrying an extra guy just to attempt to steal bases and pinch run worth the roster spot.
What I’m proposing is to sign Gore, who is currently a free agent, and do the following: use him. Use him as often as you can where it makes sense. For new Cubs manager David Ross to make this added specialist work as the 26th man, here’s how to use him to take full advantage of his mind-boggling speed.
In any game that is close (tied, one run game, two run game) after the sixth inning, you insert Gore any time a runner leads off the inning with a walk or hit. Every single time.