Chicago Cubs: Terrance Gore needs to be a member of this team in 2020
By Bill Quinn
Chicago Cubs: Can Gore do anything else except run?
While Gore is an elite baserunner and base stealer, having been successful on 82 percent of his stolen base opportunities in the majors, 90 percent in theminors, and 84 percent in the postseason, he has not always been considered even close to that strong at anything else.
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In spite of the fact he is one of the fastest (ninth fastest in MLB this past year in sprint speed at 29.9 ft/sec) men in baseball, he hasn’t always been considered an above-average glove man, although he is most definitely better than a typical guy simply because of his ability to get to balls other outfielders could not.
If you’re going to spend a precious roster spot on a specialist who specializes in speed, you’d probably want the guy to be able to also provide defensive replacement in the late innings after having used him on the bases.
While the Cubs did this at times in 2018 with Gore in his brief stint in Chicago, either they’d have to commit to doing this as well, or find another elite defender with speed who could be used in such a role.
I’ve simply thrown out Gore as a possibility because he is already an established commodity when it comes to successful thefts of bags at the major league level. Finding someone they’d like better as a strict defensive replacement might be easy, but finding another stolen base artist on the same level as Gore might be a bit more difficult.