The Cubs are painfully wasting a key spot on the 26-man roster with this player

I'm not sure what was the bigger spring training storyline: Kyle Tucker's much talked about Cactus League struggles or Gage Workman being the second coming of Ron Santo. The former storyline has was quickly put to bed with Tucker setting the world on fire and earning NL Player of the Week honors while the latter has inexplicably quietly slid into the background.

Workman, who slashed .364/.420/.705 in the spring, cracked the team's Opening Day 26-man roster, adding versatile infield depth and avoiding having to send him back to the Detroit Tigers as a Rule 5 pick. But to this point, he has all of six at-bats - with five strikeouts.

When manager Craig Counsell has needed to give a guy around the infield a day off, he's relied on Justin Turner and Jon Berti - two veterans who will have to play key roles for this Cubs team if they're going to be successful this season. But his reliance on that tandem raises the question: what is Workman's role on this team?

At this point, you're probably not promoting someone like Ben Cowles or Owen Caissie. The Triple-A season is just over a week old and you're not going to keep these guys from getting everyday at-bats to ride the pine at the big-league level.

But, at least for now, that's the plan for Workman - who also has no path to regular ABs with Chicago. Barring an injury that bumps up Berti on the depth chart, Workman is the equivalent to a third-string quarterback - and it sure feels like the only reason he's the 26th man on the roster over any other option, internal or external, is because he's a Rule 5 selection.

If the Cubs are that high on Workman (and they certainly seem to be) they have no choice but to find a way to work him into the rotation this year - or else ask Counsell to essentially play a man down over the course of 162 games. That's the only way they can keep him and then stash him away at Iowa heading into 2026 after what would amount to a year of lost development time as he sits the bench for six months.

It's a puzzling move. Is Counsell just prioritizing the veterans in a brutal stretch of schedule to start the year? Perhaps. This is a storyline that, given the buzz surrounding him a month ago, has fallen off of fans' radars - but is one that's certainly worth keeping an eye on as the Cubs work their way deeper into the calendar.