5 questions Cubs must answer with week left in camp

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The Cubs might know who’s on first. But what’s on second?Never mind the bench, bullpen, backup catcher and any number of roles within the position areas.As Crash Davis might say during a mound visit, the Cubs are dealing with a lot of [stuff] with precious little time left in spring training to make their last few key decisions on the 26-man roster before opening the season.The Cubs break camp one week from today to head north for their April 1 opener at home against the Pirates.And they have at least five key questions still to answer in that big week ahead:

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Is there an echo in here? As we said at the top, the big position battle in camp all month has reached fever pitch into the final few days before decision time.

Nico Hoerner, the 2020 Gold Glove finalist who was rushed to the big leagues as an emergency  injury replacement in 2019, has had a strong all-around spring and might yet earn a shot at the everyday job — or yet wind up opening in the minors to further refine his hitting.

If Hoerner doesn’t win the job outright, the position likely will be filled with a rotation of players, including right-handed hitting David Bote (assured of a roster spot), lefty hitting Eric Sogard (the reliable veteran in camp on a minor-league deal) and switch-hitting Ildemaro Vargas (another non-roster veteran having a good spring).

“Every night on my drive home to my place I think, ‘Man, we got a lot of good players fighting for just a few spots,’ " manager David Ross said. “It’s a good problem to have.”

Whether the Cubs take 13 pitchers or 14 on the opening roster could determine whether there’s room for two of the infielders to join Bote on the roster, but no plausible scenario allows for all four.

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Backup catcher Austin Romine’s lingering knee issue is making him look increasingly like a long shot to be ready for start of the season with each passing day — which has opened the door for what might have been the long shot of the spring to come in when the Opening Day roster is announced.

P.J. Higgins’ next big-league game will be his first. And barring a last-minute signing or sudden return to full strength by Romine, it’s looking like that debut might come the first time Willson Contreras needs a break once the season opens.

It’s not exactly the kind of seasoned backup the Cubs had in recent years in Victor Caratini, who looks like he’ll be the starter in San Diego when the season opens after being sent to the Padres with Yu Darvish in that offseason blockbuster.

But Higgins, the 12th-round draft pick out of Old Dominion in 2015, has earned consistent praise from his manager this spring, not to mention that vote of confidence from the brass when veteran backup José Lobatón was sent out in last week’s cuts.

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With all due respect to Pedro Strop and his hat, the Shelby Miller question is the most intriguing pitching question of the final week of the season.

A non-roster right-hander who was an All-Star in 2015 before being beset with injuries in recent years (and opting out of the COVID-19 2020 season), Miller has been the 95-mph eye-opener of camp.

Between a fastball that tops anything the projected rotation has to offer and an effective breaking-ball mix, Miller has the look of a fit for the middle of the Cubs’ patchwork, mostly soft-tossing rotation — or a possible swingman/piggyback option as the Cubs try to plan for workload management across the staff.

For now, they don’t seem to be thinking in terms of a starting job for Miller to open the season. Beyond that, will they make a big mistake if they don’t at least take him north when they break camp and find a significant role for him?

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Exactly. The Cubs have just three left-handers remaining in camp, with only veteran reliever Andrew Chafin a lock to make the roster, barring injury.

With no lefties among the top seven on the starting-rotation depth chart, that makes spring star Rex Brothers and late-starting Brad Wieck as precious commodities for the opening roster. Or so it would seem.

“If we go with a second lefty, those two guys are in the mix for sure,” Ross said.

If?

Good thing there aren’t any bad-ass lefty hitters in the division like, say, Christian Yelich.

It could come down to whether the Cubs carry 13 or 14 pitchers and whether Adbert Alzolay has a fourth option, which would allow the Cubs to start him in the minors (what’s the holdup, Mr. MLB Arbitrator?).

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This isn’t so much a question as a foregone conclusion awaiting the manager’s sense of drama (or humor) for an announcement.

Kyle Hendricks as the Opening Day starter has been not only the worst-kept secret in camp but an ongoing inside joke since the subject was raised alternately to him, his manager and his pitching coach in February.

Hendricks’ repeated response: “I’ll be ready for the start of the season.”

The only real question might be whether he repeats his complete-game shutout against the Pirates that he threw in last summer’s opener.

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