Matt Mervis could be to the 2023 Chicago Cubs what Anthony Rizzo was to the 2012 edition– the first piece put in place of an actual, legitimate rebuild. A sports team rebuild, in the most literal sense, only comes after a tear down, and that’s what we saw with the July 2021 trade deadline fire sale.
Elite organizations reload instead of rebuild, constantly churning their roster to stay at an elite level at all times.
The Cubs are obviously far removed from that.
Currently on pace to finish 69-93 this season, we’re already reaching the point in the season where we’re straining to try and find legitimate reasons to watch. Matt Mervis is one.
Christopher Morel, the first Cub in franchise history to record nine home runs in the first 12 games of a season, is another.
Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ were already established guys to watch heading into the season.
Adding Dansby Swanson (and Cody Bellinger has far exceeded expectations) and all of a sudden you have maybe have, dare I say it, a core nucleus developing.
Still that 12-7 beginning to this season is ancient history now. All that remains from that hot start are the terrible takes that it inspired.
And even those takes, some of which did some blatant Ricketts water-carrying, glossed over an important fact pertaining to the 2016 World Series title team.
That “core four”, evolving term that it was, stopped being supplemented with supporting players long before the July 31, 2021 sell-off. Yes, I agree that Cubs core plateaued, but that was only because Ricketts truly stopped buying 2-3 years before they were all traded away.
The Cubs didn’t shift from buyers to sellers in 2021.
The mood all changed after Yu Darvish- he was the last major signing of ambitious intent before the fire sale.
So who knows what Bryzzo, Baez and company might have won had Ricketts actually tried at all during the 2019-2021 off-seasons.
Is he trying now? I guess we’ll just have to see next winter, and in the winter after that.
But the Anthony Rizzo and Matt Mervis comparisons aren’t made just because they both play first base. Rizzo got to the Cubs first, ahead of Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Willson Contreras, Jorge Soler, Kyle Schwarber everyone.
He arrived to be a part of a terrible 2012 Cubs team. They were abysmal again in 2013. And once again awful in 2014. Then it all switched on, with authority, in 2015. Rizzo was a stellar prospect with high expectations.
Matt Mervis was named the Cubs 2022 Minor League Player of the Year after he hit a combined .309 with 40 doubles, two triples, 36 home runs, 119 RBI and 50 walks, giving him a .379 on-base percentage and a .984 OPS. His 36 home runs were the most by a Cubs minor leaguer since Bryant hit 43 in 2014.
His RBIs and extra base hits totals led all of the entire minor leagues. He was also chosen as the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars MVP, an Arizona Fall League Fall Star, and he was also named the 2022 Fall Stars Game MVP.
The member of the 2023 World Baseball Classic Israeli National Team could honestly develop into the new Hebrew Hammer. Except without the PEDs, like that guy who was a star for that team up I-94.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.