“I promise you guys that this year is going to be [different].” Q&A with Cubs shortstop Javier Báez

On the eve of the first full-squad workout for the Cubs, star shortstop Javier Báez held court with reporters for nearly 20 minutes. Here is the Q&A with Báez, who talked about the 2020 season, what he felt went wrong in ’19, the possibility of signing an extension and much more.

Q: Are you ready to get this season started?

JB: “Oh yeah. Yeah. Really excited. I’m ready. Everybody’s excited to be around each other and ready to go tomorrow.”

Q: Are you surprised the team wasn’t more active over the offseason?

JB: “No, not really. Like I’ve said before, we trust our guys. If moves are made, we understand. If not, we’re going to go out there and compete against all the teams that we play against. Other teams are getting better, which is good for us, because we’ve got to compete more and we’ve got to get focused on competing and not on what’s going on around us.”

Q: Are you happy to still have the core group together?

JB: “Yeah. It was a tough season last year. Even worse for me, I didn’t play the last month. Like I’ve said, we haven’t been where we want to be. We’ve been ups and downs, but it’s been more down than up. So, we’ve just got to keep that level in-between. We’ve got to find it. We’ve got to compete and we’ve got to beat all these guys that are getting better.”

Q: How’s your hand?

JB: “Good. I feel 100 percent. To be honest, I can’t really tell you, because I haven’t seen live pitching. I have been hitting off the machines, too, and it doesn’t really bother me. So, we’ll see. We’ll see tomorrow when I start diving on the bags and stuff. Right now, it feels great.”

Q: What do you think it will be like to play for Ross?

JB: “I think it’s going to be exciting. He’s a young manager, which he knows what we think, what we feel. So, I think it’s going to be really exciting. Everybody’s excited about it. We’ve just got to wait for the games to see how it goes.”

Q: A couple years ago, you almost won the MVP. Do you think you can get back to that level?

JB: “Yeah. I can’t wait for this season. I don’t like talking much, but I just let my talent show up. I want to be on the top three players out there. I’m working for that. Hopefully, at the end of the season, you guys can see it. I’m just trying to get better every day.”

Q: We talked to you at Cubs Convention about discussing an extension with the team. Do you hope to get something done before Opening Day?

JB: “To be honest, if it happens, I’d be grateful. Like I’ve said, I want to be here for my whole career. If not, I’ve got to be focused on baseball. I’ve got to see the business side. I’ve got to see the game side. I’ve got to take my team to get better and to be in the playoffs again.”

Q: Would you like Opening Day to be a kind of deadline, so you can focus on baseball?

JB: “I don’t know. It depends on my agency and how they want to do it. But, I do want to be focused on baseball.”

Q: From your conversations with your agent, do you think something can get done?

JB: “It’s been up and down. It’s business. It’s really tough. But, I’ll let them work that out. If it works, great. If not, we’ve got another year.”

Q: So, you just want to block that all out and leave it to your agent…

JB: “Yeah, that’s for sure. That’s why we have them. I want to be focused on baseball. I want to do good. I want to be the best. And you can’t be your own agent and play baseball. So, I’ll leave that to them and see what’s going to happen.”

Q: Has the team told you to take things easy with your hand early in camp?

JB: “No. I think if I be careful, I’ll get hurt again. I’ve got to be me and I’ve got to be 100 percent out there.”

Q: What can the offense do this year to get more out of the individual seasons that everyone put up a year ago?

JB: “Thinking as a team. Thinking about the next guy. Seeing who’s hitting. Seeing how they’re pitching to the guy before you. I think we’ve got to let our numbers get away and see how we end up in September or October. But, for me, it’s thinking as a team that we haven’t been doing these last two years.”

Q: Last year, you were much better in the first half than in the second half. What can you do to try to improve on that this year?

JB: “It’s kind of different for me, because I usually start cold and in the second half I start warming up. But, I’ve been focused on trying to do good since we start. And last year, I was kind of out for a couple weeks and then the last month. And when I came back, I think I was trying too much. That’s why I started struggling again. But, it was the desperate part, to be back out there. But, like I said, I want to be healthy, I want to be the best out there. So, that’s what I’m working for.”

Q: When you say ‘thinking as a team,’ what do you mean exactly?

JB: “Yeah, I mean, sometimes we’re off by a lot or down by a lot and we want to hit homers. That’s really not going to work for the team. It’s about getting on base and giving the at-bat to the next guy. Sometimes, we forget about that, because the situation of the game. And I think that’s the way you get back to the game, going pitch by pitch and at-bat by at-bat.”

Q: What does Ross bring that can help get more out of the same group of players?

JB: “Well, he makes us relax. He teaches how everything is going to go and how everything is step by step, because I went through it when he was a player. I used to go up to him and ask a lot of questions. One time he told me, ‘Don’t ask too much. Just let the experience teach you.’ That’s our goal. He knows the frustration when we suck, when we struggle and when we’re doing good. I’m honestly really excited for him to be here, our manager. Like I said, we’ve just got to wait for the games to see how everything goes.”

Q: Will he bark at players more than Joe did?

JB: (laughs) “Yeah, I mean, if he has to. If he has to get on your butt, he will. And that’s something good. That’s not to show you up. It’s to make you better.”

Q: Did Joe ever do that?

JB: “No. Not that loud, but if he had to pull you over and bring you to the office and talk to you, obviously he would do it.”

Q: Think Ross will be loud?

JB: “We need him to be loud. We will like it, the way that he is with us. We understand and it’s part of it.”

Q: Did you guys need a change? A new voice?

JB: “No. I mean, Joe was great for us. Obviously, he brought the World Series to us. You guys see the business side. I don’t know what it was, what happened. But, obviously, Joe was great for me, for the organization, for the city, for everybody. We thank him a lot.”

Q: Ross has talked about working more as a team. Was that an issue last year?

JB: “Yeah. It wasn’t something bad, but we had a lot of optional things, not mandatory. And, everybody kind of sat back on that, even including me, because I wasn’t really going out there and preparing for the game. I was getting ready during the game, which is not good. But, this year, I think we — before the games — we’ve got to be all out, everybody out there as a team. Stretch as a team and be together as a team, so we can play together.”

Q: Are you happy to now be secure at one position — shortstop — rather than moving around?

JB: “Yeah. I feel good playing short. Everywhere that they put me, I’m going to try my best. To be set in one position is great, because you take a lot of pressure out of you, even when you think you’re not feeling it, but it’s there.”

Q: Is winning a Gold Glove a goal for you this year?

JB: “It’s whatever now. I’m just going to try my best. If I’m one of the top three, fine. What can I do? I’m over it.”

Q: Will it be different now having Pedro Strop here?

JB: “Yeah, he means a lot. He’s one of my brothers. He was one of the guys that taught me a lot of things mentally. He’s the guy that you want to have right next to you. He’s a leader. Even knowing that he’s from the bullpen, he was a leader here. He was a leader. He was part of the leadership as a team, and obviously with all the Latino guys. But, it’s hard. It’s going to be hard not having him right next to me. I’m obviously in his locker now. But, he was great. He was great for us and I’m really happy for him that he got job.”

Q: You kind of looked at him like a big brother, right?

JB: “Yeah, yeah. Since we’ve been here, we’ve been together. I learned so much stuff from him. How to be smart sometimes. It was really important for me.”

Q: Strop would even get on you sometimes, wouldn’t he?

JB: “Yeah, I mean, when he had to, you know? It’s part of the team. Everybody gets on everyone when they have to. The guys know when you’re doing something wrong and when you’re doing something right. It doesn’t matter who it’s coming from. It’s coming to make you better.”

Q: With him gone, will you step up more as vocal leader?

JB: “No. I mean, we have a couple leaders on the team. I think it was the same for all of them. It’s going to be different without his voice here, but we’re still going to be ourselves, beleaders. Obviously, I want to take all of our team and see if we can beat him, because he’s in our section now. We love him, but we’re going to have to beat him now.”

Q: The Reds look like they have a good team…

JB: “Yeah, they’ve got a good team, which is good for us. They’re not going to give us anything. We’ve got to go get it, we’ve got to beat it, we’ve got to win it.”

Q: Will the strength of the division help you guys focus more on each game?

JB: “Yeah, yeah. It depends on how good the teams are in our [division]. We’ve got to play the games like it’s the last one or like we’re in the playoffs, because we’re going to see them a lot.”

Q: Going back to your comments on the team’s preparation last year, you don’t think guys were ready for the games?

JB: “It was just, I got to the field and instead of going outside and hit BP, I would do everything inside, which is not the same. Once I go out to the field for the game, I feel like I wasn’t ready, you know? I feel like I was getting loose during the first four innings, and you should be, I should be ready and excited to get out before the first pitch. I promise you guys that this year is going to be like that.”

Q: Do you think it’s going to reach a point where the Cubs have to choose between you and Bryant when it comes to offering a big extension?

JB: “It’s up to them, to be honest. I wish, and I hope, we both stay here. Obviously, we want to keep everyone here, because we pretty much have the team that won. We have a lot of talent. Pretty much everyone is close to being the same age. But, it is what it is, man. It’s the business side, and obviously not every year we’re going to have the same players. So, we’ve got to understand that and we’ve got to keep moving forward.”

Q: Has any of this process made you pay attention more to money aspect of the game?

JB: “No. I think by this time, I went through it a lot of times. So, I know the situation and how everything goes. I just try to be focused on baseball and let the business side apart, and pay attention when I need to. But, it’s baseball for now.”

Q: Do you think taking part in team BP and things like that can help the team be more successful this year?

JB: “Yeah, I just feel like a lot of players were doing the same as me. They were getting loose during the game and you can lose the game in the first inning. And, sometimes when you’re not ready, and the other team scores by something simple, I feel like it was because of that. It was because we weren’t ready. We weren’t ready to throw the first pitch, because nobody was loose.”

Q: If you say players were doing the same are you, does that mean you recognize that they follow your lead?

JB: “Yeah. We’re going to make sure everybody is outside, everybody is doing their routine, everybody is getting ready for the team, for the game.”

Q: Did you follow the Astros scandal at all? Is it upsetting?

JB: “I mean, I’ve got no comments about it. They’ve got talent. All the teams that are here, they’re here for a reason. All the players are here for a reason. But, you’ve got to understand that you won’t have the same team every year. So, if you’re smart to do that, you’ve got to be smart in knowing not every player is coming back next year. That’s just my thought, but they got talent. You can mention anyone on that team and they’ve all got talent.”

Q: You mean that people will leave and tell other people?

JB: “Yeah, like it happens. But, I’ve got nothing against them. They made their mistake. They accepted it. We’ve got to move forward.”

— JB