{"id":545262,"date":"2026-01-30T04:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/545262\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T04:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:17:31","slug":"mike-tauchman-could-be-the-perfect-fit-for-the-cubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/545262\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Tauchman Could Be The Perfect Fit For The Cubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs<\/a> have been looking for ways to improve their outfield depth ahead of the 2026 season. This is an area the Cubs have been active in over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

They claimed Justin Dean<\/a> off waivers from the San Francisco Giants and signed both Chas McCormick<\/a> and Dylan Carlson<\/a> to Minor League deals. Those three outfielders, plus Kevin Alcantara<\/a>, are expected to fight for that No. 4 outfield spot in Spring Training.<\/p>\n

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Despite those recent additions, the Cubs could look to add another outfielder in free agency to compete with those four players. Patrick Mooney of The Athletic believes it\u2019s a real possibility. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe extra flexibility could lead the Cubs to add another hitter to a group that largely stayed healthy last season, and improve a bench that was mostly viewed as a disappointment,\u201d Mooney wrote. \u201cMoving Matt Shaw into a super-utility role while Bregman takes over at third base is a start. The Cubs may also want another outfielder with a higher floor than the players they\u2019ve recently signed to minor-league deals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs are still trying to complete their bench for the 2026 season and will continue adding outfielders to the mix. With the front office wanting to add a \u201chigher floor\u201d outfielder, it\u2019s pretty clear which remaining free agent fits that bill.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s former Cub Mike Tauchman.<\/p>\n

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The front office knows Tauchman very well, as he played two seasons with the franchise in 2023 and 2024. In those two years in Chicago, he hit a combined .250 with 15 home runs, 30 doubles, 77 RBI, and 13 stolen bases across 217 games.<\/p>\n

Those types of numbers would help him fit perfectly as the team\u2019s No. 4 outfielder. He\u2019s a solid contact hitter, takes his walks when he needs to, doesn\u2019t chase too many pitches outside the zone, and is a fine defender in the outfield.<\/p>\n

Last season with the White Sox, Tauchman batted .263 with a 23.8% chase rate (78th percentile), a 11.7% walk rate (84th percentile), and a 35.6% launch sweet-spot rate (63rd percentile).<\/p>\n

The Palatine native would also give the Cubs a much-needed left-handed bat off the bench. With Tyler Austin, Miguel Amaya, and Matt Shaw all right-handed hitters, Tauchman could be that lefty off the bench that Craig Counsell goes to in the right matchups later in games.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s apparent that the front office is still attempting to improve the team\u2019s outfield depth before Spring Training begins. Tauchman could be the right answer for this Cubs team following three straight solid seasons.<\/p>\n

He has prior experience with this franchise and wouldn\u2019t cost a ton in free agency. The 35-year-old outfielder only signed for $1.95 million last offseason. A similar deal could appeal to the Cubs this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs have been looking for ways to improve their outfield depth ahead of the 2026 season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,9280,138,24,4245,161,7285,39236,9675,716,728,6647,4,13084,66,7115,396],"class_list":["post-545262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chas-mccormick","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-front-office","tag-justin-dean","tag-kevin-alcantara","tag-matt-shaw","tag-miguel-amaya","tag-mike-tauchman","tag-mlb","tag-patrick-mooney","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-tyler-austin","tag-white-sox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115982122618323499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}