The Chicago Cubs are bullish on top prospect Matt Shaw, but they’re also in no hurry to push things further than they need to be pushed. The Cubs organization began spring training with a bit of egg on their collective faces as they lost out on a bid to bring free agent third baseman Alex Bregman to Chicago.

Staging Opening Day in Japan speeds up some personnel decisions that can typically wait until the end of March.

The Chicago Cubs Opening Day roster is becoming clearer by the day, as the team is making decisions sooner than all other teams, aside from their opponent in Toyko, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Recently the big league roster was trimmed down to 42 players,