Column: Nico Hoerner’s 3-year, $35 million extension was a small step forward in the Chicago Cubs’ future

PHOENIX — The Chicago Cubs signed second baseman Nico Hoener to a three-year, $35 million extension, according to multiple reports — a small but important step toward the team’s future.

The deal with Hoerner, who had a .281 average and 10 home runs in 2022, buys out two years of arbitration and the first year of free agency.

Cubs President Jed Hoyer had yet to sign a prospect to a multiyear deal before free agency, a strategy many other large-market teams have adopted to gain cost certainty while rewarding players they consider part of their future.

While it pales in comparison to deals like the eight-year, $100 million extension Ronald Acuña Jr. signed with the Atlanta Braves four years before he was eligible for free agency, it was the Cubs’ first multiyear signing of a prospect since David Bote’s five-year, $15 million extension in 2019. Hoerner was deemed talented enough to take a short-term risk on, but has not proven himself long-term enough to get a megadeal.

Hoerner, who moved to second after the signing of Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million deal, agreed to a $2.5 million deal in 2022, avoiding arbitration. The extension takes him through 2026, meaning the Cubs have a double play combination set in stone the next four years.

A first-round draft pick out of Stanford in 2018, Horner was rushed to the majors from Double-A Tennessee in September 2019 when shortstop Javier Báez was out with a thumb injury and Addison Russell was hit in the face with pitch. After impressing the Cubs in his debut, he slumped in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, hitting .222 in 44 games and was left off the roster at the start of the ‘21 season despite hitting .364 in spring training.

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2022 was his first full non-pandemic season, and Hoerner posted career-highs in home runs and RBI (55) while posting a .736 OPS after replacing the departed Báez at shortstop. Báez finished the season with a .671 OPS after signing a six-year, $140 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.

Hoerner made the move to second to accommodate Swanson, switching from his preferred and natural position. The transition went smoothly this spring, with Hoerner saying he had no qualms about the change.

“I think it’s somewhat simpler without the shift,” Horner said. “Oftentimes that’s where the real communication of playing out of position comes into play. I think it’s going to be more like baseball as we knew it. I really believe if you can play short, you can play anywhere on the field.”

Hoerner and Ian Happ were considered the two prime candidates for an extension this spring. While negotiations can continue through the season, an opening-day deadline has been the norm since Theo Epstein became Cubs president in 2011.

Happ, who will be a free agent in November, had not received an extension as of Monday night, when he and most of the rest of the roster flew back to Chicago to prepare for Thursday’s season opener at Wrigley Field.

Hoyer declined to address Happ’s situation on Monday, citing the team’s stance not to talk about contract issues. The news of Hoerner’s extension was leaked Monday night.

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Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts alluded to Hoerner and Happ when he spoke to the media early in spring training about locking up players.

“Obviously we have a couple guys we’d love to extend, but if it doesn’t work out, that’s OK too,” Ricketts said. “I appreciate that they would rather test the market. It’s up to Jed.”

Happ has watched several teammates go through their walk seasons and deal with trade rumors, so he knows what to expect if he doesn’t get an extension.

“Every experience prepares you,” he told the Tribune earlier this spring. “It prepared you for last year by watching guys that went through it in ‘21. It’s part of the game and you don’t really know how you are going to feel until you go through something like that.

“But once you’ve been through it a couple times, you have an understanding for it.”

If Happ remains unsigned, he likely will go through the same scenario Willson Contreras experienced last summer, including several goodbyes at Wrigley.

Hoyer also would not address that possibility or anything about Happ’s future. But he lauded Happ for dealing with the distractions of trade rumors.

“Last year he put together what we’d been waiting for,” Hoyer said. “Last year he really put it together from beginning to end and was unbelievably valuable. He worked really hard on his defense. Obviously deserves a Gold Glove and he won one. To do that despite those (trade) rumors was really impressive.”

Happ hasn’t made his desire to remain a Cub a secret and has developed a close bond with the left-field bleacher bums, who gave him an autographed ball last July when they thought he might have played his final game with the team.

“They’re there every day no matter what, no matter the weather, from April ‘til now and they care so much,” Happ said afterward. “That was really meaningful.”

But Happ knows it’s a business.

And after watching many friends leave the Cubs, he’s prepared for anything as the 2023 season begins.