LeMahieu won’t dwell on Cubs career that wasn’t
DENVER — After more than four years, DJ LeMahieu doesn’t play the what- if game when the Cubs come to town, even as the best team in baseball.
“I’m certainly happy where I’m at right now,” said the Rockies second baseman, who doubled during the Rockies’ eighth- inning comeback Friday night and went 3- for- 4 with a home run Sunday during an 11- 4 rout of the Cubs to win the threegame series. “The Cubs are a great team right now and a lot of fun to be a part of, but I’m very happy here. And we have a lot of really good things going, and I’m really excited about the future here.”
LeMahieu, of course, is the 2009 second- round pick who was undervalued as a rookie by the Cubs’ incoming front office, which threw him into the Ian Stewart- Tyler Colvin trade before the 2012 season.
Stewart washed out as a Cub, but LeMahieu won a Gold Glove in 2014, made the 2015 National League All- Star team and on Sunday tied the Washington Nationals’ Daniel Murphy for the NL lead in hitting (. 345).
As tempting as it might be for him to imagine having stayed to become a part of the Cubs’ talented young core, “I don’t really look at it like that,” LeMahieu said.
He added how impressed he is with how quickly the Cubs turned a competitive corner after a complete tear- down and rebuild.
“That would seem like a five- or six- year process more than the two or three,” he said. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for those young guys not only being ready for the big leagues, but stars in the big leagues.”
His bitterness over the trade long gone, LeMahieu nonetheless carries at least a small chip on his shoulder when facing the Cubs.
After a 5- for- 12 weekend, he’s hitting .324 with 11 extra- base hits and an .855 OPS against them in his career.
“It’s been a while now, and like I said, I’m happy,” he said. “But there’s no doubt it always feels good against these guys.”