Cubs Acquire Terrance Gore to Serve as Pinch Runner in September

If you’ve been holding your breath for that annual pickup of a speedy, scrappy outfielder, you may now exhale.

Terrance Gore has made only 14 plate appearances in 49 career MLB games, but he’s got 21 stolen bases and 14 runs scored. That speed is why the Cubs sent the Royals cash and a player to be named later in exchange for Gore, who has spent all season at AAA and will be assigned to Iowa for the time being. The plan is to call him up in September to serve as a pinch runner and defensive replacement.

We’ve seen that same strategy with Leonys Martin and the f-bomb-dropping Quintin Berry, moves aimed at creating leverage in very targeted circumstances. It wouldn’t be surprising if Gore never picks up a bat for the Cubs, but he could very well get a lot of run — pun intended — in the last month of the season.

Prediction: Gore ends up scoring a key run at some point in September, not unlike Berry’s aforelinked sac fly tag-up or Martin’s game-ending catch in St. Louis.