MLB: Ranking the Top Five Offenses
By Jason Reed
2. Chicago Cubs
Yet again, the Cubs find themselves second on these rankings behind the same team. Led by NL MVP Kris Bryant, and his partner Anthony Rizzo, the defending champions still have one of the best offenses in baseball. We could see the Cubs make a move or two to fill in some gaps, potentially increasing their ranking, but as of now they sit number two. Despite being great offensively, the Cubs lack secondary depth which could hurt them down the road. The departure of Dexter Fowler is huge, leaving Albert Almora Jr. and John Jay to platoon in center. The Cubs have multiple guys to play multiple spots, but they are all each other’s backup. If two or more of them unfortunately got hurt, the Cubs would suffer massively.
The Cubs have the best corner infield, hands down. Kris Bryant has been nothing short of electric in his time in the big leagues and Anthony Rizzo has turned into a true star. Their middle infield, Javier Baez and Addison Russell, are both young and can only get better. The great thing for the Cubs is their entire infield is young, and still have many years in their prime. This is promising for the Cubs to consistently remain World Series contenders.
Kyle Schwarber has returned, yet the Cubs don’t really have anywhere to put him. Schwarber could catch, but he may be a defensive liability. With Ben Zobrist being locked down in left, and Schwarber likely being unable to play anywhere else, the Cubs are in a pickle. They may attempt to trade the young power bat to an AL club for pitching. However, that only hurts their outfield depth as they only have four listed outfielders. This is the problem in Chicago: they have the talent, but nobody to complement the talent as the season goes on. Without proper utility guys, the Cubs may get tired heading down the stretch in 2017, which hurts their offensive value. Yet they are still the second best offensive team in baseball.