Unfortunately for their fans, the Chicago Cubs are in the beginning stages of another heart-wrenching rebuild.
Entering last season, the Cubs had all of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Craig Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera, Jake Marisnick, Andrew Chafin and Joc Pederson on their active roster. Come August 1st, not a single one of them remained; making Kyle Hendricks and Willson Contreras next on the list of potential Cubs changing teams.
Despite the fact that a long and difficult rebuild is in the club’s future, it still went out and signed free agents Yan Gomes and Marcus Stroman to fill current roster holes and potentially be a part of the next contending team (specifically Stroman). Veteran left-hander Wade Miley was also claimed off of waivers from the Cincinnati Reds as further rotation help.
The Chicago Cubs’ 40-man roster currently sits at 39 spots filled. Let’s take a closer look at the current roster as we (hopefully) near the beginning of the season.
(Projections included below are from FanGraphs’ Depth Chart Projections system for the 2022 season.)