Creating Depth and Versatility, Cubs Build on Strong Present

The question of how to improve a youthful, 97-win, NLCS-reaching baseball team has been the driving force behind our work here at BP Wrigleyville this offseason, and we’ve generally tackled it in terms of identifiable weaknesses of the 2015 Cubs: contact hitting, outfield defense, and starting pitching beyond their two aces. But the 2015 Cubs possessed many more strengths than weaknesses, and much less has been made about maintaining those strengths going into 2016, mostly because next year’s club will feature many of the same key players. A few of those strengths are obvious—power and on-base skills, chemistry, and generally good pitching—but the positional depth and flexibility that partially enabled the Cubs’ great streak to the playoffs has gone overlooked, and until Tuesday, it was in danger of extinction.

With the concurrent acquisitions of Ben Zobrist, Adam Warren, and Brendan Ryan, and the subsequent signing of Jason Heyward, the Cubs managed to address the absence of a leadoff hitter and center fielder, their desire to add more contact hitting to their lineup, their need for outfield defense, and their rotational and bullpen depth all at once. But they also further strengthened their unique brand of defensive flexibility through the immensely creative set of moves, and Joe Maddon should be smiling at how the depth chart is shaping up for 2016.

Throughout the course 2015, Maddon was free to play with his defensive alignments and daily lineups in ways that optimized offensive matchups and rested his regulars, but the Cubs’ roster really blossomed into a paragon of versatility at the end of July. From Chris Coghlan’s spot starts at second and third base in August, to Kyle Schwarber’s ability to catch, and, perhaps most importantly, to Javier Baez’s very good infield defense at three positions, Maddon was able to roll out a variety of different offensive and defensive looks. Let’s look at the Cubs’ six most common defensive alignments on the year, and note the key differences.

Kyle Schwarber, Chris Coghlan, and Addison Russell all appeared at two different positions on this list, an indicator of the flexibility the Cubs possessed at several different spots: corner outfield, middle infield, and even catcher. This list doesn’t even feature Starlin Castro’s 29 games at second base at the end of the season or Kris Bryant’s ten outfield appearances.

For another way of conceiving the Cubs’ versatility last season, let’s look at the number of players the club deployed at each position. Let’s weed out the players who appeared in short filler stints away from Triple-A Iowa and those who played most of their games before Bryant and Russell debuted.

Catcher: Montero, Ross, Schwarber

First base: Rizzo, Bryant

Second base: Russell, Castro, Coghlan, La Stella, Baez, Herrera

Third Base: Bryant, Baez, La Stella, Coghlan, Herrera

Shortstop: Castro, Russell, Baez, Herrera

Left field: Coghlan, Schwarber, Denorfia

Center field: Fowler, Bryant

Right field: Soler, Coghlan, Bryant, Schwarber, Denorfia

Viewed this way, you’ll notice a handful of players who won’t be back: Jonathan Herrera, Chris Denorfia, and most importantly, Dexter Fowler and the dearly departed Starlin Castro. The former two players provided little value to the 2015 club (rally-inducing helmet hands aside), Fowler played only one position, and Castro was a shell of himself for four months. Heyward, Zobrist, Tommy La Stella, Javier Baez, and Brendan Ryan will have opportunities to produce more value in those same roster spots.

The other thing that jumps out in the above layouts of the Cubs’ 2015 roster is the number of players who appeared at three or four positions. BP’s own Rob McQuown posits that there are two types of positional versatility—within positional categories and in between them—that rely on a distinction between the four different categories of catcher, middle infield, corner infield, and outfield. The Cubs now have a host of players who can handle the “harder” positions in each category. Bryant, Baez, and Ryan play third, Russell and Ryan handle shortstop, Montero, Ross, and Schwarber catch, and Heyward mans center, with the prospect of another defensive-minded outfielder shoring up that position. With the possibility of Baez and Bryant getting outfield reps, this roster features an incredible amount of flexibility between those positional categories and within them.

The Legend of Zobrist, Utility Man, is one of the 2010s great baseball tropes, but there is a truth in which that legend is rooted. He boasts a remarkably consistent bat and posts an OPS around 20 percent better than league average nearly every year, and he can play second base, both corner outfield spots, some first base, and shortstop in a pinch. His defense is likely on the decline, but he’ll be the Cubs’ every day second baseman in 2016, limiting his exposure to positions at which he is less skilled. Regardless, his ability to spell Schwarber, Soler, Baez, Rizzo, and even Russell and Bryant is a boon to a club who could benefit greatly from more frequent off days for its regulars.

Zobrist is uniquely valuable to this Cubs team, in ways he might not be to other teams with more positional rigidity baked into their rosters. Maddon—onetime manager of the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, for whom Zobrist debuted in 2006—will no doubt enjoy having his favorite plug-and-play fielder, but what bears more analysis is how Zobrist will work in concert with the Cubs’ other multipositional players. In later innings, he can replace Soler in right, with Maddon slotting in Brendan Ryan at second and considerably strengthening the team’s defense. Similarly, he can replace Soler and leave second base for Tommy La Stella if Maddon desires a high contact matchup.

In addition to his impeccable defense, Heyward affords Maddon the option to even further strengthen outfield defense, were he to slide over to right field to make room for a glove-first center fielder. He also helps the Cubs’ depth as a whole considerably. There was a slight possibility of the Cubs rolling with Baez as a center fielder, but now the skilled young defender can ply his craft at several positions without the pressure of being exposed daily in a new spot.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Cubs’ additions is that deepening of their roster. Whereas Herrera, La Stella, Mike Baxter, Matt Szczur, and others got significant playing time in 2015 (as well as the below-replacement level Castro for most of the year), the coming season’s bench is likely to feature Baez, Ryan, and Coghlan. Baez and Coghlan are potentially two- to three-win players, and they’ll be backing up three- to five-win players. It’s a particularly envious configuration in the eyes of most clubs, and Maddon will be hard pressed to find a combination of players that isn’t great on paper.

The immediate effects of Heyward and Zobrist on the Cubs’ lineup is perhaps obvious. They are very good players and clubhouse guys who fill definite needs for a club that already reached the NLCS around a great, young core. It’s their secondary impact on the team’s depth and versatility that might signal the Cubs’ transformation from “good team a year ahead of schedule” to the much-anticipated “fully operational battle station.”

Lead photo courtesy David Banks—USA Today Sports.