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The Cubs have a lot of players that shouldn’t be on the roster after the trade deadline
The Chicago Cubs will likely be selling a lot of their good pieces at the trade deadline, including Willson Contreras and Ian Happ. Their current problem is that their top minor league team doesn’t have much talent either. Their Triple-A team is 43-51.
The Cubs have a decent farm system overall (four prospects in MLB.com’s Top 100) but only one of them (Cubs top prospect Brennen Davis) is above High-A ball. So overall, they are lacking talent and depth in the high minor leagues. In trades, that’s what the Cubs really need to be looking for.
Especially with those players but even with their current players in Triple-A, they need to get some playing time in the majors to see what they have to offer but the Cubs have a lot of big contracts on the books for players that have been awful.
They make up the majority of the players that don’t deserve to be on the roster after the trade deadline.
3 Cubs who don’t deserve to be on roster after the trade deadline
1) Infielder Andrelton Simmons
Andrelton Simmons used to be a great player. A lot of it was because of his world-class defense but as long as he provided adequate offense, then he would be a great player. In fact, he got MVP votes in three seasons despite only having an OPS+ in those seasons of 90, 102, and 108. But now with the Cubs, Simmons hasn’t been as good defensively and he has been awful offensively.
Simmons, who turns 33 in September, is currently on the injured list but when he was healthy, he was hitting .173/.244/.187 with an OPS+ of 24 in 34 games. Defensively, he has 4 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) at shortstop but -1 at second base. In 2017, he had one of the best defensive seasons in MLB history with 41 DRS.
With his health (or lack thereof), the lack of offense, and his defense being down (while still above league average), the Cubs need to give his playing time to someone younger that could be part of their future plans.