As the Cubs hit the midwinter mark of the off-season, the 2017 roster is fairly well set.
The Cubs said the team will break camp with 13 pitchers (including 8 relief pitchers).
The starting rotation (pending an unexpected trade) is set: Lester, Arrieta, Hendricks, Lackey and Montgomery.
The bullpen may have one or two open spots. But at the moment, the 8 men are: Davis, Rondon, Uehara, Strop, Edwards, Grimm, Duensing and Pena.
The starting lineup is fairly well set (with a potential of three to four platoon spots). The roster currently will hold only two catchers (with Schwarber's knee injury taking him out of his natural position).
Regular starters will be: Contreras (c), Rizzo (1b), Zobrist (2b), Russell (ss), Bryant (3b), Schwarber (lf), Jay/Almora (cf), Heyward (rf). Baez will be rotated in at 2b, ss and 3b to rest/move Russell, Bryant, and Zobrist, the latter into LF against left handed pitching.
The short bench will be led by Baez, then Montero, Szczur or LaStella. Again, there is no natural first baseman on the roster to back up Rizzo.
The current roster turnover/new position stands at 20 percent (5 of 25 players).
The major free agents from the Cubs’ 2016 roster: outfielder Dexter
Fowler, catcher David Ross (who’s retiring), starting pitcher Jason
Hammel, and relievers Travis Wood, Trevor Cahill, and Aroldis Chapman.
Those six players combined for 8.3 WAR last season — primarily through Fowler’s 4.2 WAR.
In theory, their replacements (Davis, Montgomery, Uehara, Duensing, Montero and Jay) need to average 1.39 WAR each. That seems plausible.
