Build Your 25 Man Team From Last 25 Years

[UMFan83]

I saw this on twitter and spent way too much time doing this but it still needs a lot of work.

 

Rules:

 

 

I took a stab at it but it’s one of those exercises where you build your initial list and then you likely need to tweak it. I need some tweaking especially in the bullpen and I’m kind of cheating making Bryant my CF (and hurting the team defensively), but McRae can come in for Schwarber and shift Bryant to LF late in games.

 

Also didn’t think about handedness. Only 1 lefty in the rotation, 2 lefties in the starting lineup. Probably needs improvement.

 

So here it is, tear it apart and/or create your own.

 

C 2017 Contreras

1B 2005 Lee

2B 2018 Baez

3B 2006 Ramirez

SS 2011 Castro

LF 2019 Schwarber

CF 2016 Bryant

RF 2001 Sosa

 

C 2008 Soto

IF 2014 Rizzo

IF 2000 Young

IF/OF 2012 Barney

OF 1999 Rodriguez

OF 1995 McRae

 

SP - 2015 Arrieta

SP - 2003 Prior

SP - 2002 Wood

SP - 2004 Zambrano

SP - 2009 Lilly

 

SP/RP 1997 Tapani

RP 1998 Mulholland

RP 2010 Marshall

SU 2013 Villanueva

SU 2007 Marmol

CL 1996 Wendell

[cl smooth]

rp 1993 randy myers

rp 2001 kyle farnsworth

 

cf 2016 dexter fowler or 2004 corey patterson

 

put 2016 bryant at 3b and put 2007 aramis ramirez on the bench

 

EDIT: 2002 mark bellhorn or 2016 ben zobrist fit on the bench?

 

EDIT #2: rather have 2003 kerry wood than 2002 kerry wood.

[UMFan83]

rp 1993 randy myers

rp 2001 kyle farnsworth

 

cf 2016 dexter fowler or 2004 corey patterson

 

put 2016 bryant at 3b and put 2007 aramis ramirez on the bench

 

EDIT: 2002 mark bellhorn or 2016 ben zobrist fit on the bench?

 

EDIT #2: rather have 2003 kerry wood than 2002 kerry wood.

 

The rule is you can only have one person per year so for 2016 I chose Bryant. In 03 I chose Prior.

 

Also 93 is more than 25 years ago, I looked at Myers for 95 but apparently he sucked for the Cubs outside of 93. I do remember a Cubs fan attacking him on the mound so I guess I should have realized he sucked

[cl smooth]

rp 1993 randy myers

rp 2001 kyle farnsworth

 

cf 2016 dexter fowler or 2004 corey patterson

 

put 2016 bryant at 3b and put 2007 aramis ramirez on the bench

 

EDIT: 2002 mark bellhorn or 2016 ben zobrist fit on the bench?

 

EDIT #2: rather have 2003 kerry wood than 2002 kerry wood.

 

The rule is you can only have one person per year so for 2016 I chose Bryant. In 03 I chose Prior.

 

Also 93 is more than 25 years ago, I looked at Myers for 95 but apparently he sucked for the Cubs outside of 93. I do remember a Cubs fan attacking him on the mound so I guess I should have realized he sucked

 

this is what happens when i don't read directions. :)

[SouthSideRyan]

Bryant in CF is totally cheating. Disqualified.

[UMFan83]

Bryant in CF is totally cheating. Disqualified.

 

He did play an entire inning there in 2016 so it’s totally legit. He played an inning at SS too so maybe I move him there instead of Castro.

 

Ok fine, move him to left field, put McRae in CF and Schwarber to the bench

[SouthSideRyan]

C: 2010 Soto

1B: 2005 Lee

2B: 2018 Zobrist

3B: 2016 Bryant

SS: 2019 Baez

LF: 2007 Soriano

CF: 2004 Patterson

RF: 2001 Sosa

 

C: 1996 Servais

1B: 1999 Grace

MIF: 2012 Castro

MIF/PR: 2000 Young

3B: 2009 Ramirez

OF: 1995 McRae

 

 

SP: 2003 Prior

SP: 2015 Arrieta

SP: 1998 Wood

SP: 2008 Dempster

SP: 2006 Zambrano

 

Swing: 2013 Samradzija

RP: 1997 Adams

RP: 2014 Rondon

RP: 2002 Borowski

SU: 2011 Marshall

CL: 2017 Davis

[Splendid Splinter]

I know it's just 70 innings and got him in a trade, but Rich Harden 08 should be there as the swingman.

[WrigleyField 22]

In honor of the 26th man in 2020, I'm extending it one extra year.

1994 - Glenallen Hill, OF/PH

1995 - Scott Servais, C

1996 - Terry Adams, RP

1997 - Brian McRae, CF

1998 - Kerry Wood, SP5

1999 - Henry Rodriguez, LF

2000 - Eric Young, Sr, IF

2001 - Sammy Sosa, RF

2002 - Joe Borowski, RP

2003 - Mark Prior, SP2

2004 - Carlos Zambrano, SP3

2005 - Derrek Lee, 1B

2006 - Bob Howry, RP

2007 - Aramis Ramirez, 3B/DH

2008 - Ryan Dempster, SP4

2009 - Angel Guzman, RP

2010 - Carlos Marmol, CL

2011 - Sean Marshall, RP

2012 - Starlin Castro, SS

2013 - Carlos Villanueva, RP/SP6

2014 - Pedro Strop, RP

2015 - Jackie Arrieta, SP1

2016 - Kris Bryant, 3B/OF

2017 - Willson Contreras, C

2018 - Javy Baez, 2B/SS

2019 - Jason Heyward, OF

 

Tried to keep relievers true to their role and not just dump good SP as relievers.

 

ETA- Without re-starting the whole roster, changes I would make if;

 

If it was All Star game rules (SP get to be RP)

OUT: 2014 - Pedro Strop | 2013 - Carlos Villanueva | 2009- Angel Guzman | 2002 - Joe Borowski

IN: 2014 - Jason Hammel | 2013 - Travis Wood | 2009- Ted Lilly | 2002 - Matt Clement

Marshall, Marmol, and Adams survive mostly due to SP ineptitude those years.

 

If I had to go "true" bench guys for fielders (and trying not to cheat with trade deadline guys who started most the games they were available)

OUT: 2019 - Jason Heyward, OF | 2007 - Aramis Ramirez, 3B | 2000 - Eric Young, Sr, IF | 1995 - Scott Servais, C | 1994 - Glenallen Hill, OF/PH

IN: 2019 - Ian Happ, UTL | 2007 - Daryle Ward, PH | 2000 - Roosevelt Brown, OF | 1995 - Jose Hernandez, MIF | 1994 - Mark Parent, C

Edited January 23, 2020 by WrigleyField 22

[David]

I imagine most of ours will look pretty similar, at least on a few key seasons. That said, here goes... I'm gonna go 26 man too.

 

I'm not going to pick a bunch of relievers. horsefeathers that. Starting position players become bench players and starting pitchers can be relievers just like in the All Star game.

 

1994 - Glenallen Hill

1995 - Mark Grace

1996 - Brian McRae

1997 - Terry Mulholland

1998 - Mickey Morandini

1999 - Henry Rodriguez

2000 - Jon Lieber

2001 - Sammy Sosa

2002 - Kerry Wood

2003 - Mark Prior

2004 - Carlos Zambrano

2005 - Derrek Lee

2006 - Michael Barrett

2007 - Ted Lilly

2008 - Ryan Dempster

2009 - Randy Wells

2010 - Carlos Marmol

2011 - Starlin Castro

2012 - David DeJesus

2013 - Travis Wood

2014 - Anthony Rizzo

2015 - Jake Arrieta

2016 - Kris Bryant

2017 - Willson Contreras

2018 - Javier Baez

2019 - Kyle Hendricks

 

 

SP - Jake Arrieta 2015

SP - Mark Prior 2003

SP - Carlos Zambrano 2004

SP - Kerry Wood 2002

SP - Ryan Dempster 2008

 

RP - Carlos Marmol 2010

RP - Kyle Hendricks 2019

RP - Travis Wood 2013

RP - Ted Lilly 2007

RP - Randy Wells 2009

RP - Terry Mulholland 1997

 

 

C - Willson Contreras 2017

1B - Derrek Lee 2005

2B - Mickey Morandini 1998

3B - Kris Bryant 2016

SS - Javier Baez 2018

LF - Henry Rodriguez 1999

CF - Brian McRae 1996

RF - Sammy Sosa 2001

 

Bench - Mark Grace 1995

Bench - Anthony Rizzo 2014

Bench - Starlin Castro 2011

Bench - David DeJesus 2012

Bench - Glenallen Hill 1994

Bench - Michael Barrett 2006

 

 

Mannnnn it hurt picking someone from the 97 team lol

 

And yeah, I have two guys who can only play 1B on the bench. That's fine. As much as I kinda hate Mark Grace, having two guys like that who always had/have good PAs on the bench is pretty great. 2012 Darwin Barney had to go for someone who could at least sorta play CF in DeJesus.

[sneakypower]

ok here goes nothing:

 

2B Eric Young (2000)

3B Kris Bryant (2016)

1B Derrek Lee (2005)

RF Sammy Sosa (2001)

LF Alfonso Soriano (2007)

SS Javier Baez (2018)

CF Corey Patterson (2004)

C Willson Contreras (2017)

 

BEN-C Dioner Navarro (2013)

BEN-IF Mark Bellhorn (2002)

BEN-IF Tyler Houston (1996)

BEN-OF Nick Castellanos (2019)

BEN-OF Emilio Bonifacio (2014)

 

SP Jake Arrieta (2015)

SP Mark Prior (2003)

SP Kerry Wood (1998)

SP Carlos Zambrano (2006)

SP Jon Lieber (1999)

 

SP Rich Harden (2008)

RP Angel Guzman (2009)

RP James Russell (2012)

RP Bob Patterson (1997)

RP Sean Marshall (2011)

RP Carlos Marmol (2010)

CL Randy Myers (1995)

 

'96, '97, '99, '09, '11, '13 were absolute unmitigated dog horsefeathers, for this

 

sorry to Anthony Rizzo, Aramis Ramirez, Kyle Hendricks, Pedro Strop, Starlin Castro, Mark Grace, Geovany Soto who just overlapped with other greatness; no hard feelings

[UMFan83]

Doing this exercise reminded me of the fact that Mike Fontenot tied for the team lead in batting bWAR for a 97 win Cubs team.

[jersey cubs fan]

2019 Schwarber in LF feels very first drafty to me

[sneakypower]

#4 & #5 to me meant basically you can't put full-time players on the bench, otherwise it's less interesting imo

[WrigleyField 22]

#4 & #5 to me meant basically you can't put full-time players on the bench, otherwise it's less interesting imo

I took it more in the vein of putting guys in positions they played in a prior year (say Pujols at 3B), even if they had long ago outgrown that position in the year you chose them. Or put a LF in CF because he played half a game in injury relief during some 18 inning marathon game that season. Or don't fill your bench with 5 1B and no MIF. Still you could probably arguably stretch for 9 full time batters at least if you have position versatile guys, guys who covered at least 2 positions with at least 25% of their appearances in that season.

 

The RP/SP piece perhaps a bit more subjective, as your roster could be coherent still with your 6-10 best pitchers as relievers. And it is the same position, just a different role.

[jersey cubs fan]

#4 & #5 to me meant basically you can't put full-time players on the bench, otherwise it's less interesting imo

bench isn't a position, it's a status. You're either a legit LF or you are not. And there's no reason why a starting caliber position playing backing up a better play makes a roster incoherent.

 

If you really want to make it interesting you have to use players from each of the past 25 years, but they have to be today years old while playing.

[WrigleyField 22]

If you really want to make it interesting you have to use players from each of the past 25 years, but they have to be today years old while playing.

Pick the youngest guy you can each year and start with your bench and bottom three BP spots, then work your way up from there.

[WrigleyField 22]

 

Mannnnn it hurt picking someone from the 97 team lol

1996-97 was basically just a choice on maximizing the only decent CF option there was in McRae, and how bad you wanted your likely worst pitcher to be.

 

The couple good CF years just get totally overshadowed;

2003 Patterson overshadowed by pretty much the entire pitching staff, notably Prior

2008 Edmonds maybe, but he was a mid-season pickup and you had career year Dempster plus solid fillers throughout the entire bating order.

2015- and 2016 Dexter Fowler overshadowed by God-mode Arrieta and MVP Bryant

 

And that's about it. Suddenly you're at 2009 Fukudomes or 2017 Almoras looking viable.

[jersey cubs fan]

If you really want to make it interesting you have to use players from each of the past 25 years, but they have to be today years old while playing.

Pick the youngest guy you can each year and start with your bench and bottom three BP spots, then work your way up from there.

Alternatively, pick dead guys and get 40-man roster exemptions.

[David]

i'm just waiting for logan to come in here and lose his horsefeathers over the mcrae inclusions