Cubs Have Six Players Ranked On MLB's Top 100 Players List

[Andrew Wright]

It's that time of year again when the MLB begins to release its Top 100 Players List across social media platforms, getting the baseball world talking about who is ranked too high, too low, or just right. The Chicago Cubs were a popular team to appear on the graphics, with six players ranked on the list. Let's do a quick breakdown of who they were and where they were ranked.

Image courtesy of © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Here is the complete list of MLB's Top 100 Players.

Dansby Swanson: Rank - 93
Swanson has fallen out of good graces with the folks who make this list, as he was ranked No. 39 just two seasons ago, and he now finds himself almost entirely off the list. Swanson has struggled with injuries since joining the Cubs, but he is highly optimistic and confident that 2025 is the healthiest he's been in a long time, and he is primed for a career season.

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Ian Happ: Rank - 92
Happ joins the Top 100 list for the first time in his career, one spot above his teammate. Happ's career highs in home runs (25) and RBI (86) had an impact on him joining the list. His third consecutive gold glove in 2024 also played a part in being considered a Top 100 player in the game.

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Justin Steele: Rank - 88
Steele was No. 64 before last season and fell 24 spots after a confusing 2024 campaign. He finished with a 5-5 record but had an ERA of just 3.07. Steele threw the ball extremely well, but he could just not get the winning decision. He earned his first win of the season in July when he threw a complete game against the Angels. Steele will certainly look to bounce back and have a Cy-Young-type season like the one he had in 2023.

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Seiya Suzuki: Rank - 73
Suzuki is the first member of the list to make a jump upward from last season, climbing 11 spots. He hit a career-high 21 home runs and had a career-high OPS of .848. 2025 will be an important season for the slugger out of Japan, as he will transition from an everyday right fielder to an everyday designated hitter.

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Shota Imanaga: Rank - 64
Imanaga may have very well been Chicago's best player in 2024. His first season in MLB went much better than anyone could've thought, and he has a chance in 2025 to cement himself as the new ace of the Cubs pitching staff. A 1-2 punch of Imanaga and Steele at the top of the rotation could be a scary sight for any team in the regular season and postseason.

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Kyle Tucker: Rank - 14
Finally, the Cubs have their superstar and a Top 20 player in baseball. Tucker is the highest-ranked Cubs player on the list; the last time Chicago had a top-25 talent on the list, Javier Baez was No. 23 prior to the 2020 season. Tucker will be the third-ranked right fielder, behind only Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. If Tucker produces the way everyone hopes he will, the Cubs will need to do everything in their power to ensure he is in Chicago for the long term.

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[Rcal10]

I think several should be ranked higher as well. Suzuki should be top 50, and Steele should be top 60, IMO. Swanson should also be higher. I think people look too much into Steele’s “stuff” and ding him because they don’t feel it is that great. But he gets results every since he became a full time starter. And they are not lucky results like Assad. He pitches to a low 3 era and is a very good pitcher, period. 

[JunkyardWalrus]

This is a concerning list (I appreciate it's not the end all be all)and for a myriad of reasons, but let's look at just one: Cubs drafted/developed players on the list. 

#1 - #50: 0. Zero. I don't see where a single player drafted or developed by the Cubs appears in the first half of this list. 0 in a league of 30 teams. 

#55 Cease, traded away for disappointment

#65 Schwarber, large market salary dump from when Ricketts demanded payroll slashed due to the biblical loses of the pandemic, signed by a smaller market
(#72 Bellinger, again, the old fashioned Large Market Salary Relief dump)
#85 Parades, now traded away twice
#86 Contreras who Jed let walk for the honor of drafting Jaxon Wiggins

Then, finally a player the cubs drafted or developed (hence leaving Shota and Seiya off)

#88 Justin mother punching Steele

Beyond Ricketts being as useful as skid marked 1-ply, this is what's most troubling to me:

The Cubs haven't/can't develop nor will they pay for top talent.

(Unless they come cheap, a la Darvish who was also... dumped for large market salary relief on a smaller market... or #93 Swanson the least of the 4 SSs in his class (#35 Turner, #42 Correa, Bogaerts didn't rank)

There are reasons the largest market team, by far, hasn't won the routinely worst division in baseball this decade, or even finished as the runner up once during Jed's tenure as GM.

(I'm very frustrated with the flaccid approach after Tucker and the ultimatum salary dump of Belli that was followed up by half-assed FA failings. This boring ass team wasn't a single player away. Just a mildly different lineup and the same throw horsefeathers at the wall pitching staff construction as ever. Still an 85 win team if things go right, but with 10% less payroll, so that's a win!)