The Top 20 Chicago Cubs Player Assets of 2025: Part 1 (Nos. 20-16)

Over at our sister site Twins Daily, Nick Nelson did a similar write-up for the Twins (he’s been doing it every year since 2018). As our resident asset-ranking expert, I’ll allow him to explain the purpose and methodology behind this concept:

Quote

“The idea of this exercise is to take stock of the organization's talent through the scope of team-building. Our goal is to answer this question: which current players in the organization are most indispensable to fulfilling the vision of building a champion? We account for age, contract, controllability, upside, etc. It's not strictly a ranking of trade value, because that would be more team-agnostic, whereas this list aims to capture a very Cubs-specific point of view. As such, players at areas of scarcity (i.e. catching) get elevated, while those at areas of abundance (i.e. outfielders) get downgraded a bit.”

Seeing as this is our first year putting together these rankings for the Cubs, we’ll be ranking these players on a clean slate, rather than updating any prior lists. It should be noted that I’ll be putting a lot of stock into things like “team control”, since the Cubs are allergic to handing out top-of-the-market contracts.

Without further ado, let's kick off the list with an overview of my choices for the 16th-through-20th-most valuable player assets in the Cubs organization as of today. Check back over the next few days for further installments.

20. Luke Little, Relief Pitcher
Opening Day Age: 24
Controlled Through: 2029
Contract Status: Pre-Arb

Relievers aren’t going to get a lot of love on our list simply due to their volatility and to the fact that the Cubs are eerily good at piecing together good bullpens from the bargain bin of free agency, but Little absolutely deserves a shout-out here as the highest-upside reliever in the organization.

Standing an intimidating 6’8” and armed with a high-octane fastball and sweeping slider, Little has all the makings of a truly elite closer. His stock dipped after a mediocre 2024 campaign in which he posted a 3.46 ERA (4.05 FIP) in 26 innings, which also came with a worrying 16.5% walk rate and troubling (for him) 25.7% strikeout rate. In 2023, across four levels (including the majors), Little struck out 117 of the 309 batters he faced (37.9%). If he can get his control to even a tick below average, Little has the profile to be one of the best relief pitchers in baseball, especially given his unreal penchant for limiting home runs.

19. Jordan Wicks, Starting Pitcher
Opening Day Age: 25
Controlled Through: 2029
Contract Status: Pre-Arb

Honestly, you could put any of the Cubs’ No. 5 starter options here, and you wouldn’t get much of an argument from me. Javier Assad and Brandon Birdsell have equally good cases, and for those of you who are fiends for veterans on overpriced contracts, I’m sure you could convince someone that Jameson Taillon or Matthew Boyd should be here.

I maintain, at least for now, that Wicks is the best of the bunch. He struggled in a 46-inning sample in 2024 after a surprisingly effective debut down the stretch in 2023, but much of that can be chalked up to a recurrent oblique/rib injury that persistently nagged him throughout the last calendar year. Assuming he’s healthy heading into 2025, he should have a shot at one of the back-end rotation jobs, even if Boyd, Assad, and Colin Rea jumble up the proceedings. Wicks’s changeup is still one of the best pitches in the organization, and as a lefty starter with above-average strike-throwing capabilities and team control through the end of the decade, he should be viewed less as a luxury and more as an important piece of the next great Cubs team.

18. Miguel Amaya, Catcher
Opening Day Age: 26
Controlled Through: 2029
Contract Status: Pre-Arb

This is perhaps the most tenuous spot on the entire list, though Amaya’s designation as the starter at a key position with little depth gives him enough juice to make the back end of these rankings. Case in point: Carson Kelly was signed to a two-year deal to be Amaya’s backup, and he’s the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Moises Ballesteros is one of the best prospects in baseball, but his long-term defensive home is still a question mark. Pablo Aliendo continues to impress as he gradually climbs the minor-league ranks. He could be the team’s catcher of the future if Amaya doesn’t bounce back in 2025, but he’s far from a sure thing behind the plate.

Amaya was once the top prospect in the whole organization, though injuries and stalled development in the minor leagues have since dimmed his star. Last year was his first as the full-time starting catcher in the big leagues, and despite some early struggles at the plate, he finished just below the average mark for catchers (.680 OPS) with a .644 OPS. His defense continues to improve, and his work as a receiver and pitch-caller was the main reason behind his 1.9 bWAR last season. If he can improve upon his 34th-percentile exit velocity and put a few more balls in the air (42.7% ground-ball rate in 2024), there’s still enough in his profile to believe that Amaya can live up to his tantalizing potential. We've already seen a glimpse of the upside, after his mid-season change in swing mechanics, but now he has to prove he can sustain it.

17. James Triantos, Infielder
Opening Day Age: 22
Controlled Through: 2031
Contract Status: Minor Leagues

I find that I’m actually quite a bit higher on Triantos than most, but the presence of Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, and Matt Shaw make him feel a bit superfluous, especially with other, higher-upside middle infielders like Jefferson Rojas and Derniche Valdez dotting the farm system.

Nevertheless, Triantos, who will need to be put on the 40-man roster by next offseason (at the latest) to avoid the Rule 5 draft, is a talented prospect with an obvious carrying tool: his bat-to-ball skills. Across Double-A and Triple-A last season, the infielder slashed .300/.346/.427, adding 47 steals in 56 attempts. His floor is high, but his ceiling is capped by the lack of a true defensive home (second base appears to be the best fit) and under-developed power (seven home runs in 443 at-bats last season). A “better Nick Madrigal” isn’t a cataclysmic outcome, but producing more pop at the plate or flashing finer leather in the field are necessary developments if Triantos plans to be anything more than a utility bench player for the big league team.

16. Kyle Tucker, Right Fielder
Opening Day Age: 28
Controlled Through: 2025
Contract Status: Arbitration

Hold your horses. I know what this looks like. Ranking the Cubs’ newest star this low as a means to get fans riled up and all that jazz. But, if I can direct your attention back to the introduction to this piece, you’ll note that I specifically highlighted 1) that “team control” will take on outsized importance in these rankings, and 2) that outfielders are a position of strength in this organization.

Make no mistake about it: Tucker is the best player on the Cubs right now. In Tucker’s tenure in Houston, his batting line was .274/.353/.516 (139 wRC+). He had three consecutive 5.0+ bWAR seasons before 2024, and even in that injury-shortened campaign, he was worth 4.7 wins in 78 games played. Of course, some of Tucker’s value also comes from his pristine glove in right field, where he’s totaled 8 Outs Above Average (OAA). As long as he’s healthy, there’s no one more important to this year’s iteration of the Cubs.

However, he only has one year left under team control. And if the team’s willingness to head to arbitration with him over $2.5 million says anything (which, maybe it doesn't), it’s likely that this is going to be a one-year stint in Chicago for Tucker—if for no other reason than the fact that Seiya Suzuki is still under contract past this year, and Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara, and Alexander Canario are all knocking on the door of the big leagues. This will be an important season for the Cubs and for Tucker, but it’s hard to rank him any higher, assuming this marriage proves to be more of a summer fling.

Check back on Thursday for the next installment, covering our picks for No. 11 through 15!