Chicago Cubs: Remember these players from the past decade

The Chicago Cubs have had some great players over the past decade. Yet here we highlight ten Cubs who few fans talk about but who had nice seasons.

The Chicago Cubs have had a lot of great players over the past decade. Indeed, you would expect that to be the case when you make four straight playoff appearances, including a World Championship in 2016. In fact, I previously ranked the 50 greatest Cubs players of the 2010s.

Yet throughout the decade, there have also been some players who had nice seasons but perhaps don’t get the recognition that they should. The decade started with those weak teams from 2010 and 2011, when Jim Hendry was still the general manager and tried to make some desperate moves to save a sinking ship. Instead, the team finished well under .500 both years.

Then came the lean years of 2012-2014, when the team was rebuilding under Theo Epstein. Cubs fans didn’t have much to root for in terms of a winning team, but there were still some players who had nice seasons back then. Picking a player from each year who “quietly” had a nice season was a bit of a challenge in some cases.

During the winning run from 2015-2019, picking a player who “quietly” had a nice season was a challenge as well, but for different reasons. We all know the star players from these teams, so choosing a player that flew under the radar and contributed a lot was a bit difficult. Yet, I was able to find one player from each year.

My main rule for selecting a player from each year was that they had to be a player who didn’t make my top 50 list mentioned earlier. I wanted to pick someone who doesn’t get much recognition but still contributed in big ways. With that, let’s take a look at our list, starting with 2010.