Chicago Cubs: Remember these players from the past decade

Chicago Cubs: Neil Ramirez in 2014

In 2014, the Cubs brought in Rick Renteria to help continue to guide the team through their rebuild. The team showed some improvement, finishing 73-89. Anthony Rizzo continued to develop into a star, while the front office looked like geniuses for bringing in Jake Arrieta the previous year, as he finished ninth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2014.

As far as a Cub to highlight, there were again a few choices. Luis Valbuena and Chris Coghlan both had nice under-the-radar seasons, but they both made my top 50 list mentioned earlier. Out of the bullpen, I considered Wesley Wright, who posted a 3.17 ERA in 48 1/3 innings.

However, I decided to go with Neil Ramirez, who was tremendous in 2014. Ramirez came over from the Texas Rangers in the Matt Garza trade in 2013, which also brought in Carl Edwards, Jr., Justin Grimm, and Mike Olt. 2014 was his first season in the majors, and he got into 50 games, pitching 43.2 innings and allowing just seven earned runs.

The right-hander to date hasn’t replicated that success. He was decent in 2015 before slipping even more in 2016, and the Cubs decided to put him on waivers. The Milwaukee Brewers picked him up, but he didn’t last long there. The best season he’s had since then was in 2018, when he Ramirez pitched for the Indians and posted a 4.54 ERA in 41 2/3 innings. Ramirez pitched for the Indians and Toronto Blue Jays in 2019, posting a 5.40 ERA in both places.