Chicago Cubs: Remember these players from the past decade

Chicago Cubs: Jason Motte in 2015

It is in 2015 that it became harder to select an “under the radar” player, as many of the stars that we know and love started to arrive that year and the team started winning. The team decided to drop Rick Renteria after just one season and brought in Joe Maddon, believing that the rebuild was near completion and that the team was ready to take a big step forward. The team also made a lot of moves to shore up the roster on the field.

I had to mainly look in the bullpen to try to find an underappreciated player. Justin Grimm had a tremendous season, but again he made the top 50 list. Clayton Richard was also decent from the left side. However, I decided to go with the former St. Louis Cardinals closer, Jason Motte.

From 2010 to 2012, Motte had three straight great years out of the Cardinals’ bullpen, which culminated in his serving as the team’s closer in 2012, earning a league-high 42 saves. However, he had to miss all of 2013 due to injury, and when he came back he wasn’t as effective in 2014. He became a free agent after the 2014 season, and the Cubs took a flyer on him. He was solid, posting a 3.91 ERA in 48 1/3 innings.

Motte would not return to the Cubs the following season. After his lone year on the north side of Chicago, he pitched a year with the Colorado Rockies and a year with the Atlanta Braves. He was decent both years but didn’t pitch in the majors after 2017.