This year’s Chicago Cubs team is as bad or worse than the 2012 squad

Chicago Cubs: Tremendous roster turnover both in 2012 and 2021

Many will look at the current Cubs roster and wonder, “Who are these guys?” Only nine guys on the current roster were also on the Opening Day roster. Willson Contreras (who is now hurt) is the main remaining position player piece, with Kyle Hendricks being the main remaining pitcher. Ian Happ, Jason Heyward, Matt Duffy and David Bote are the only other remaining position players from Opening Day.

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Looking at a sample lineup from 2012 at this time it is actually interesting to see what it was like. On August 15, 2012 against the Astros, the Cubs sent Justin Germano to pitch with a lineup of David DeJesus, Josh Vitters, Anthony Rizzo, Alfonso Soriano, Starlin Castro, Luis Valbuena, Brett Jackson and Steve Clevenger behind him.  Certainly not a contending lineup, but at least somewhat recognizable with a mix of building-block players, veterans and former top prospects.

The 2012 rotation post-deadline following the trades of Garza, Dempster and Paul Maholm was quite the mix aside from Samardzija and Travis Wood, including guys like Germano, Jason Berken, Chris Volstad, Brooks Raley, just to name a few. 2021 still has Hendricks, Adbert Alzolay (now injured), Alec Mills, Zach Davies and prospect Justin Steele. Again, not good overall but we know who they are.

Each team has their “fun” players though. Patrick Wisdom, who leads NL rookies in home runs, is like Bryan LaHair was in 2012. Both older rookies that put up big hot stretches and overall solid numbers…while having noticeable flaws in their swings. Frank Schwindel and Rafael Ortega have become somewhat fun “legends” themselves lately. While not an offensive threat, Darwin Barney was able to cement himself in Cubs history winning the Gold Glove at second in 2012.

Chicago Cubs: At the end, there’s no doubt – both teams struggled

Obviously, the season is not over yet so the numbers will change, but we will look at both teams as it stands.

Starting Pitchers:

• 2012: 4.52 ERA (8th-worst), 4.36 FIP (9th-worst), 7.07 K/9, 12.7% HR/FB (8th-worst), 6.7 fWAR 
• 2021 (so far): 4.97 ERA (7th-worst), 5.01 FIP (3rd-worst), 7.53 K/9, 17.7% HR/FB (worst in MLB), 2.7 fWAR (3rd-worst)

This year’s rotation is worse than 2012. It was not good by any means but better than this year.

Offense: 

• 2012: .240/.302/.378, .680 OPS, 81 wRC+, 7.5% BB, 20.7% K, 11.3 fWAR – (-146 run differential)
• 2021: 229/.305/.394 .700 OPS, 89 wRC+, 8.4% BB, 26.6%K, 9.8 fWAR (-95 run differential)

The offensive numbers look kind of similar in a number of ways. Do note that strikeouts and lower batting average are the trends of today’s game across the board, but still the numbers this season look grim. This was with the majority of the year still having the core in place. Hard to win with a .700 OPS and sub-100 wRC+.

There is one more interesting thing to note. The 2012 Cubs had a 12-game losing streak in May of that year, tied for third-longest in franchise history. This year the Cubs have had MULTIPLE double-digit losing streaks, including the current 12-game skid. The 2021 Cubs also now hold the longest home-losing streak (in a single homestand) and were outscored 58-18. 2012 was terrible but this team is making all sorts of bad team history.

2012 might have been the “worse” season from beginning to end, but this year’s team has seen some of the lowest of lows. Imagine if the Cubs did not have had that surging month of May? There really is nowhere to go but up after this is all over, and I think the players feel the same way.