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.