Chicago Cubs: 3 players who definitely will not be back in 2022

The Chicago Cubs haven’t been poised for an offseason of this magnitude for the better part of a decade. While most of the losses were already incurred at the July trade deadline, Jed Hoyer has the chance to really shape this club to his liking this winter.

That means when the team reports to Mesa in the spring, there are going to be a lot of new faces. Sure, there will be some familiar ones, too – but you can bet they’ll be few and far between, especially when it comes to proven commodities. Of course, Chicago will have the opportunity to reunite with some guys we saw in 2021 in the free agent market – but we can safely say these three guys won’t be back in Cubbie Blue next season.

Gold Glove finalist or not, Zach Davies was a disappointment to the Chicago Cubs

When the Cubs traded 2020 NL Cy Young runner-up Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres, we had a pretty good idea just how narrow the margin for error was this year. The return netted a package of high-upside prospects and just one big leaguer – Zach Davies.

The thinking was that Davies could help stem the bleeding caused by trading Darvish. After all, he was coming off arguably the best season of his career and looked to really be turning a corner. Cut from the same cloth as Kyle Hendricks, there was a belief the team might be able to make something of Davies and help him build off his 2020 season.

Instead, the right-hander went in the opposite direction, leading the league in walks and watching his ERA jump more than three full runs from 2.73 to 5.78 year-over-year. His 5.45 FIP didn’t paint any prettier of a picture and, despite selling off everything of value at the deadline, the Cubs held onto Davies – which tells you how badly his value had bottomed out by that point.

Yes, Chicago desperately needs starting pitching – both in quantity and quality. But even so, a reunion with Davies would be ill-advised and a move Hoyer and his front office would surely regret.