Marcus Stroman projected to be the most valuable Cubs player in 2022

The Marcus Stroman signing shocked me, personally. The offseason began and names came off the board left and right, far quicker than anticipated, and it sure looked like the Cubs were going to be left scrounging for scraps yet again.

Instead, Jed Hoyer inked Stroman to a two-year, $50 million pact that includes a player option for a third season. Given there were rumors of the right-hander eyeing a deal in the $200 million range, this feels like an absolute steal – and one that will go a long ways toward rectifying a Cubs rotation that was historically bad in 2021.

We know Stroman makes Chicago a better team heading into 2022. But looking at FanGraphs’ ZiPS projections, he won’t only improve the club – he’s poised to be the team’s most valuable player, period.

ZiPS has Stroman pegged to make 31 starts this year, working to a respectable 3.60 ERA and 3.79 FIP across 170 innings of work. That’s not quite as good as he was a year ago (33 starts, 3.02 ERA,  3.49 FIP), but still good enough to accumulate a projected team-best 3.5 zWAR.

That tops all Cubs pitchers – and even the team’s final core holdover, Willson Contreras. Of course, we don’t know if the two-time All-Star will even start the year with the team given extension talks  have gone nowhere but, for now, he’s penciled in atop the depth chart behind the dish.

Chicago Cubs: Marcus Stroman has been everything this fanbase needed

But let’s get back to Stroman, who has checked just about every box imaginable since joining the team. He’s been interactive with fans on Twitter, worked to recruit Carlos Correa to the North Side and brought some badly-needed star power back to the team. Once the lockout ends and spring training begins, all people will care about, though, is what he does on the field.

If these projections are to be believed, though, we’ll be just as happy with that body of work as we’ve been while we’ve gotten to know him over the last month-plus.