Ranking the 5 most important Cubs entering the 2022 season

Cubs: 5 most important players heading into 2022 – #5: Marcus Stroman

Marcus Stroman was obviously the most significant offseason free agent pick-up the team has made to this point. All that could change if the Cubs continue to go after the big fish in Carlos Correa, or perhaps, other free agents that are still available, but for now, Stroman is the main piece. His signing sent a message that maybe, just maybe, Chicago may not just be trying to sit idly by in coming years and instead, might look to make a run sooner rather than later.

Projected to the be near the top of the rotation, Stroman comes in with career 3.63 ERA, which ranks second among the club’s likely starting pitchers. For his career record, he is at 61-60. It is difficult to hold much concern for that as the majority of his career has been spent with Toronto where from 2016-2018 the team saw itself at least 20 games under .500 – to go along with two other seasons during Stroman’s tenure where they managed to finish just barely above .500.

Looking at the 2021 season, Stroman’s 10-13 record with a 3.02 ERA speaks even more volume to the fact that sometimes a good player is just on a bad team and has little offensive support behind him. Ask Jacob deGrom how he feels going 10-9 with a league-leading 1.70 ERA.

Regardless, all that is behind Stroman and should the Cubs do what they should in order to compete (add the necessary offensive firepower for their rotation to pick up wins), Stroman’s importance and potential impact will only grow.