3 forgotten players on the Cubs' Opening Day roster a decade ago

With Opening Day finally upon us in 2026, we are officially ten years removed from the Chicago Cubs capturing their long-awaited World Series championship.

Most of us probably remember Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo powering the offense while the pitching staff dominated the league. But today we're looking at three Cubs players who cracked the 2016 Opening Day roster who you may have forgotten about.

3 players on the 2016 Cubs Opening Day roster you forgot about

Matt Szczur

Matt Szczur was drafted by the Cubs in 2010, and he spent three-and-a-half of his five-year MLB career in Chicago. During that time, Szczur was a steady bench presence on the roster, but 2016 was by far his most productive year.

Fellow outfielder Chris Coghlan, and eventually utility man Ben Zobrist, picked up much of the slack in left field after Kyle Schwarber's disastrous injury in the first week of the season. But the injury also gave Szczur more opportunities, and he finished the year with 185 at-bats and a solid .259/.312/.400 slash line.

In 2017, the Cubs traded Sczcur to the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league pitcher Justin Hancock. After two seasons with the Padres, Szczur had minor league stints with three other clubs before officially retiring in 2022 and starting an art business.

Clayton Richard

Clayton Richard was a crafty finesse pitcher who was a fairly effective left-handed option out of the bullpen for Joe Maddon in 2015. That year, he recorded 23 appearances, including three starts and several multi-inning outings, with a 3.83 ERA.

After returning to the club in 2016, he was used as a situational arm for the first half of the year but was not nearly as effective. Richard finished his 2016 stint in Chicago with a 6.43 ERA, and he was designated for assignment after the team acquired Aroldis Chapman at the trade deadline.

Richard returned to form with the Padres the following two seasons, where he logged a total of 356 innings. Richard hasn't played in MLB since 2019 and he was recently working as a baseball and football coach for Lafayette Jefferson High School in Indiana.

Adam Warren

In the 2015-16 offseason, the Cubs traded Starlin Castro, who had been a mainstay in the team's lineup for the first half of the decade, to the New York Yankees in exchange for Adam Warren. At the time, it felt like the Cubs had just nabbed a guy who would be a major contributor to the pitching staff.

Warren was 28 at the time, and coming off three very productive seasons in New York as a reliever and occasional starter. From 2013-15, Warren logged 287 innings with a 3.23 ERA. But the guy was simply ineffective with the Cubs, and he sported a 5.91 ERA by July. At the trade deadline, the Cubs flipped Warren and a package of prospects back to the Yankees in the Chapman trade. Oddly enough, Warren returned to form with the Yankees and recorded a much more favorable 3.26 ERA in 29 appearances down the stretch.