Forgotten Cubs' Opening Day roster hopeful could soon be searching for work

The Chicago Cubs' bench battle likely comes down to three veteran outfielders who are trying to revive their careers. The way things are shaking out, two out of the three likely make the cut, with the remaining hopeful hitting the unemployment line.

At a point in time, Michael Conforto, Dylan Carlson, and Chas McCormick have all looked like quality big leaguers. However, they've all experienced downturns that forced them to settle for minor league deals with the Cubs.

This spring, it has become clear that one of these guys is not like the others. Conforto has rebounded from a disastrous 2025 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting .357/.438/.429 over five spring games. Carlson has been even better, slashing .400/.571/.500 in 10 contests. Meanwhile, McCormick has floundered to the tune of a .233/.226/.333 line in his 11 appearances. That might just be enough to get him booted out of contention.

Chas McCormick's poor spring puts his chances of making the Cubs' roster in a tenuous position

In addition to the poor numbers, there are a couple of factors working against McCormick. For one, a nice thing for one of these outfielders to be able to do is have enough chops to occasionally spell Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field from time to time.

Conforto's days of roaming center are long gone, but both Carlson and McCormick have experience out there. The difference is that Carlson's a switch-hitter, which provides more value than the right-hand-hitting former Houston Astro.

If McCormick's center field skills aren't enough to get him over the hump, then the next consideration is having a lefty-masher who can come off the bench. However, over the last two years, Conforto has had a pretty extreme reverse split, hitting very well against southpaws. As a lefty bat, the former Dodger is also not far removed from a solid 2024 campaign, making him the closest of the group to his last successful season.

It's an unfortunate slip for McCormick. The 30-year-old began his career with three straight seasons of 2.1 fWAR or better, peaking in 2023 with 3.3 fWAR while hitting 22 homers, stealing 19 bases, and posting a 132 wRC+. Over the past two years, though, he's fallen off dramatically, subtracting 0.3 fWAR over the two seasons combined and posting wRC+ marks of 65 and 62 in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Since the other two are better fits for the roster needs due to positional flexibility or handedness, he was already at a disadvantage, but now that he hasn't hit despite getting the lion's share of the opportunities, it's become clear that the experiment hasn't worked. Time to close the book and cut him loose to try and find another job somewhere else.