Although it had been speculated, it became a reality tonight as the Cubs announced their tender decisions, and included in the non-tenders is veteran outfielder Kyle Schwarber.
Schwarber struggled in 2020 hitting .188/.308/.393 in 224 plate appearances playing in 59 of the Cubs 60 games while smacking 11 home runs. While it wasn't an ideal stat line, Schwarber was coming off of a big 2019 season that saw him post a 120 wRC+ and smack a career-high 38 home runs. The former first round pick has smashed 121 home runs over 2108 plate appearances in the big leagues.
Although he has certainly had his issues at the big league level Schwarber is a very capable big league bat and has developed into a serviceable defender in left field so it's frustrating to see him non-tendered when he was projected to earn somewhere between $7-$9 million in his final year of arbitration and paints an even dimmer look at their financial situation.
A reunion is certainly possible, but Schwarber is likely to attract a lot of attention due to his skillset and him being just 27-years old. It's hard to tell how much to read into his 2020 struggles due to the uniqueness of the season, but it's worth noting that his average exit velocity was the second highest of his career and ranked in the top five percent of all of baseball.
His struggles seemed to be tied into a sharp increase in his ground ball rate which spiked from 38.8 percent to 51.2 percent in 2020. If Schwarber wants to succeed he's got to be able to hit the ball in the air at a much higher clip as his power is his most valuable asset.
Schwarber also leaves a legacy of being one of the best hitters in Cubs postseason history. In 24 games and 79 plate appearances he hit .288/.405/.576 with six home runs which is tied with Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo for first all time. He had some notable moments including his two-run shot in the Wild Card game and his memorable scoreboard home run against the Cardinals in 2015. But nothing will be as impressive as what he did in 2016.
On April 7th in an early season matchup against the Diamondbacks Schwarber collided with Dexter Fowler tearing his ACL and LCL and was declared out for the remainder of the season. But after a long rehab process he was cleared to take at-bats for the Cubs Arizona Fall League team. So on October 22nd Schwarber was taking at bats in preparation for a potential World Series comeback as the Cubs clinched their first pennant in 71 years in Chicago.
When the World Series roster was named Schwarber was listed and one of the more unbelievable sports injury comebacks was complete. Schwarber was the designated hitter for the road games that series appearing in five games and going an impressive 7-17 driving in two runs and scoring two. His single to open up the tenth inning of Game Seven set up the go ahead run for the Cubs as they ended a 108-year title drought.
Elsewhere former 2012 first round pick Albert Almora Jr. was also non-tendered. He was the first draft pick of the Theo Epstein era and at one point ranked as the #18 prospect by Baseball Prospectus, but he has never been able to fully put it together at the big league level. In 489 games he has slashed .271/.308/.398 while not being the most impressive center fields with below average speed for a center fielder. His numbers especially cratered the past two seasons where he has hit .230/.270/.366 in 397 plate appearances. He just didn't have the plate discipline to last at the big league level, and when he did hit he wasn't hitting the ball hard enough to do a lot of damage. He will also have a special place in Cubs fans hearts as he pinch-ran for Schwarber in Game Seven and scored the go-ahead run after tagging from first on a fly ball out. He certainly has potential to contribute as a reserve big league outfielder, but it has become increasingly clear it wasn't going to happen with the Cubs.
Mid-season acquisition Jose Martinez was also non-tendered. The Cubs had hoped he would be a potential lefty masher off the bench, but instead he went 0-21 with the Cubs and that combined with his very poor defense made his non-tender a non-surprise.
It was a slight surprise to see Cubs MVP-vote getter Ryan Tepera non-tendered as he was fairly solid for the Cubs posting a 3.92 ERA in 21 appearances for the club. He struck out an impressive 31 in 20.2 innings pitched and while he walked 12 he was able to cancel that out by being hard to square up allowing just 17 hits and two home runs. He seemed to be one of the more reliable members of the Cubs bullpen at times so it's possible a reunion is certainly in the cards.
The Cubs also announced they avoided arbitration with Colin Rea, Dan Winkler, and Kyle Ryan while they tendered a contract to Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, Victor Caratini, and Ian Happ.
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