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Monday, March 27, 2023
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The Cubs now have 3 players that ranked in the top 16 in 2015 WAR

By  Rob Ogden
   
SHARE The Cubs now have 3 players that ranked in the top 16 in 2015 WAR

The addition of Jason Heyward to the Cubs’ lineup means Chicago now has three players that ranked among the top 16 position players in wins above replacement in 2015.

According to FanGraphs, Kris Bryant, Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo ranked 10th, 11th and 16th, respectively, and combined for 18 wins above replacement.

Photo via FanGraphs.com

Photo via FanGraphs.com

If all this sounds good, it gets even better from a Cubs prospective. According to the Steamer Projections on FanGraphs, all three players project to rank in the top 10 in WAR for 2016. No other team has more than two in the top 15.

Furthermore, no team has had three players of any kind finish in the top 10 in WAR since the 2005 Cardinals (Albert Pujols, Chris Carpenter, Jim Edmonds).

Of the 82 teams that have finished with three players with a WAR of at least 5.0 (as Bryant, Heyward and Rizzo all did in 2015), 25 won the pennant and 12 won the World Series, according to Fox Sports. Combined, the teams averaged 94 wins per season, but expectations will surly be higher than that for the Cubs in 2016.

23 players who played for both the Cubs and Cardinals

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