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Honorable Mention: Travis Wood
The flexible lefty has proven to be one of Joe Maddon’s favorite pieces in his bullpen the last two seasons, as Wood has been able to transition from starter to long reliever, to middle relief and even closing some games in 2015. Wood put together a spectacular 2016 with a career-best 2.95 ERA while sporting an opponent batting average of .198 in 77 appearances.
Wood’s ability to throw in multiple situations makes him an extremely valuable piece to have on the Cubs roster, on top of the fact Travis is just a freaking athlete, making game-saving plays in left field and clubbing postseason home runs with ease.
Who doesn’t love pitchers who rake?
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But Travis Wood, while valuable to the Cubs in his own way, was at one point drawing interest from a few teams as a starter. The 2017 free agency class is a tad weaker than others in recent memory, and teams might be willing to pay a little more than the Cubs to add the lefty to their rotation.
With a career 4.19 ERA and 776 innings logged as a starter, while also coming off one of the best seasons of his career, the soon-to-be-30-year-old is a great piece to add to the back of any teams rotation.
