All Chicago Cubs team 1965-2019, position players

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After the 2016 season I put together my all Cubs team from 1965-2016.  Part of the criterion I used was the players chosen had to have a three year body of work to be included on the team.  I figured by now, members of that 2016 would have progressed and would be on a revised all team by now.  Unfortunately, most regressed rather than progressed.  Still, playing on a team that brought a 108 year old championship drought does pull some extra weight.  With that in mind, here goes:

Catcher:  Willson Contreras   Willson swings a good bat, is versatile, and a plus defender. In five seasons in Chicago, Willson has been named to the All Star team twice.  Contreras seems to wear down as the season goes on so he may need more relief behind the plate.  Willson looks to have a number of more all star selections ahead of him.  Before the appearance of Contreras, the Cubs top two catchers from the mid 60s on were Randy Hundley and Jody Davis.  Davis put together some nice seasons for the Cubs from 1982-1987.  He maxed out in 1986 with a WAR of 4.0. That year he 21 homers and drove in 71 runs.  Jody also did a nice job defensively.  Hundley was a great defensive catcher and a fine handler of pitchers. He also swung a decent bat until excessive playing time wore him out.  From 1966-69 he caught in 149,152, 160 and 151 games.  Randy is a cautionary tale of a catcher being run into the ground. Randy merits honorary mention here.

First base: Anthony Rizzo You can pencil Rizzo in for about 30 homers, 100 RBIs and gold glove defense every season.  He also gets on base a ton.  The Cubs have had some good first basemen since 1965, but Rizzo is the best of the bunch.  Derek Lee also had some great years for the Cubs.  In 2005 Lee hit 46 homers and knocked in 107.  He was also a great defender and outstanding base runner.  His WAR for the year was 7.7.  By the time Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks was moved to first, he was past his prime.  Mark Grace was also a first baseman of note for the Cubs. During the 90’s, Gracie played a great first base and had an OPS of around .850.  Gracie also was on a World Series winner.  Unfortunately, he had to go to the Arizona Diamondbacks to do it.

Second base: Ryne Sandberg With all due respect to Glen Beckert, Manny Trillo and Ben Zobrist, Sandberg is an easy choice.  Ryne was great in the field, an excellent base runner and had outstanding power.  From 1990-92 Ryne put up WARs of 7.1, 7.0 and 7.8.  He was a pleasure to watch and perhaps, my all-time favorite Cub.

Shortstop:  Javy Baez  Javy plays great defense at second and third, as well as a short.  Since settling into the shortstop slot, he's easily the pick here.  He plays excellent, and flashy defense, as well as providing power from a middle infield slot. He's like  a much better version of Shawn Dunston, who wasn't a bad player himself.  Don Kessinger manned the position for a number of years during the 60s and 70s, being named an all star six times. While Dunston an Kessinger, especially Kessinger played good defense, Baez blows the rest of the Cubs shortstops away with his power.  I will say I'm concerned about Baez's regression in 2020.  Javy has a lot of swing and miss in his game, and I'm not sure how that quality will age.

Third base:  Ron Santo  The Cubs have actually had a number of pretty good third basemen over the years. Ron Santo and Kris Bryant especially come to mind.  I've went back and forth over whether to puck Bryant of Santo for the slot, but I'm back to Santo.  Ron Santo really was a great player in his prime.  Santo’s stats look great, even today, but keep in mind, the 60’s, Ron’s heyday, was a real pitchers’ era.  He was also better with the glove than Bryant.  Bryant may eventually take this slot again, but for now, it's back to Ron.  During the 2000’s Aramis Ramirez gave the Cubs excellent production while irritating Cubs fans by seeming to, how can I put this, conserve himself while running out ground balls.  Bill Madlock had a three year run in the 70’s wherein he won two batting titles before being traded away for Bobby Murcer.

Left field:  Billy Williams While Kyle Schwarber had his moments, Billy Williams is the choice here.  Billy was extremely productive from 1961-74 and really did have one of the sweetest swings I’ve ever seen.  This Hall of Famer is a fairly easy choice in left.

Center field: Rick Monday: In the past I was torn between Dexter Fowler and Rick Monday.  I'm now back to Rick Monday.  Rick had power, got on base and was good defensively. In 1976, Rick's final year as a Cub, Rick hit 32 homers and had OBP of 346 and a slugging percentage of .507.  Then he was shipped off to the Dodgers for a package that included Bill Buckner.  Center field hasn't been a position of particular strength for the Cubs, but Monday wasn't bad. 

Right field:  Sammy Sosa The big question in right was Andre Dawson or Sammy Sosa?  While Sosa has a cloud of PED suspicions hanging over him, his production was unreal.  He hit 66, 63, 50, 64 and 49 homeruns from 1998-2002.  While Andre had some great years with the Cubs, PED’s or not, Sosa’s production is just too much to overlook.  Sosa might have been less than an ideal teammate, but other Cubs players and management probably helped create that monster.

All Cubs pitchers from 1965-2016 will follow soon