Developed World Series Teams 2016

When writing an email, have you ever MEANT to click "Save as Draft," but instead you clicked "Send?" Something very similar happened to me this past Wednesday on this very blog, when I wrote the title of this post about Developed World Series Teams 2017, then quickly clicked the wrong button before going about the rest of my day. Seeing as three people have already looked at this blank post in bewilderment over the last three days, I suppose I'd better follow through on what I was going to write.

Developed Teams are probably my second favorite of the various baseball rosters project that I do, finishing behind Astrology Teams, just ahead of Divisional All-Stars and All-Acquired Teams, and well ahead of Hometown Teams. As a refresher, players get assigned to a particular developed team if they spent their formative years in that team's minor league system. A team does not have to draft or sign a player to an amateur deal to count as that player's developed team, although I've found that that's usually the case. Nor does it matter with which team a player makes his big league debut, although I do stop each player's "developed clock," so to speak, as soon as he hits the majors for the first time.

I don't like to rehash this project too frequently, because things don't tend to change too much year over year. And while I last devoted significant time to the project after the 2015 season, where I covered roughly 1/3 of the league, I figured it might be fun to see how this year's World Series would have gone if it featured the developed versions of the participating teams. (Ignoring, of course, that if all 30 teams played a full developed SEASON, it's unlikely that the Cubs and Indians would face each other, but you get the point.) One more point: these charts were compiled at the close of the 2016 season, so any offseason transactions will not be covered.

So without further ado, on to the lists, batters first, organized not by a projected batting order, but rather by position on the diamond, from 2 thru 9 + DH (yes, each team gets a DH, deal with it), regardless of each player's primary position in 2016:

The first thing you might notice about the Developed Cubs 2016 roster is that, much like their real life 2016 counterparts, they are carrying three catchers. Well, the FIRST thing you notice is probably the sheer offensive prowess of NL MVP Kris Bryant, and the not-unimpressive performance of NL batting champ DJ LeMahieu. But if you start looking at the Position column, you'll probably notice the three catchers, which is easier to do when one such player (2016 rookie and #2 prospect in the Cubs organization Willson Contreras) is also your starting left fielder. It's also easier to do when you have a player like Marwin Gonzalez on the roster, who will likely take over first base from Justin Bour against lefties, but function as a super utility type the rest of the time. Speaking of that first base platoon, neither Bour nor Gonzalez debuted with Chicago, as evidenced by the * in their "Developed Team" column at the far left. But looking at their pre-MLB careers leaves no doubt which team they belong to: they each played more than 500 minor league games in the Cubs system, compared to just one season with the teams who acquired them and called them up for the first time.

Before moving on, a quick note on the color coding of certain columns. A Green field in the Position 1 column indicates that player had rookie eligibility in 2016, while Green in the Position 2 column denotes a new addition to my database prior to the 2016 season. If a player's Rank is highlighted Red, that means his rank in MLB's preseason player rater has been trending down over the course of the offseason. Even though there are none of the following examples in the Cubs' batters chart, a player whose rank was trending up receives a Green highlight, while a player who was added to MLB's list after it was first published gets a Purple highlight. And for the Name columns, a Yellow highlight indicates an offseason acquisition while a Cyan highlight goes with a player who was traded midseason. Color coding for the Astrology Sign and Contract Status columns should be self explanatory.

It's clear that this lineup kind of falls apart if Victor Martinez isn't able to suit up at first base every day. There's still plenty of pop without him: Francisco Lindor is a budding star, Jason Kipnis is a force either at the top or in the middle of the lineup, and Jose Ramirez had a breakout season in 2016 (while adding some defensive versatility). But Cleveland has such little depth that the next first base option on the depth chart is Jesus Aguilar, who amassed a whopping -7 points in the big leagues in 2016. It should be noted that third catcher Chris Gimenez has played a little first in the minors, but his bat barely plays behind the plate, let alone at the spot where you want your top offensive contributor. Yes, this roster also has three catchers too, but that's largely due to the aforementioned lack of depth at other positions. Plus, Tony Wolters has enough offensive potential to serve as a decent DH, while also logging some innings in the infield.

The developed Cubs rotation is a reminder of how crucial shrewd trades and timely free agent signings are to building a real life major league pitching staff: the only member of Chicago's World Series winning rotation who they technically developed (Kyle Hendricks) only made his way to the franchise via trade (from the Rangers for Ryan Dempster). Three of Hendricks's other four rotation mates pitched for the actual Cubs in some degree: Jeff Samardzija rather effectively as both a reliever and a starter, Rich Hill had about 1.5 strong seasons' worth of good innings over his first four years in the bigs, and Andrew Cashner didn't develop into a starter until he was traded to the Padres (in the deal that brought Anthony Rizzo to Chicago). Ricky Nolasco (who jumped straight from the Cubs' farm system to the Marlins' big club after his 2005 trade) wasn't really on anybody's radar prior to 2016, until he rebuilt his value after a midseason trade with 11 solid starts for the Angels.

The biggest weakness of this team by far is the bullpen. Not only do they lack a proven closer, but you could actually make a case that the pitcher who had the most successful 2016 season (Carl Edwards Jr.) actually belongs to the developed Texas Rangers. (Edwards threw more minor league innings in the Texas system, but he has more minor league appearances in Chicago, where he was converted to a full time reliever in 2015.) In fact, Edwards, Blake Parker, and swingman Chris Rusin are the only members of this relief corps who have actually suited up for the Cubs in real life. And hard throwing Tony Zych didn't even end the 2016 season on the Mariners' active roster, despite the somewhat antiquated tradition of September Call Ups. Unless some minor league reinforcements are on the way in the near future, this team could be in for some nerve wracking late leads.

Unlike the Cubs, 80% of the developed Indians rotation has played a significant role for the team's real-life equivalent. Veterans Bartolo Colon and CC Sabathia both debuted in Cleveland and combined for over 2,500 innings and four All-Star appearances for the team over more than a decade between them. Colon was with the team from 1997 to 2002, Sabathia from 2001 to 2007, and both saw their Indians tenures come to an end via a blockbuster trade.  Meanwhile, Danny Salazar and Josh Tomlin figure to make 2/5ths of the Tribe's starting rotation in 2017 after performing admirably in the 2016 postseason. And although well-heralded prospect Drew Pomeranz didn't pitch for Cleveland's big club, he was the centerpiece in the trade that netted the team Ubaldo Jimenez, who was a pitcher who pitched for the Indians for a number of years. Notably, one of these pitchers (likely Sabathia) would likely be replaced by knuckleballer Steven Wright (who spent five seasons in Cleveland's minor league system before heading to the Red Sox), were it not for Boston manager John Farrell's foolish pinch running decision late in the 2016 season. Wright's hypothetical roster spot would go to Cody Anderson, who would join Ryan Merritt in a long relief / swingman role.

This team is also pretty much the polar opposite of Chicago in terms of shutdown bullpen arms, as the developed Indians employ no fewer than three (3) relievers who closed for a significant portion of 2016. Cody Allen course serves as the team's current closer, assuming manager Terry Francona continues to utilize Andrew Miller in the multi-inning middle-relief role in which he excelled during the 2016 postseason. Jeanmar Gomez finished games for the 2016 Phillies, although no one seems to be particularly bullish on the prospects of him holding onto that privilege going forward. And Hector Rondon (a Rule 5 pick, which means by definition that he didn't spend ANY time in the minors for his new team before making his debut) was the Cubs' go-to for saves from 2014 thru the first half of 2016, when Joe Maddon suddenly lost faith in any reliever not named Aroldis Chapman. The weak link in this bullpen is clearly former Phillies minor league lefty Elvis Araujo, who is an injury replacement for the much more accomplished Zach Putnam.


So there you have it: developed rosters for the 2016 World Series participants. Who do you think would have won the Fall Classic if these were the teams that took the field last October? Sound off in the comments and stay tuned for more posts with actual words this time!