Best teams to rebuild in MLB The Show 21 franchise mode

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are in a weird spot with their roster, mostly due to the fact that they’ve moved on from some, not all of their big-money players, are reshaping their roster but don’t have a top tier farm system, and are cutting payroll but won’t commit fully to a rebuild. No doubt, their 2020 season was weird and didn’t live up to expectations.

In MLB The Show 21, gone are players like Yu Darvish, Jon Lester, and Kyle Schwarber. Still around are players like Kyle Hendricks, Jason Hayward, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. And coming in are Joc Pederson and Jake Arrieta.

The Cubs have three players in the Top 100 prospects — none of them coming in higher than 66. So there’s a lot of work to be done, both through the draft and trades. Obviously, your biggest trade pieces are Bryant and Baez, who are earning $19.5M and $11.6M respectively. There’s still Jason Hayward earning $23.5M this year and not living up to that colossal contract he signed. Total, there are six players on the Cubs earning over $10M a year. When all is said and done, the Cubs payroll sits around $140M.

By trading Bryant and Baez, and even Rizzo and Hendricks, you can full commit to the rebuild or get more affordable, productive players with not as high ratings. There are plenty of teams to trade Bryant and Baez to. For instance, a team like the Mets, who have been linked to Bryant and the Cubs multiple times, have players to offer like C Francisco Alvarez, SS Ronny Mauricio,  SP Matthew Allan or some players already producing in the majors like SP David Peterson and 3B J.D. Davis. But Baez is the big get that can net you pretty much anyone you want. In past games I’ve worked out trades where I get Ronald Acuna (who has a very team-friendly deal).