CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs non-tendered 2016 World Series hero Kyle Schwarber on Wednesday, making him a free agent after six seasons with the team, while tendering a contract to 2016 National League MVP Kris Bryant.
Schwarber, 27, was in his final year of arbitration, but the team let him go rather than pay him around $8-9 million next season. The Cubs have not ruled out bringing him back on a lesser deal, a source told ESPN.
Schwarber hit .230 with 121 home runs in 551 regular-season games, but he’ll be remembered for his playoff performances, during which he compiled a .981 OPS in 24 games.
He hit .412 in five games as the Cubs’ designated hitter in the 2016 World Series, which Chicago won in seven games over the Cleveland Indians. After missing all but two games of the 2016 regular season — and the ensuing playoff rounds — because of a knee injury, Schwarber came back to star in the World Series.
Manager Joe Maddon made him the Cubs’ leadoff hitter the following year, after Dexter Fowler left via free agency. Schwarber flopped in that role, hitting .190 with a .312 on-base percentage before spending time in the minors.
He rebounded in 2018 and 2019, hitting 64 home runs, but his shortened 2020 season didn’t go well. Schwarber hit just .188 with 11 home runs in 59 games.
Without fans in attendance at Wrigley Field, the Cubs say they lost between $125-140 million in 2020. Front-office and baseball operations staff were let go in a series of cost-cutting moves, and a reduction in payroll was on the agenda for the team this offseason — along with an offensive makeover. The core group of players who won the World Series in 2016 had collectively stalled at the plate.
Schwarber’s release is the first major sign of both the payroll and personnel turnover. And it is the first major decision under new team president Jed Hoyer’s watch, after Theo Epstein stepped down with a year left on his deal.
Schwarber was the Cubs’ first-round pick, fourth overall, in the 2014 draft after attending Indiana University.