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Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports
Leading up to Opening Day, I will be tackling a new series reviewing the fantasy baseball outlook for potentially valuable Cubs players.
As a team that is projected to win somewhere in the range of 65-75 games, there are very few players on the Cubs that will be useful to you in 2014 fantasy baseball. This series will start on March 2nd and will run until we go through each of the Cubs that can help you win your fantasy league, where you should draft them, and what you can expect from them throughout your seasons.
Before writing any further, a quick disclaimer: no two fantasy baseball leagues are the same. I will try to highlight the different formats in which each player I discuss will be useful, but keep in mind that this information may not be specific to your team. With this being said, I am happy to answer any questions to your specific league, so hit me up on Twitter @SeanApfelbaum.
I’ll go into more depth throughout the series, but here are some spoilers:
- I think that there are three Cubs that are must-own in any fantasy baseball format: Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, and Jeff Samardzija.
- Position players like Junior Lake and Welington Castillo may have some value in deeper leagues (14 or 16 teams).
- Same story with starting pitchers like Jason Hammel, Travis Wood, Edwin Jackson, and Jake Arrieta.
- One position battle to watch in spring training will be the battle for closer between Pedro Strop and Jose Veras. Arodys Vizcaino is also a name to watch down the line.
- Most other Cubs (Darwin Barney, Justin Ruggiano, Nate Schierholtz, Luis Valbuena) have value only in NL only leagues, and such value is very limited.
- Another name to follow in Spring Training and the early regular season will be James McDonald.
- Finally, minor league players like Javier Baez and Kris Bryant are rapidly becoming worthwhile considerations in keeper leagues. Each of these players could see the majors in 2014 and project very well long-term.