Fantasy Baseball: Which Chicago Cubs hold the most value?

Jake Arrieta

This is a tough one.  Arrieta wasn’t drafted at all I’m sure by anyone to start the season.  If you did happen to look into a crystal ball and predict that he would do what he did – you should be buying lottery tickets weekly.  Arrieta was a great story last year for the Cubs.  He turned his career around with the help of Cubs’ pitching coach Chris Bosio. Finishing the season 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 167 strikeouts – Arrieta was often times near untouchable.  He only had one bad outing, and that was in Colorado where the Rockies knocked him around over five innings for 13 hits and nine earned runs.

Now that he isn’t the number one starter for the Cubs with Jon Lester aboard – he should have similar success.  I’m just worried that some may expect much of the same dominance that she showed with his low ERA and unreal WHIP numbers.  I do expect him to win more games – probably near 15.  I expect more strikeouts – but the ERA and WHIP I would expect to go up slightly.  A more realistic ERA around three to three and a half – with a WHIP over one and a quarter would still be fantastic numbers.

I think he may be drafted higher in a lot of leagues hoping to catch lightning in a bottle from his success of last year. Then again, maybe a lot of owners are thinking the same and hoping he falls to them.  I just wouldn’t be one of those who picks him to quickly hoping for more instead of expecting similar numbers to last year with a slight increase on the averages.

Next: Finally grown up