1 Chicago Cubs player you should avoid in Fantasy Baseball, and 2 that could help

Baseball has a season that includes almost ten times as many games as football, and that can turn a lot of fans off. The same is true in the fantasy sports community since keeping up with a fantasy baseball league can be more time-consuming and tiresome than doing so for a fantasy football league.

That being said, if you’re a member of a fantasy baseball league and you’re looking for a player who can help propel your team to eternal glory, there are a couple of Chicago Cubs that should be on your list as value plays due to their low ranking in most formats.

According to MLB.com’s Top 300 Fantasy Rankings, there are eight Cubs on the list. Some of these guys are a little overrated, some are underrated and there are some guys not in the top 300 that could be league-winning, sleeper-type players to keep an eye on. 

Overrated

Nico Hoerner (2B/SS)

Hoerner is ranked as the 64th-best player available. He offers some positional flexibility being the 6th best second baseman on the list and the 12th best shortstop, but unless you’re in a league that values stolen bases very highly I wouldn’t recommend him in the top 70. 

If Hoerner is available in around the 10th round of your league and you already have power at other positions and one or two stud pitchers then you can be forgiven for taking Hoerner, but if you draft him in the 7th (where he’s ranked) you may be sorry. 

Underrated

Christopher Morel (OF)

Morel is a player who is similar to Hoerner in his potential for positional flexibility. To start the season he’s projected to be an OF-only option, and in order to best help the Cubs he may just play DH.

However, what’s looking like a more and more real possibility is that the Cubs make no effort to improve their third base offerings and roll out a combination of Nick Madrigal and Patrick Wisdom at the hot corner.

If that’s the case, then the idea of Morel getting enough starts at third to get that positional versatility from a fantasy perspective isn't ridiculous and most leagues don’t ding players for their inability to produce with the glove.

What Morel can do is hit, and that’s what matters. He’s projected as the 42nd best outfielder based on Steamer which expects him to hit 25 homers, steal 10 bases, and have 71 RBI with 66 runs scored. Those are reasonable expectations but he improved pretty dramatically between his first and second seasons and I’m not quite sure he’s done improving.

If he were to come out in 2024 and hit 30 homers and steal double-digit bases I don’t think that would shock the baseball world. If you’re able to get that kind of production from a player that you draft in the 18th/19th round that would be huge, especially if he ends up with positional versatility and even better if this is a dynasty/keeper league.