Fantasy Baseball: So You Need a Shortstop?

The shortstop position around Major League Baseball is much like the second base position and the catcher position, offensively speaking it seems to either be feast or famine. All three positions are very top heavy with a few average replacements and a whole lot that don’t offer much in the terms of fantasy value. The shortstop position may be the most anemic of the three though which is why so many find it hard to find a suitable shortstop once the likes of Carlos Correa and the other top-tier shortstops come off the board, that’s where I come in to help. 

Carlos Correa is probably the best shortstop in the game right now while Troy Tulowitzki, in his Coors Field days anyway, and Brandon Crawford fill out the top three in no particular order. Behind them is in my opinion a steep fall off in production as far as fantasy goes so if you don’t get these three recognizable faces you may be left wondering what to do. If it was I and I missed out on one of those three I would definitely take a look at Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox or Ian Desmond if he ever finds a home between now and draft day. The longer Desmond has to wait for a job, and especially if it eats up some of his spring training time, the farther away I step away from him. See Stephen Drew the year he was offered a qualifying offer, it could happen to Desmond as well. 

Behind this group of men are some rookies and young guys looking to take the next step forward towards superstardom. These players come with risks of taking a step back or having the sophomore slump but if they continue their production like they did last year they can be notable additions to your team. This list includes Francisco Lindor of the Indians, Addison Russell of the Chicago Cubs and Didi Gregorius of the New York Yankees. Some may think I think too highly of Didi or that I am letting my Yankees fandom get in the way but his stats after the first two months of the season were fantastic. Once he settled in and got comfortable he was one of the most consistent hitters in the Yankees lineup and he’s only going to get better as he matures. Again, he comes with a risk but he is a high risk and high reward type player at least. 

Speaking of Didi his teammate Starlin Castro will be eligible at second base and shortstop next season and is just 26-years old. Castro hit much better after moving to second base last season with Chicago and could be in line for a nice season in the Bronx in 2016. Behind Castro is another fall off that starts with Elvis Andrus and ends with Jhonny Peralta. These players along with Alcides Escobar, JJ Hardy, Marcus Semien and Brad Miller are what they are, you basically know what you are going to get from these players. They are not your last resort but they aren’t your first resort either, they are more marginal players as far as fantasy goes. If you miss out on one of these players, well your draft may be over unless you can find a nice sleeper pick, maybe Ketel Marte of Seattle or Jean Segura of Arizona. 

Shortstops can be a tricky position to draft unfortunately so I tend to personally go high and grab one of the top tiered players. The shortstop can make or break your draft because if you go too high on a guy and he busts or gets injured you are left reeling for the rest of your season but if you wait too long you may be stuck with a Andrelton Simmons or Adeiny Hechavarria and nobody wants that… do they?

Fantasy Baseball: Who Are the Chicago Cubs?

Fantasy Baseball is just around the corner and it’s never too early to start doing your homework on your league and your team specifically. We went over a team already that I personally thought many wouldn’t know in the Atlanta Braves so I wanted to go back into your comfort zone with today’s team, the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs added a few key pieces to an already young and stacked team as they look to not only compete in the National League Central Division but as they look to break that Curse of the Billy Goat. 

You know the names of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist and what they bring to the table but what about the rest of the team? There’s plenty of talent on this Cubs team that you may want to draft but one pitcher you may want to stay away from, at least early on, is John Lackey. Lackey pitched brilliantly in St. Louis last season posting a 2.77 ERA with the Cardinals but the peripherals and other stats paint a different story. Lackey left an amazing 82.6 percent of his batters on base last season and is not likely to duplicate that in 2016, especially with the smaller dimensions inside Wrigley Field and especially with the wind blowing out during all those day games. Lackey also posted the lowest strikeout rate in his last three seasons in 2015 and will be entering his age 37 season in 2016. Stay clear unless it’s late. 

Addison Russell took over for Starlin Castro last season and will have the starting shortstop job until he loses it in 2016. Russell is just 22-years old and has a long way to go in his development but he did show signs of life in the second half of 2015 posting a .259 average with seven home runs in August and September alone. Russell has the potentially, maybe not necessarily in 2016 but soon, to his 30 home runs and steal a ton of bases. Who wouldn’t want that on your fantasy team, especially at the second base position? 

Adam Warren should get a ton of opportunities in Chicago both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever but how will he stack up in fantasy? Well he was easily the Yankees most consistent starter last season outside of Luis Severino and will presumably finally get a shot at a starting gig all season in 2016. For that reason alone Warren should see an uptick in his stats as he struggled in both the bullpen and rotation the first couple appearances after switching from the other. The Yankees tinkered with a pitcher and hurt his value in doing so? Joba, say it ain’t so. 

The final piece to the Cubs piece of the puzzle is right fielder Jorge Soler. Soler is not going to steal you 30 bases a season nor is he going to hit for a .300 average and knock in 120 RBI. He does have the power to hit 30 home runs though as he has shown an ability to hit the ball far when he makes contact. Soler won’t go in the first 10-15 rounds in my opinion unless it’s a pretty deep league so it might be useful to add his occasional power to the end of your draft to boost your team and power your way to another league victory. 

Those are the Chicago Cubs in all their glory. Can they help your team? Absolutely, just be smart about it though and don’t reach for the Soler’s, the Lackey’s or the Javier Baez’s too awful early and you should be just fine.