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.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)