NEWSLETTER
Here is some more context on Jed Hoyer’s comments about Christopher Morel playing first base in the Dominican Republic this winter, and what it COULD mean for his future. It’s more or less what we expected, but he added a little more information that I think is useful and maybe telling.
Here’s Jed Hoyer, via Marquee:
“It’s an ongoing conversation, but we’ve talked a lot about finding him a home and I do think we wanna give him some work at first and see how he reacts to that,” Hoyer said. “I mean he’s shown he can play third, he can play second, he can play in the outfield, but finding a home for him is something that would be really valuable ….
“I think he’s a very capable second baseman,” Hoyer said. “We have a guy that’s won a Gold Glove (Nico Hoerner), so that’s not the spot we’re gonna put him. I think another team might be able to put him there and have him do that. I think it’s both marrying those things. We have really two capable corner outfielders (Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki). I think that’s why some of the conversations around first base make sense because it kinda fits what we need a little bit and fits our needs and potentially his needs.”
It’s just an idea. Not a surefire thing. Just a combination of factors that, taken together, say, yeah, we should at least give this a look.
I like that way of talking about it a lot. I particularly like the acknowledgement of what it sure has SEEMED like when we’ve seen him there: Morel can play second base. He can probably play it well! But that’s just straight up not a spot that’s going to be available on the Cubs absent an unpredictable, long-term injury to Hoerner. So, even if you’re not PLANNING to trade him, it’s a good reminder to the market that the Cubs also believe he’s probably the best available second baseman.
I like reminding everyone that Morel could maybe play other spots, but the Cubs also have a couple locked in starters in the corner outfield spots. I’m not saying the Cubs have to trade Morel this offseason – far from it – but not sending any kind of super negative message to the market seems like a good strategy, just in case.
In the meantime, like I said last night, Morel at first base makes so much roster sense. It’s a spot that the Cubs don’t have locked down and may not be able to land a real impact bat this offseason (it might be Pete Alonso or bust; maybe a Rhys Hoskins pillow deal). So maybe Morel can be the impact bat there, while also freeing up the DH spot for an outside addition like Juan Soto or Shohei Ohtani. A guy can dream, right?
Less positively, if Morel does settle in at first base, it would mean the Cubs definitely have third base wide open either for an external addition (of which the options in free agency are pretty much Matt Chapman, Jeimer Candelario, and Justin Turner), or to try again with a combination of Nick Madrigal and Patrick Wisdom. Each of those two does SOME things very well, but it doesn’t necessarily make for a particularly strong position overall. So it’d be an open spot for a possible upgrade, if a surprising trade becomes available, or if a top prospect explodes and needs to be up with the big league team ASAP (again, if we’re just dreaming!). But also would be a potentially rough spot next year for offensive production.
Last thing on this: you never know how an offseason is going to play out. You never know how a SEASON is going to play out. So, if nothing else, having Morel get some time at first base in the Dominican Winter League is probably just good information/experience to have no matter what.
