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Cubs injury chaos has fantasy owners scrambling for answers

Whether you are looking at fantasy baseball or reality, nothing derails your quest for a championship worse than late-season injuries. Your replacement options are extremely limited, and as you find yourself limping towards the winner’s circle rather than doing a full-on sprint.

Though all eyes might be on the Brewers and their need to replace MVP outfielder Christian Yelich, the Cubs find themselves in the exact same boat. In a fight with Milwaukee for the second wild-card spot, the Northsiders are dealing with a rash of injuries that have them, and fantasy owners are desperately scrambling for help.

Watching the Cubs lose Javier Baez to a fractured thumb and Addison Russell to a concussion while also dealing with Kris Bryant needing time off to rest a balky knee, concern for that playoff spot is high. For fantasy owners, losing those players is concern as well.

Though it might be easy to find replacement-level numbers to match Russell’s production, Baez’s 29 home runs, 85 RBIs and 11 stolen bases will be tough to find — not to mention guarding yourself from missing key at-bats from Bryant should he need extra time off.

In-house, the Cubs have been patching things up with veteran utility-men Ben Zobrist and Daniel Descalso, but neither has done enough to move the needle this late in the fantasy season. Fortunately, they also promoted Nico Hoerner, who seems to be enjoying his current opportunity and is making a case to permanently replace Baez this season — with five hits in his first 15 at-bats, including one triple and two walks with two runs scored and four RBIs.

Slated to compete against the best in the Arizona Fall League, Hoerner should be able to provide you with a strong average and on-base percentage while also kicking in some runs scored and perhaps even a few steals.

For those wisely unwilling to settle for mediocre veterans, you should take a look at Rangers new third baseman Nick Solak. There is plenty to love about this 24-year old’s power/speed potential, and he flashed both at Triple-A this season. Since being promoted by the Rangers, the speed has been quiet, but with four doubles, one triple and four home runs over 79 at-bats. That .228 ISO stands out beautifully for fantasy owners.

Of course, everyone wants the marquee name because they assume it comes with marquee production, but guys like Solak and Hoerner can provide you just as much in their attempt to carve out a big league role next season. If history repeats itself, you could be looking at the next Eugenio Suarez or Gleyber Torres here, and we all know how well that has turned out.

Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at Fantasy Alarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 4-6 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy sports advice, MLB lineups and DFS weather updates.


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