NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christopher Morel made it into the sizzle reel the Chicago Cubs produced as part of their presentation materials for free agents. The Cubs are very good at this stuff, using imagery and Wrigley Field to help tell a story about their team at this moment. Morel has natural charisma and boundless energy, peeling off his jersey before stomping on home plate and celebrating shirtless.
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“The highlights from this year’s free-agent video have a lot of action from 2023 that has guys that are still on our team and will be on our team for a long time,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said. “That part resonates. You see the excitement in the ballpark, but it’s not excitement from the 2016 World Series. It’s excitement from Chris Morel hitting a walk-off home run against the White Sox.”
As the Winter Meetings wrapped up Wednesday without any of that excitement, this would be the scene when a Cubs executive looks into the camera to soothe fans and the media, saying something like: “We’re only in the third inning of our offseason.” The buzz about the Cubs and Shohei Ohtani has quieted. The New York Yankees traded for Juan Soto. New York Mets owner Steve Cohen already flew to Japan to meet with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The anticipated fireworks at the Opryland Resort and Convention Center never materialized.
It’s also true that the Cubs aren’t as desperate as they were when last year’s Winter Meetings ended and All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson hadn’t yet signed his $177 million contract.
We're playing basket balllllllll 🗣️🎵
Christopher Morel tacks on some insurance in the 8th
(via @Cubs) pic.twitter.com/uEMD3M6T6Y
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 23, 2023
“It’s sort of easy to see where our trajectory is,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “We took all the pictures of the World Series out of the clubhouse a long time ago to kind of close the yearbook a little bit.”
The growth of young players like Morel helped the Cubs stay in playoff contention until the second-to-last day of the 2023 season. The Cubs then fired a potential lame duck in David Ross and made Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in baseball.
Counsell’s arrival could force the Cubs to reevaluate Morel, who’s too athletic and too industrious to be typecast as a designated hitter before his 25th birthday. Counsell’s steady nature and ability to see the big picture helped nurture young talent and guide the Milwaukee Brewers to five playoff appearances in the last six seasons. Pause the trade rumors for a moment: The Cubs aren’t going to give up Morel for a one-year rental player when he’s not positioned to become a free agent until after the 2028 season. That doesn’t mean Morel is untouchable, but his future in Chicago could be different with Counsell.
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“He’s put himself in a position where he needs to be in the lineup,” Counsell said. “He needs to be on the field. That’s a good thing. Now where? That’s what we have to figure out. To sit here (in December) and say we’ve got to have it figured out? Or that he might be a versatile piece? Like, yeah, I mean, Mookie Betts was a versatile piece for a pretty good team.”
Speaking of MVPs, Hoyer compared Morel’s upside to some of the prime years of Kris Bryant and Cody Bellinger. Hoyer also sees the parallels between Counsell and Joe Maddon, who once reaped the benefits of the game’s top farm system, applied small-market lessons to a bigger stage and emphasized defensive flexibility.
“Craig’s the same way,” Hoyer said. “Finding players that are versatile that can do a lot of different things is going to be a goal. He likes to be able to do that. He did that in Milwaukee and Joe did that with Tampa. Kris was the ultimate example, an MVP who changed positions. The game has changed that way a little bit where guys are willing to do that. When you have guys that can move around — like Cody did last season — it really does provide a ton of value.”
Hoyer acknowledged that the Cubs can’t just bank on internal improvements to make up for Bellinger’s offensive production if agent Scott Boras lands a monster contract for Bellinger with another team. But with so many holes — the Cubs don’t have an everyday first baseman or an everyday third baseman on their roster, plus the pitching staff needs multiple upgrades — Morel can be a big part of the solutions.
As part of his offseason program, the Cubs wanted Morel to get more exposure at first base while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic. Morel, however, hasn’t played there through his first 15 games with Águilas Cibaeñas. Hawkins said Morel is doing a lot of pregame work at first base.
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“We’ve sent some coaches down there to work with him,” Hawkins said. “We don’t have control over the lineups, so we’ve suggested that they do some of that at first base, but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s getting a lot of pregame work in and excited about that aspect of things. Honestly, him playing third is beneficial for us as well. That’s a potential positional fit for him, too. Really, any reps he’s getting on defense are going to be great for us.”
Counsell is still learning the ins and outs of his new job, but he will be an authoritative voice in these discussions. Counsell won’t try to recreate the Atlanta Braves because he doesn’t have the same personnel to roll out a stable lineup for almost 162 games and he saw the Cubs collapse in September. It will take a lot of work to get Morel up to speed at first base and third base, but he can already help cover for Gold Glove second baseman Nico Hoerner and corner outfielders Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. The video shows that Morel is an electric performer with a great attitude.
“The Cubs have up to this point moved him around the field because he’s forced his way into the lineup,” Counsell said. “I see that as a really good thing. The positional part, we’re going to have to figure that out. That’s going to be part of the challenge of spring training. But I don’t know if I’m going to tell you, like, ‘This is the position.’ I don’t think that helps the team. Positional versatility creates a good floor for your team. So that when things inevitably happen to your team during the season, you’re choosing from better options than just one option. So that’s where the players that have defensive versatility are incredibly valuable players.”
(Photo: Matt Dirksen / Getty Images)