Chicago Cubs Predicted to Regret One Trade Deadline Mistake

The Chicago Cubs could look back at their decision to trade the power hitter and regret it in a few years.

Jul 14, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Cubs designated hitter Christopher Morel (5) hits a solo home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

When Jed Hoyer announced that the Chicago Cubs were planning on improving the roster for the 2025 season, many believed that took Christopher Morel out of trade talks. Throughout the past few months, even dating back to last offseason, Morel had been in trade talks for multiple high-end players.

The Cubs did eventually decide to trade him for Isaac Paredes, a player from the Tampa Bay Rays who's better than Morel is right now. It's not necessarily a knock that they traded Morel, but he did have some struggles on both sides of the baseball.

His defense has never been great, even being regarded as below-average by many around the industry. He struggled a bit offensively throughout the year, too, finishing with a .199 batting average with Chicago.

However, given some of the trade talks that he was in throughout the past 12 months, one could argue that the Cubs sold low. And that's exactly what Zachary Rotman of FanSided believes. He took a look at three moves that Hoyer is going to regret, writing that trading Morel will be one of them in a few years.

"Not many, if any players were in trade talks more than Christopher Morel was over the offseason. It felt as if the Cubs were in on any available big-name player and were using Morel as the centerpiece in all conversations...

"It feels as if the Cubs had sold low on Morel, a player who despite his shortcomings, has immense talent. We saw that talent last season and haven't quite this season. Using him and a pair of prospects to acquire Paredes, a player who does not fit well, could easily be something Hoyer regrets."

With Paredes in the deal, it gave Hoyer a perfect replacement, which is what he went with. While Morel does have the tools to become a great player one day, especially as a power hitter, the team is looking to win in 2025, and he doesn't necessarily give them the best chance to do so.

It'll be interesting to see what other moves he makes in the offseason, as Hoyer didn't make a ton of other trades during the deadline to improve the team for next season.

The trade deadline doesn't always give teams ways to do that and with it being a seller's market with prices as high as they were, he likely didn't want to break the bank.