Chicago Cubs’ Starting Pitching Rotation Will Be Far from a Proven Entity
For what it’s worth, the Chicago Cubs have won two out of their first three spring-training games. But when you go into a season having lost 100 games the year before, suffice it to say there are plenty of positional holes or at least question marks.
Pitching, probably as much or more than anything else, has the potential to determine how much the Cubs improve in 2013. Particularly those five or six guys who will be counted on to chew up five, six, and seven innings a night, hopefully keeping opponents in the two-or-three-runs range on a consistent basis.
It is not as if the Cubs don’t have good pitchers; they do. But there are a lot of questions about health, chemistry, and who can be counted on for consistent good outings.
The biggest name among the anticipated 2013 starting rotation, the expected opening-day starter, is Matt Garza. But even Garza has lost more games in his career than he has won with the highlight of his career being an 11-9 2008 season in which his Tampa Bay Rays reached but lost the World Series. He also went 15-10 in 2010 and posted his lowest career earned run average, 3.32, as a Cub in 2011.
Garza can win some games, but as an “ace,” he’s no Cy Young candidate, which is maybe why his name comes up in trading rumors a lot. Then there’s the concern about his health and how much he can even be relied upon. He missed a significant portion of the 2011 season with elbow problems, and he’s already tweaked his left lat in preseason. Whether he’ll be ready for opening day remains to be seen.
If Garza can’t go on opening day, the next best candidate is Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija has shown steady improvement throughout his early career. The Cubs definitely need him to be reliable; could this be the year he really breaks out? He has said he doesn’t want the opening-day start by default , but he won’t get a choice in the matter anyway.
After Samardzija, things get a lot more muddled. Scott Baker, an off-season pick-up, comes over from Minnesota and should provide a steady presence, if not exactly dominance. He missed most of last season after enduring Tommy John surgery. Veteran Edwin Jackson will also debut with the Cubs this year after going 10-11 in Washington last season. Travis Wood, the lone southpaw in the group, remains an intriguing option, but his professional experience as a starter is limited.
Other possibilities include Carlos Villanueva, whose first spring-training appearance was anything but impressive, and Scott Feldman.
One other player to keep an eye on is Dontrelle Willis, the former Florida Marlins star, who will start this season in the Cubs’ minor league system. He’s had a rough few years, pitching sporadically since 2007 with the Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Baltimore Orioles.
It also won’t help that Cubs’ pitchers will mostly be breaking in new catchers. The tandem of Welington Castillo and Dioner Navarro will need to quickly earn the trust of whichever pitchers earn that starting tag.
