With Opening Day now one week away, the Cubs made some decisions on their starting pitching plan to begin the year. Manager Craig Counsell told members of the club’s beat, including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, that left-hander Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad will have rotation jobs to open the campaign. Veteran lefty Drew Smyly, meanwhile, will head to the bullpen. In a separate tweet, Montemurro confirms that righty Jameson Taillon will start the season on the injured list. In terms of the catching group, Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that both Jorge Alfaro and Joe Hudson have been told they won’t make the team but are staying in big league camp for now.
The Cubs came into camp with a front four of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Shota Imanaga and Taillon, with one spot available for guys like Wicks, Assad, Smyly, Hayden Wesneski or Caleb Kilian. In early March, Kilian was diagnosed with a teres major strain and will be out for several months, taking him out of the competition.
Taillon was dealt much smaller issues but they nonetheless slowed his progression. He initially had some soreness is his calves and that was followed by some lower back tightness. He still has not appeared in an official Spring Training game and will begin the season on the IL. He told Bruce Levine of WSCR on the weekend that he was planning to throw off a mound this week, which shows some progress, but he’s likely still a few weeks away from readiness.
With Taillon out of action, there were two open spots at the back of the rotation, which will go to Wicks and Assad. Wicks is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and he made his major league debut last year with a 4.41 earned run average in seven starts. In 91 1/3 innings of minor league work, he had a 3.55 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.
He only struck out 16.3% of hitters in his first taste of the majors, but in a fairly small sample of 34 2/3 innings. For what it’s worth, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA this spring, though with a modest 16.9% strikeout rate. But he has also limited his walks to 2.8% and it’s a small sample of 17 1/3 innings. He’ll get a chance to take a step forward at the major league level to start the season. He still has a full slate of options, so the Cubs could easily send him back to the minors when Taillon is healthy if they so choose.
Assad has a bit more experience, having served in a swing role for the Cubs over the past two years. He has a 3.06 ERA in 147 innings over 41 appearances, including 18 starts. His 20.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate are both slightly worse than league average but he’s kept 44.7% of balls in play on the ground and was in the 78th percentile of qualified pitchers last year in terms of average exit velocity. He has allowed seven earned runs in nine innings this spring. He has a couple of options and could wind up in the minors later but the Cubs have used him as a long reliever out of the bullpen in the past.
That long relief role could perhaps be taken by Smyly, who was also in that role for a time last year. The Cubs signed him to a two-year, $19MM deal last offseason but he struggled in 2023 and wound up moving to the bullpen on multiple occasions. He finished last year with an even ERA of 5.00, but it was 5.62 as a starter and 2.51 out of the ’pen. That latter number was in a small sample of 28 2/3 innings but the Cubs will be hoping his stuff will play up in shorter stints. Spring results are to be taken with a grain of salt but he hasn’t done much to win back a rotation job lately, with a 7.71 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 11 2/3 innings.
His past experience as a starter could have him working multi-innings stints as a reliever, but he could also be utilized as a situational lefty. The only other southpaw reliever currently on the roster is Luke Little, who has just 6 2/3 innings of major league experience and notable control issues in the minors.
As for the catchers, it’s not too surprising they won’t make the club. The Cubs have Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya set to be their primary catching tandem. Gomes is a 12-year veteran coming off a solid season while Amaya has been a notable prospect for a while and made his major league debut last year. It’s unclear if either Alfaro or Hudson have opt-outs in their minor league deals, but it seems they will be staying in camp for the time being.
I get that lefties pitch forever, but wow has Smyly hung on a long time in mlb…
10 years is not really that long it takes 12 to get on the ballot
It actually is 10 seasons to get on the hall ballot, after 5 years retired.
I don’t expect Smyly to get in though.
10 years = full pension also.
10 years in, but lost like 4 or 5 due to injuries
He keeps getting contracts because so many teams see him for what he could be, but he rarely if ever delivers.
How about Rich Hill?
20 years pitching.
90 total wins.
Ok, some injuries, but that’s stealing.
thank god, Smyly has fallen off a cliff lately. Please do not put him in in close games!!!
Good call by Cubs
Any Pitching Staff that doesn’t have Luke Little in it is just wrong. They guy has earned a job and maybe even a shot at the Closer gig. Just because he has options doesn’t mean he should be optioned. In a bit of good news Wisdom might be on the injured list. Fingers Crossed.
It’s never good news for a player to have an injury.
It is if it’s Wisdom.
You’re going to wish karma wasn’t real when you get a work related injury or something else happen to you. I honestly hope it doesn’t, but karma doesn’t care. Have a good one weirdo.
Re Wisdom
I hope that he is healthy, but designated for assignment
Karma? Really/ He already gave me a disease. Bulimia. I throw up every time I see him. Braves Saints Celts? You’re already confused enough. See a shrink.
Adbert Alzolay is way better than Luke Little, not even close
Little hasn’t been given any kind of chance yet (thanks to Ross last September), so hold your horses on that. Alzolay has done well, but it’s way too early to compare them..
Come on Rondon—-not that he succeeded, but it was NOT Ross’ job to give guys chances last September. It was to try to win games in a playoff race.
Until they got hurt or wore down Leiter Jr, Palencia, Alzolay, Merryweather, Cuas, etc were all better high leverage options. It would have been great to get innings and exposure but it just wasn’t the time.
I would have loved to see Canario get more at bats than he did (probably by 20 fold) BUT NOT at the expense of Happ or Suzuki or Bellinger or Tauchman while the team is in a playoff hunt.
For as many things Ross could have done different—he did not leave guys on the bench because they “needed a chance”. Heck, he had both Assad and Wicks in the rotation the last month of the season.
Little will get plenty of opportunity this year—as much for the construct of the team out of the gate and not just because Ross isn’t the manager.
Sounds about right, Smyly has lost his footing on the back side of his career. He is not to be trusted right now. Seems like Assad and Wicks are the most disserving. Wesneski is the next man up at this point. After Wesneski I wouldn’t be surprised if Horton gets a shot before Smyly.
Glad to see clubs finalizing rosters. There’s a few out there I’m itching to see how their rotations shake out. Namely the Pirates and Brewers. (Of course my Yanks too)
This is absolutely how it should be. Smyly should be the emergency back up spot starter.
Ya this is proper. Wicks and Assad are consistent so far in their production. A fine 4 and 5. Smyly was decent out of the pen last year. It’s the right move. Too bad Kilian can’t get it together. His stuff is filthy
Using the term “fine” to describe Assad and Wicks is a tad optimistic!
Just about every team has the back end of the rotation filled with rookie/ first /second year pitchers. Assad and Wicks are serviceable.
It’s why Counsell is here and Ross isn’t. Counsell isn’t afraid to let young players evolve.
With Gordon off to Cincy Meghan is now the chief in Chicago print media. Glad that Craig is willing to disclose nuggets that fans crave.
It’s gonna happen.
Again.
I don’t think Wicks will go down unless they want to manage his innings. It’s more likely that when Taillon comes back that they just go to a hybrid 5-6 man rotation to manage the workload for Wicks and Imanaga and to have Assad help when the bullpen inevitably gets overworked in the short-term. Wesneski is probably the first AAA starter up, but eventually Brown and then Horton will stake their claim to that #6 spot.
Wesneski is a reliever unless he magically find control of his wipe out slider.
Wesneski’s slider has a ton of movement on it but he misses badly with it and often misses badly up and in the zone. All last season as a starter, hitters were sitting on his slider and hitters were punishing it when it hung.
drasco, Wesneski reminds me of early Carlos Marmol before they moved Marmol to relief. Flashes but inconsistent. I don’t think he has Marmol’s upside, but I do wish they would just move him to the bullpen permanently.
Not surprising at all
Smyly will not make it thru the whole season on this roster, his days are numbered.
Smyly will not be on this roster the whole season,his days are numbered,along with Madrigal & probably Wisdom too.
When will MLBTR learn? “Meanwhile” has to come at the start of the sentence—it can’t come in the middle, separated by two commas.
Smyly worked out great for them tonight!! lol