2015 pitchers to date

chibears55 · Feb 16, 2015

seeing that the position players thread slowly turned into discussing the pitching....

here what they have going to date...

SP. Lester
SP. Arrieta
SP. Hammells
SP. Hendricks
SP. TBD

wood, Jackson, dubront, wada, turner, jokisch will all be battling for that 5th spot barring any trades

REL. Motte
REL. Strop
REL. Ramirez
REL. Parker
REL. Rondon
REL. TBD
REL. TBD

2 spots open most likely for lefties..

Britton, Ortiz, rosscup, jokisch, dubront, wada, wood

here what im thinking...

I think they move or dump Jackson at some point towards the end of ST ( hoping a team see him as a better option for a 4 or 5 starter then what they have ) , there no room for him here..

I think seeing lester as the only LH in rotation they go with Wood as the 5th starter and a battle between the other LH for the remaining 2 bullpen spots.

thinking wada and dubront have the upper hand going in...

SilenceS · Feb 16, 2015

chibears55 said:
seeing that the position players thread slowly turned into discussing the pitching....

here what they have going to date...

SP. Lester
SP. Arrieta
SP. Hammells
SP. Hendricks
SP. TBD

wood, Jackson, dubront, wada, turner, jokisch will all be battling for that 5th spot barring any trades

REL. Motte
REL. Strop
REL. Ramirez
REL. Parker
REL. Rondon
REL. TBD
REL. TBD

2 spots open most likely for lefties..

Britton, Ortiz, rosscup, jokisch, dubront, wada, wood

here what im thinking...

I think they move or dump Jackson at some point towards the end of ST ( hoping a team see him as a better option for a 4 or 5 starter then what they have ) , there no room for him here..

I think seeing lester as the only LH in rotation they go with Wood as the 5th starter and a battle between the other LH for the remaining 2 bullpen spots.

thinking wada and dubront have the upper hand going in...

I dont truly believe Hendricks job is completely safe. I think he could lose his position if he shows regression early. I think the Cubs would go with Wood if they cant find someone to trade for him. Rivero is going to be somewhere in the bullpen at some point. He is ready. Its like throwing darts at the wall trying to figure out how it will shape out

Bear Pride · Feb 16, 2015

SilenceS said:
I dont truly believe Hendricks job is completely safe. I think he could lose his position if he shows regression early. I think the Cubs would go with Wood if they cant find someone to trade for him. Rivero is going to be somewhere in the bullpen at some point. He is ready. Its like throwing darts at the wall trying to figure out how it will shape out

I agree, it's gonna come down to who looks good in ST, imo. As much as I want to look at the different options, longshots, etc., I'm gonna have to wait for some reports to come from ST. I just hope that some young guys get a chance to show what they have and look good. I do want to see a couple of lefties in the bullpen, however.

Parade_Rain · Feb 16, 2015

I don't think they allow any pitcher (outside of a few starters) to stumble for very long before sending them back down to Iowa/bringing someone else up.

chibears55 · Feb 16, 2015

SilenceS said:
I dont truly believe Hendricks job is completely safe. I think he could lose his position if he shows regression early. I think the Cubs would go with Wood if they cant find someone to trade for him. Rivero is going to be somewhere in the bullpen at some point. He is ready. Its like throwing darts at the wall trying to figure out how it will shape out

Hendricks job should be safe enough to head north out of ST...

If plan was to trade Wood, i think he would've been gone already. .

SilenceS · Feb 16, 2015

chibears55 said:
Hendricks job should be safe enough to head north out of ST...

If plan was to trade Wood, i think he would've been gone already. .

It depends on how the Cubs brass feel about him. Im routing for Hendricks but he must be almost perfect every game to succeed at the major league level.

Chief Walking Stick · Feb 16, 2015

Rotation needs work to be a threat in the central. Offense will be there but they are one arm away for contending for the division.

chibears55 · Feb 16, 2015

SilenceS said:
It depends on how the Cubs brass feel about him. Im routing for Hendricks but he must be almost perfect every game to succeed at the major league level.

If your talking once the season starts, yea i agree that he cant struggle for a long period of time...

Im just going as of now he pretty much a lock for rotation out of ST based on last season...

chibears55 · Feb 16, 2015

Grimson said:
Rotation needs work to be a threat in the central. Offense will be there but they are one arm away for contending for the division.

Have to think if their above or near .500 and striking distance of playoffs they will look hard at adding a starter before deadline

Boobaby1 · Feb 16, 2015

Wood, Wada, and Hendricks are cheap insurance policies for the last two spots while providing a 6th starter.

What is that, 10 million between all three? :shrug:

CSF77 · Feb 16, 2015

Lester, Arrieta, Hammel, Wood, Hendricks if all preform. Turner would be plan B for Hendricks and Wada plan B for Wood.

Jackson I do not see them retaining. They need to just absorb that contract. Spending 22 mil in a pay off thus freeing up 11 mil on 2016's budget makes more sense. Jackson has made his bed and no team is going to take that deal on with out giving up a worse one in return.

They are 7 deep here.

Jon Lester lhp 15:$15M 2016 jumps to 20M
Jake Arrieta rhp 1 year/$3.63M (2015)
Jason Hammel rhp 2 years/$20M (2015-16), plus 2017 option
Travis Wood lhp 1 year/$5.685M (2015)

Tsuyoshi Wada lhp 1 year/$4M (2015)
Felix Doubront lhp 1 year/$1.925M (2015)
Jacob Turner rhp 2014 and 2015:$1M club options ($0.5M in minors)

#5 is Hendrick's to lose. I do not see them breaking camp with out him outside of injury. He would lose his spot not in S/T but in the regular season.

Boobaby1 · Feb 16, 2015

I think we need to let E-Jax get re-acquainted with Montero who had success with him in Arizona. See if he can build up any value, and if nothing else, surely E-Jax can get an out or two in a different role rather than just giving him away for nothing.

Can he be a whole lot worse than Villanueva

Shawon0Meter · Feb 16, 2015

Is there room for Jackson in the bullpen? I'm so desperate to not have to pay him to play on another team

Boobaby1 · Feb 16, 2015

Shawon0Meter said:
Is there room for Jackson in the bullpen? I'm so desperate to not have to pay him to play on another team

Their is a lot of time between now and the start of the season and things (mainly injuries) that could happen to any team including the Cubs.

Best to just sit tight in e-Jax.

If he was getting 3 million a year, we probably wouldn't be having any discussion about him

TC in Mississippi · Feb 17, 2015

SilenceS said:
It depends on how the Cubs brass feel about him. Im routing for Hendricks but he must be almost perfect every game to succeed at the major league level.

You know I felt this way about Hendricks as well until I started hearing and reading what scouts felt about him. A friend of mine who covers minor league baseball told me that several scouts he knows think that Hendricks is a certain #3 starter eventually and as high as a #2 mainly because of intelligence and an almost uncanny ability to adjust. About a month later I read a scouting piece over at Cubs Den citing two other scouts saying ver similar things. Personally I've always been distrustful f "no stuff" guys who rely on guile and smarts as young pitchers in stead preferring velocity guys that can learn the game. If Hendricks is the exception the Cubs could really have something. The FO is said to love him too so if he's anything but 4th in that rotation I'd be surprised.

TC in Mississippi · Feb 17, 2015

Grimson said:
Rotation needs work to be a threat in the central. Offense will be there but they are one arm away for contending for the division.

I'm not sure I agree. If both Lester and Arrieta perform like aces this us a very good regular season rotation. If playoffs look likely they're going have to make a deadline deal. If Hendricks is good he's the kind of steady hand that slots in at #3 in a 4 man playoff rotation but Hammel scares me. That's the guy they need to improve upon in that rotation if they're a post season club. Until then this team's problem is going to be scoring runs, not pitching.

CSF77 · Feb 17, 2015

TC in Mississippi said:
I'm not sure I agree. If both Lester and Arrieta perform like aces this us a very good regular season rotation. If playoffs look likely they're going have to make a deadline deal. If Hendricks is good he's the kind of steady hand that slots in at #3 in a 4 man playoff rotation but Hammel scares me. That's the guy they need to improve upon in that rotation if they're a post season club. Until then this team's problem is going to be scoring runs, not pitching.

It is best to let the season play out. Hammel is a league #4. Arrieta has never pitched a full season yet. Hendricks is now league known so his true value should start to show. Is Wood going to be the 2013 or the 2014 or somewhere in between? By the dead line these questions will be answered. That is when the Cubs will start using their stockpile of young talent if the season dictates to do so.

Chief Walking Stick · Feb 17, 2015

TC in Mississippi said:
I'm not sure I agree. If both Lester and Arrieta perform like aces this us a very good regular season rotation. If playoffs look likely they're going have to make a deadline deal. If Hendricks is good he's the kind of steady hand that slots in at #3 in a 4 man playoff rotation but Hammel scares me. That's the guy they need to improve upon in that rotation if they're a post season club. Until then this team's problem is going to be scoring runs, not pitching.

Right. But that's a lot of "ifs".

TC in Mississippi · Feb 17, 2015

Grimson said:
Right. But that's a lot of "ifs".

Agreed, but I think these are some ifs being counted on by the FO. I think if 2015 was a year where they were absolutely going all in you would see a much different pitching staff. They're trying to compete in 2015, where they are at the trade deadline will show if they're going to contend.

CSF77 · Feb 18, 2015

TC in Mississippi said:
Agreed, but I think these are some ifs being counted on by the FO. I think if 2015 was a year where they were absolutely going all in you would see a much different pitching staff. They're trying to compete in 2015, where they are at the trade deadline will show if they're going to contend.

I agree with that. The have said they were in a 16 month window.

But lets look at what they did.
They targeted Lester and got him.
They saw that they needed to get on board with pitch framing and 2 of the best guys in the league.
They knew that the pen was still young. They got Motte.
They needed more OBA at the top. They traded for Fowler.

To be honest here they did set goals and achieved them. I have no doubt that they will continue to make improvements as the season moves on.

There are many questions going on but they will be answered while the season is in play. Just gauging it yes they need another TOR. Hammel is not a #3. He should not be in a 5 game series. 7 game yes. Arrieta needs to prove he is durable. His stuff is legit. Hendricks needs to prove that he is legit. He is my pick to bust here.

I was musing this today:

Would you trade Wood, Jackson and Russell for Cole Hamels? Would the brass do it? Would the Phills do that deal?

Bosox tried to push proven talent but Philly wants a blue chip. So thinking over the Cubs needs. They need a TOR and they need to get rid of both Jackson and Wood.
The do not need Russell. They really do not with Bryant at 3B/ Castro at SS and Baez at 2B. All they would be doing is bumping one out anyways. What the do not have is a impact arm in the system. At best they have what other teams have in general in pitching. But no clear cut ace type in the making. Edwards included.

So in view of this I would trade Russell. Cole has control tied to him and he is at least equal to Lester. Having 2 top LH SP in the league on the staff means more than having a top 10 prospect that plays a position that they are already committed to long term.

2015 pitchers to date

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