The Chicago Cubs are coming into the 2025 season with what appears to be an upgraded starting rotation.
That’s a pretty significant achievement since the team’s 2024 starting pitching was just about the only thing that stayed consistently good from opening to closing day. With a combined ERA of 3.79, the Cubs’ staff ranked tenth in the majors at the end of the 2024 campaign.
Chicago’s stated goal headed into the offseason was to target a front-of-rotation starting pitcher to further bolster the team’s strength. That objective was seriously questioned, however, when they refused to even make a play at any of the high-end starting pitching free agents and also failed to pull the trigger on a trade to pick up such an arm.
The Chicago Cubs Upgraded Their Starting Rotation
The Cubs did sign free agent Matthew Boyd to a 2-year, $29 million contract. It was the team’s first major move of the offseason and, ultimately, their only significant starting rotation move.
The 34-year-old Boyd is an upgrade from the outgoing veteran Kyle Hendricks, possessing the stuff and the mindset of a front-of-rotation starter unfortunately limited by a historically fragile arm.
In his 2024 with the Cleveland Guardians, the southpaw pitched extremely well after coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2023. He posted a 2.72 ERA in eight regular season starts. He also impressed in the playoffs, giving up just one earned run in 11.2 innings over three starts.
This year, he joins a returning Cubs rotation consisting of Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, and a fifth starter slot in play for Ben Brown, Colin Rea, Brad Keller, Jordan Wicks, or the currently injured Javier Assad.
Matthew Boyd Has High Praise For Cubs Rotation
Boyd, who is slated to start Game 4 of the Cubs’ domestic opening series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, recently had high praise for the Cubs starters, calling the staff one of the deepest crews he’s been on in his decade-long career.
“It’s a lot of talent, and talent beyond the five (starters),” he told The Chicago Tribune. “It’s one through nine, if you will. There are a lot of guys that can start that are super-talented. It’s one of the deepest rotations I’ve been on and the most talented. We all have our unique looks and unique ways to attack hitters.”
There is definitely depth when it comes to Cubs starting pitching. There are legitimately nine or ten pitchers who can man those five rotation slots, even with Wicks starting the season in the minors and Assad on the IL. If the front four of the rotation holds strong, that depth will be especially felt as there will then be several arms competing for just one rotation slot.
There Are Plenty Of Questions, Though
It should also be noted, though, that there are plenty of questions concerning the Cubs rotation and several possible ways things could go sideways.
Will the Wrigley Field winds that made the park so pitcher-friendly in 2024, start to blow out in 2025, suddenly making fly ball pitcher Imanaga significantly less successful? Will Taillon regress to poor 2023 form after a bounce back 2024 season? Will Boyd, who’s totaled just 275 innings pitched over the last five seasons and hasn’t pitched more than 100 innings in a single season since 2019, stay healthy over the long haul?
The names are certainly there for Chicago, but there is also some insecurity.
There’s a reason why the Cubs front office had been trying to bring another starting pitcher into the fold and, reportedly, are still trying to do so.
But, for now, everyone will cross their fingers and hope that what’s currently on paper– and what Boyd sees– translates to what plays out on the field.
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