State of the Cubs Pitching

The latest poll results on Cubs.com has Cub Fans saying the major need for the team is another front-end starter. I'm not so sure.

SP-
Carlos Zambrano
Rich Hill
Ted Lilly
Jason Marquis
Sean Marshall
Ryan Dempster
Mark Prior

RP-
Scott Eyre
Bobby Howry
Neal Cotts
Michael Wuertz
Will Ohman
Juan Mateo
Angel Guzman
Kevin Hart
Adam Harben
Billy Petrick
Carmen Pignatiello
Jeff Samardzija

CP- Carlos Marmol

As I stated in the last post, this is part of the 40-man roster and is meant to save players from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. That's why Samardzija and a couple other rookies are on there. I don't expect to see Jeff this year. Hopefully he can get up to Iowa and pitch well. There is no need to rush him. I hear he has been pretty solid in the minors so far.

The Cubs pitching seems to be a couple tweaks away from great. We have 6 starting pitchers, if you include Prior, who I have heard is already out until mid-way through the season next year. Also of note is that he will be a free agent after next season. Ok, so call it 5 starting pitchers. However, Lou and Jim Hendry want to move Dempster back to the rotation. So, that is back up to 6. This leaves the odd man out to be Sean Marshall. That's fine. He wasn't amazing (though I thought he was quite good) and another long relief pitcher who could make spot starts is a very useful thing to have.

However, there seems to be a good amount of rumbling that we need another pitcher. Rumors are that we have been heavily scouting a Japanese pitcher named Hiroki Kuroda. Not sure where we'll fit him in, but starting pitching is always good to have. I think part of the thinking here is that they want to have 2 Japanese player to ease the transition if they dip in to that market (remember Kosuke Fukudome). There were also rumors of signing Kaz Matsui to ease the transition. That would accomplish the goal, since he has played in the MLB for a couple years now and is Japanese. However, he is a 32 year old middle infielder and not all that good. Hiroki, however, is pretty good. He's a free agent now and the Cubs tried to get him posted last year to no avail. His numbers are not bad. He had 144 strikeouts to just 21 walks 2 years ago with a 1.85 ERA. That is amazing control. Last year he leveled back out, but still had 123K / 42BB and a 3.56 ERA. The ERA last year is not very good, but the other numbers are nice. We'll see how it turns out. Sounds like the Mariners are pretty interested as well.

UPDATE 11/26/07: Cubs sign Wood to a 1 year deal reportedly for $4 million plus up to $3 mil in incentives. I think this is a great signing. With Dempster probably moving to the rotation, I think Wood has a great chance to be the new closer. Plus you are only on the hook for 1 year. Love it!

Woody is a free agent and is getting some interest from other teams (namely Boston). I would like to have him back, but word on the street is that he would like to be a starter again. I'm not so sure that's a good idea with his injury problems (but you just never know, he could be healthy). You can say we wouldn't need him as a starter, but if he ever returned to what he once was, you would have to make room for him. People ask why we don't just cut ties with Wood and Prior to get it over with. Do you remember in 2003 when Dusty Baker said that Carlos Zambrano would be the best of the Wood/Prior/Big Z combo? A lot of people thought he was nuts. You have to remember how good Wood and Prior were back then. If they can stay healthy and get back an inkling of that dominance, they'd be some of the best pitchers on our staff.

So, I think if you can either add a couple of arms to the pen and/or keep Dempster out of the rotation and pick up a number 3 or 4-type starter (which the Japanese guy would likely be), the pitching will be in great shape. The Cubs lead the NL in strikeouts again last year, as they have for every year since 2000. They also had the 2nd best team ERA, an amazing 4.04. They were the best pitching NL team that didn't have Jake Peavy. My perennial pick, Carlos Zambrano came in 5th in Cy Young balloting, despite having an uncharacteristically bad start to the season (5.62 ERA through the first 2 months). I think Ted Lilly was better than anyone could have imagined, leading the rotation in ERA.