As of yesterday, it appeared all but settled that Carlos Silva would be given the first crack at the fifth starter’s gig. While he, himself, had done very little earn the job, none of the other options for the fifth starter’s spot had done much to acquit themselves either. Andrew Cashner, the guy the Cubs wanted to see grab the job, has not gotten himself adequately stretched out, and hasn’t looked all that sharp in his handful of Spring starts.
But Cashner’s the guy, according to Joel Sherman. He tweets that an “exec from another team” says Cashner will be the fifth starter to open the season, and the Cubs will “eat big $” to get rid of Silva.
It would certainly be a surprise to see things play out that way before Opening Day next week, but not a shock. As I said, the organization has intimated all Spring that they’d like to see Cashner grab a rotation spot and run with it. And maybe Silva’s good outing this week was just what the Cubs needed to finally dump him.
This will be an interesting development to track. Cashner is expected to make another start this weekend.