Although the intentional holding back of Chicago Cubs starting pitchers this spring got a fair bit of attention, what appears to have been a strategic decision to do the same thing with key relievers has not really been discussed.
My bad.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t noticed that virtually all of the Cubs’ guaranteed Opening Day relievers hadn’t yet made their Spring Training debuts, it’s just that I hadn’t really put it together in a cohesive way. That is to say, these specific guys have been held back.
Today, the Cubs revealed the planned debuts for six key members of the expected bullpen (ESPN): Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon, and Carl Edwards Jr. will pitch on Saturday, and Wade Davis, Justin Grimm, and Koji Uehara will pitch on Sunday.
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If all six are healthy when Opening Day rolls around, they will comprise 3/4 of the likely eight-man pen. One of the open spots will go to Mike Montgomery or Brett Anderson (again, assuming health), and the other spot is really a wild card, as it could be another lefty like Brian Duensing or Caleb Smith or Jack Leathersich, or it could be a young power righty like Felix Pena, Jose Rosario, or Pierce Johnson.
(And, really, I could go on with possibilities. This all assumes perfect health by every pitcher in camp, which is not plausible, so I kind of hate projecting the final group at this early stage – one injury changes everything.)