Someone With the Cubs Finally Said the Word “Opener” … Just in Time for Everything to Change

For all the references to the Tampa Bay Rays (among other clubs) in how the Chicago Cubs have been reworking their pitching staff the last few years, there’s one big Rays thing the Cubs have never deployed: the Opener.

In short, the Opener is a relief pitcher who “starts” a ballgame, but who is expected to go only an inning or two before giving way to a “bulk” pitcher who goes the next three or four innings. The setup is great for the Rays, because it means they don’t have to pay for another starting pitcher. But it would be compelling to other clubs that want to optimize the performance of multiple arms that might not quite be true starting pitchers. Most teams WANT a rotation full of clear six+ inning starting pitchers, but not every club is in a position to actually have that. Current Cubs included.

Still, the Cubs have never really contemplated an Opener the last few years, even as the starting rotation has been in need. Until now? Maybe? Kinda? Did we see it last night with Mark Leiter Jr. and Keegan Thompson?

“[He] gave us two good innings. He’s been pretty good for the first two, three innings of his outings. Towards the third inning is where things just start to tick down,” Cubs manager David Ross said of Leiter. “I think you read and react, but I was expecting six to nine outs from him, trying to get six to nine outs from him …. Keegan, the value that he brings in – you know, it’s almost kind of like a semi-opener type presentation we had today, and it worked out really nicely.”

It *IS* almost kind of like a semi-opener type presentation! And it is almost like that’s the clear best way to use a guy like Leiter, who can get big league bats out with his mix of stuff if he’s using it all immediately and hitters see him only once that day. An Opener! The Cubs see the value in Leiter as an Opener, with someone like Thompson there to bulk out behind him! Finally! They are in the game!

So many exclamation points! I must be going somewhere semi-sarcastic with this!

OK, on the one hand, I love the acknowledgement and the deployment of a guy like Leiter. Clearly, it can work, and it was high time the Cubs recognized it with one of their fringier arms. So no sarcasm there.

But on the other hand, everything is going to change on Monday, May 2, and then again on Monday, May 30. Specifically, teams can carry no more than 14 pitchers on the roster as of Monday, and no more than 13 pitchers on the roster as of May 30.

Having a guy like Leiter in the rotation to go two innings once every five games is perfectly tenable – advisable, even! – when you’ve got nine or ten relievers available behind him. But when the bullpen, by rule, is shrunk down to a maximum of eight pitchers? It becomes virtually impossible to use an Opener in that way. He’d have to be available to give you more.

I still think a lot of folks around baseball – the observers, not the teams – have been sleeping on how major the 13-pitcher maximum change is, and how it could fundamentally re-shape the way teams deploy their pitchers … which, of course, is the point. From MLB’s perspective, it’s not the most entertaining version of the product to have starting pitchers so thoroughly marginalized, and to have four to six pitching changes every night. So by limiting teams to eight-man bullpens – and by changing the length of an option stay in the minors from 10 games to 15 games – the importance of a starting pitcher going deeper into games is going to increase significantly.

That is, long-term, going to be a good thing for the sport, but it’s going to create a lot of challenges in the short-term, especially for a team like the Cubs. The Leiter situation encapsulates it very well, but it’s not as if the rest of the rotation has been going deep every night.

So, even if the Cubs have finally found the right mix of guys to deploy an Opener strategy, it’s kinda too late? Again, unless you can figure out how to make it more of a pseudo Opener situation (or “almost kind of like a semi-opener type presentation,” as David Ross put it). Maybe that is the guy “opens” more than one game a week, or maybe it’s where he consistently goes three innings (but then is he really an “Opener”?), or maybe it’s where you have a four-man rotation full of piggybacks (and both halves of the piggyback can consistently go four innings), or some other thing that I can’t even imagine yet and the Rays will probably figure out by next year.

This 13-pitcher rule change is a topic that is going to require a LOT more attention in the coming weeks and months and seasons. This was a very intentional, widely-discussed rule change idea during the 2019 season, when reliever usage was coming to a head. The rule was passed for the 2020 season, but then the pandemic happened, and the rule got punted for both 2020 and 2021. Then you had the lockout push it back even further, plus we’ve had CONSTANT talk of OTHER big rules changes. So it’s not hard to understand why it has been discussed so little. But don’t confuse that for this being a small change. It’s huge, and its impact goes far beyond the Leiter-Thompson-type discussion offered here. (To that end, more soon!)

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Chicago Cubs
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Sounds Like Nikola Vucevic is An Option For the Warriors Even After Jimmy Butler Trade

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NOT DONE YET: Lakers Trade a HAUL to Hornets for Big Man Mark Williams

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Pelicans Send Brandon Ingram to Raptors in ANOTHER Big Deadline Trade

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written by

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation. You can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation, on Bluesky at @Brett-Taylor, and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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Although most of the team is already at camp, the Chicago Cubs are the first organization to require pitchers and catchers to report (this Sunday, February 9). Eleven short days after that, the Cubs will play their first Spring Training...

The Latest Set of Playoff Odds Are Not NEARLY As Bullish on the 2025 Cubs

When the 2025 PECOTA projections were released on Monday, we were relatively overwhelmed by the forecasted rosiness of the Cubs playoff odds and projected record. According to PECOTA, the Cubs won't just be the best team in the NL Central,...

Nico Hoerner is Throwing!

Great news today, spotted by Rich Biesterfeld out in Arizona, where Nico Hoerner is playing catch. Weโ€™ve got Nico Hoerner playing catch today at Cubs Camp! pic.twitter.com/VIccpz38U6— Rich Biesterfeld (@biest22) February 5, 2025 We had no idea on a precise...

Fun (and Funny (and Sad)) Exercise: How Good Would the White Sox Be with Ohtani, Judge, and Skubal?

I don't know that any of us NEEDED additional context for just how bad the 2025 Chicago White Sox project to be, but I'm very, very glad FanGraphs' Dan Szymborski decided to give it to us anyway. Basically, Szymborski wondered...

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Obsessive Alex Bregman Watch: Still Holding Out for Maximum-Length Deal?

It has felt for a few days like maybe there was a thaw coming in the Alex Bregman/Scott Boras demands for a maximum-length deal in order to finally put pen to paper in free agency, but maybe that was just...

Another Ranking Places the Cubs’ Farm System Close to the Middle of the Pack Going Into 2025

The tale is not as old as time, but it's as old as this prospects rankings season goes: the Chicago Cubs' farm system stepped way back over the last year, for reasons good and bad, and now ranks as closer...

Top Player Prop Bets for Rockets vs. Timberwolves on February 6, 2025

You can find player prop bet odds for Alperen Sengun, Anthony Edwards and others on the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves ahead of their matchup at 8:00 PM ET on Thursday at Target Center.How to Watch Rockets vs. TimberwolvesDate: Thursday,...

Top Player Prop Bets for Trail Blazers vs. Kings on February 6, 2025

Player prop bet odds for Deni Avdija, Domantas Sabonis and others are available when the Portland Trail Blazers host the Sacramento Kings at Moda Center on Thursday at 10:00 PM ET.How to Watch Trail Blazers vs. KingsDate: Thursday, February 6,...

Top Player Prop Bets for Lakers vs. Warriors on February 6, 2025

LeBron James and Stephen Curry are two of the top players with prop bets for the taking when the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors square off at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday (tipping at 10:00 PM ET).How to...

Top Player Prop Bets for Nuggets vs. Magic on February 6, 2025

Those looking to place a player prop bet can find odds on Nikola Jokic, Franz Wagner and others in the Denver Nuggets-Orlando Magic matchup at Ball Arena on Thursday at 9:00 PM ET.How to Watch Nuggets vs. MagicDate: Thursday, February...

Shane Waldron Has Reportedly Found a Soft Landing With the Jacksonville Jaguars

Former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has found a new place of employment. Three months after being dismissed as the Bears' offensive play-caller, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars have scooped up Waldron to work...

Jalen Carter vs. Patrick Mahomes, Tyrique vs. Terell, Warren, Old Faces in New Places, and Other Bears Bullets

Day 32 of the Chicago Bears offseason. I made my best chocolate chip cookie recipe yesterday for what is turning into a weekly hang with friends. However, I skipped a step. And yet, the cookies were well-received. Perhaps I've unlocked...

Sounds Like Nikola Vucevic is An Option For the Warriors Even After Jimmy Butler Trade

Buckle up and hold onto your hats! It's deadline day, everybody! We have about five hours remaining until the NBA trade deadline at 2:00 PM central time. The biggest moves have likely come and gone with Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine,...

NHL Insider Talks Blackhawks Trade Buzz, Rantanen Trade Fallout, Future Contract Strategy

On Thursday morning, Elliotte Friedman dropped a loaded written version of his "32 Thoughts" and there are some good Blackhawks-centric nuggets in there. Here's what got my attention: Blackhawks trade buzz I noted in my bullets this morning that there...

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