NEWSLETTER
According to David Ross, if everyone is healthy, the contenders for the 5th spot in the Chicago Cubs’ opening rotation are Adrian Sampson, Hayden Wesneski, Javier Assad, and a couple unnamed non-roster invitees (which, based on their starting backgrounds, pretty much have to be Nick Neidert and Roenis Elias).
The prevailing wisdom has Sampson and Wesneski as the top two candidates, with Assad feeling more like a depth guy, Neidert more of a developmental guy, and Elias a possible lefty for the bullpen (but most likely depth in case of multiple injuries).
Sahadev Sharma wrote about Sampson and Wesneski as, indeed, the likely favorites:
That’s a good read there, generally, on the two presumptive favorites for the open spot, but it also included some interesting newsy nuggets on their offseason work:
Lots more in there from Sharma on Sampson and Wesneski, who figure to get a disproportionate amount of attention this spring.
As for Assad, it sounds like he lost more weight this offseason (he’d done that the offseason before, improving his athleticism and also improving his velocity), and he’s going to be doing his best to win a big league job. Via Marquee:
“I learned a lot up there — how to better execute my pitches,” Assad said. “There’s a bit smaller of a margin for error because up there because the level is really good … my breaking pitches in the zone and be confident in them and keep going forward.”
This spring he has been presented with another opportunity — a chance to win the team’s fifth starter spot in the rotation. It’s a message that manager David Ross, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and the rest of the staff presented to him heading into camp.
“I’m really happy that they gave me that opportunity,” Assad said. “I came with that in mind — to win a job in the big leagues.”
Assad, 25, got results last year overall (3.11 ERA over 37.2 big league innings), but there was almost certainly a lot of luck baked in, as his strikeout rate dipped below 20%, his walk rate was around 12%, and his left-on-base rate was 83%. He did manage to avoid giving up too many barrels (5.2%), but the overall pitch mix didn’t really jump off the screen as you watched.
Overall, you could see the bones there for a useful up-down, back-end starting pitcher, though, and that’s a valuable guy to have as depth. To win the 5th starter job this spring, Assad would have to show up to camp with another gear on his fastball or a dramatically improved approach with his breaking stuff in the strike zone.
Of course, if there are injury issues, then Assad – like the other two guys – will be right there in the mix for opening week starts.
