NEWSLETTER
Justin Steele returns TONIGHT. That makes me very happy, no matter what the outcome this evening. Maybe there will be some rust to shake off. Fine. Just get that guy back into the rotation, let him settle in – I am confident he will be good overall across the rest of the season – and let us feel even better about a Chicago Cubs rotation that is pitching like one of the best in baseball.
Steele’s return, together with Javier Assad’s continued breakout (you CANNOT take that guy out of the rotation), means that the Cubs are going to be down to one “fill-in” starter. Nominally, the rotation will now consist of Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad, and That Last Guy. At some point, when Kyle Hendricks and/or Jordan Wicks is healthy, they may be that fifth guy (and when they’re BOTH healthy, together with the first four, well, the Cubs will just have to cross that bridge if it comes).
According to the probable pitchers listed at the Cubs’ site, Hayden Wesneski is not yet being bounced from the rotation. He is listed as Wednesday’s starter, following Shota Imanaga, and presumably preceding Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad.
That COULD mean that Steele’s return is pushing Ben Brown out of the rotation, though I’ll hold open the slight possibility that the Cubs decide to go with a six-man rotation this week. But even then, it would probably be only one time through, and it’d probably require shuffling the next few days again. That seems unlikely to me right now.
Instead, if I had to guess, unless Brown is optioned out tonight to make room on the 26-man roster for Steele, he will probably move to the bullpen with a specific eye on having him pitch tonight behind Steele. Yes, Steele is stretched out enough to go 80-ish pitches, but (1) he’s coming back from an injury, (2) he isn’t always a super efficient pitcher, and (3) you’d rather not have the bullpen in full cover four or five innings. That is to say, my guess is Craig Counsell’s tentative thought for tonight is that Steele will go around four or five innings, and then Brown will take over and go as long as he is pitching well – maybe even finishing the game off.
