Chicago Cubs: Rotation issues run deeper than Yu think

Many are focused on the recent news of a setback for the Chicago Cubs big offseason acquisition, but it is really a symptom of a much deeper issue for the defending NL Central champs

Mike Montgomery goes on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. Yu Darvish quits a rehab start after one inning and heads for the MRI. Tyler Chatwood, he of the 92 walks in 103 innings – well, just hold that thought. The Chicago Cubs may have a four-game lead in the NL Central following Sunday’s games, but Cubs fans are feeling anything but comfortable about their team’s situation. It isn’t only the fact that the fourth place Pirates rationed them to a single run per game in the teams’ four-game series. It’s the rotation.

With Montgomery’s injury, Darvish’s rehab setback and Chatwood’s ongoing ineffectiveness, that rotation is down to four arms: Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks and Cole Hamels.

Montgomery had been excellent as a fill-in for Darvish. His 4-3 record since becoming a starter at the end of May sounds unremarkable, but he lasted five innings or more in all 13 of his starts and delivered a 3.08 earned run average in that role. In only three of those 13 starts had he allowed more than three earned runs.

Given the timing of Darvish’s rehab start Sunday in South Bend, the Cubs appeared to be hoping that their $126 million right-handed free agent purchase would be prepared to cover Montgomery’s workload. But Darvish’s Class A road test lasted just 19 pitches before the same right elbow impingement that had sidelined him in May resurfaced.

He’ll undergo an MRI exam that likely will say a lot about whether Darvish will pitch again this year. So far he’s given the Cubs just 1 victory and just 40 innings of work.

Chatwood, the Cubs’ other free agent signee, is one possible short-term fill-in. But that is hardly by design. Junked from the rotation late in July when the Cubs acquired Hamels, he resurfaced Saturday as an emergency starter in Pittsburgh. The result: Two-plus innings, three earned runs, three more bases on balls and a quick hook that appeared to carry a message with it. “I didn’t see it getting better,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told MLB.com correspondent Mason Wittner.

The rotation situation is complicated by two factors. The first is that following an off-day Monday, the Cubs face an intense, 23-day stretch of games without a break. That’s at least four starts each for Lester, Hamels, Hendricks, Quintana and … who?

The second problem is that although rosters can be expanded Sept. 1, the Cubs have few viable options on the farm, especially given their status as serious post-season contenders. Their top three Triple A starters, based on number of starts, all have ERAs above 4.25.

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Adbert Alzolay, Alex Lange and Brailyn Marquez are rated as the franchise’s No. 2 through 4 system prospects respectively. But Azolay was ineffective before being shut for the season with a lat injury, while neither Lange nor Marquez have pitched above High A.

Assuming Montgomery does not return quickly, that leaves Maddon with three options down the stretch. He can run Chatwood back out to the mound and hope for something Chatwood hasn’t given the Cubs since April: a quality start. He and the rest of the Cubs braintrust can scan the waiver wire lists for a solution. Or he can copy what Kevin Cash has attempted at Tampa Bay and call on that well-traveled veteran, Johnny Wholestaff.

With the recent acquisition of Jorge De La Rosa, the Cubs still have a 13-person staff. De La Rosa hasn’t started a game in two years – in fact, he’s only pitched a combined 40 innings for the Diamondbacks and Cubs this year. But he did make 24 starts for Colorado in 2016. So it’s not inconceivable that Maddon could hand the ball to De La Rosa for a couple of first through third innings and make it up as he goes along the rest of those afternoons or evenings. That assumes, of course, that the other four starters don’t overtax the pen.

As they try to figure out how to fill that gap in their rotation, the Chicago Cubs do get at least one break. The first 9 games of that 23-game stretch are against the Tigers, Reds and Mets, all sub-.500 clubs. But they better figure out a solution by Sept. 1, because the last 14 of those 23 are against the Braves, Phillies, Nationals, and Brewers, all of them also clinging to post-season aspirations.