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2026 Cubs pitching staff

I’m really sick of injuries dismantling my favorite teams
 
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Who fills a spot in the rotation will be interesting. Shota, Rea, Assad, Boyd, probably Wicks at some point and probably will have to bring up another guy to fill in a start for a DH today plus be able to eat some long innings of relief too. None of those guys are reliable enough to count on them to give you 6+ innings right now, sometimes lucky to even get 5 from them if they get roughed up early.

And as I type this I see Ferguson, Velasquez, and Hollowell are coming up. We surely will see Wicks up in the coming days too I bet as they will be shuffling arms up and down to eat innings out of the bullpen with the stretch they have coming up. All the injuries between Chicago and even Iowa are piling up that Iowa is probably pretty thin just to cover pitching depth themselves right now.
 
Yeah both him and Wiggins going into the season I was hoping could be counted of for some rotation depth if the injuries piled up like they have now. Sanders and maybe even Charlie Barnes could be options too. Neither are on the 40 man roster, Sanders if you added him could then be optioned back but Barnes is 30 and would have to be DFA.

The other starting pitching options in Iowa right now is really sad:

Noland 12 starts 6.19 ERA
Wicks 11 starts 6.64 ERA
Campbell 9 starts 7.85 ERA
Blach 7 starts 6.75 ERA
Nikhazy 6 starts 8.90 ERA
Velasquez 6 starts 6.15 ERA
Sad is polite word.

Thanks for pulling that info. I was too lazy to do that last night.

I look at it and laugh- not an ERA below 6.00.
 


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Yeah both him and Wiggins going into the season I was hoping could be counted of for some rotation depth if the injuries piled up like they have now. Sanders and maybe even Charlie Barnes could be options too. Neither are on the 40 man roster, Sanders if you added him could then be optioned back but Barnes is 30 and would have to be DFA.

The other starting pitching options in Iowa right now is really sad:

Noland 12 starts 6.19 ERA
Wicks 11 starts 6.64 ERA
Campbell 9 starts 7.85 ERA
Blach 7 starts 6.75 ERA
Nikhazy 6 starts 8.90 ERA
Velasquez 6 starts 6.15 ERA
Cubs DFAed Barnes a month ago and the Dodgers claimed him, so he's in their system now.

As it turns out, the Cubs did call up Velasquez. They may have him available as an innings-filler for the doubleheader if needed, but if he's not needed today it's possible they might plan for him to start Sat or Sun, assuming Rea is starting Friday and Wicks will also start this weekend. My guess is he'd only start the one game and then get DFAed, but the Cubs could always option Wicks after the weekend and let Velasquez have a shot in the rotation.

None of these options instill a whole lot of confidence. Sanders sounds like an ok option, but he was on the IL for quite a while and only recently returned to Iowa, so I think the Cubs would like him to have some more time there rather than throw him into the fire at Chicago. At least Velazquez has a lot of major league experience, even if it isn't particularly good.
 
Cubs DFAed Barnes a month ago and the Dodgers claimed him, so he's in their system now.

As it turns out, the Cubs did call up Velasquez. They may have him available as an innings-filler for the doubleheader if needed, but if he's not needed today it's possible they might plan for him to start Sat or Sun, assuming Rea is starting Friday and Wicks will also start this weekend. My guess is he'd only start the one game and then get DFAed, but the Cubs could always option Wicks after the weekend and let Velasquez have a shot in the rotation.

None of these options instill a whole lot of confidence. Sanders sounds like an ok option, but he was on the IL for quite a while and only recently returned to Iowa, so I think the Cubs would like him to have some more time there rather than throw him into the fire at Chicago. At least Velazquez has a lot of major league experience, even if it isn't particularly good.
I missed the Barnes transaction apparently. But yeah the pitching depth situation is very grim right now. I dunno how they can take on any more injuries as they basically are having to find guys off the scrap heap right now just to fill the Iowa roster.
 
Yeah both him and Wiggins going into the season I was hoping could be counted of for some rotation depth if the injuries piled up like they have now. Sanders and maybe even Charlie Barnes could be options too. Neither are on the 40 man roster, Sanders if you added him could then be optioned back but Barnes is 30 and would have to be DFA.

The other starting pitching options in Iowa right now is really sad:

Noland 12 starts 6.19 ERA
Wicks 11 starts 6.64 ERA
Campbell 9 starts 7.85 ERA
Blach 7 starts 6.75 ERA
Nikhazy 6 starts 8.90 ERA
Velasquez 6 starts 6.15 ERA

I've seen Wicks pitch twice in person in Des Moines and he got absolutely lit up both times. He's been bad in Chicago to and I'd rather try someone else rather than another Wicks experiment.
 
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