Start, Relieve, Whatever: Cubs Just Need Depth Jordan Wicks Brings to Pitching Staff

[Matthew Trueblood]

Another game got away from the Chicago Cubs in Cincinnati Thursday. As the team tries to find some momentum on the strength of better health and an offense hitting its stride, they badly need one more solid arm--anywhere on the daily depth chart.

Image courtesy of © Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

When last Jordan Wicks appeared on a big-league mound for the Cubs, the rotation was so incomplete that it was unfathomable that they would not need him as a starter any time soon. Kyle Hendricks's struggles were becoming more obvious by the day. Justin Steele was not yet back from his hamstring strain, and Jameson Taillon was still ramping up. The Cubs were scrambling. In the final 10 days of April, alone, they used seven different starters.

Paradoxically, though, it was that version of the Cubs that played exceptionally well and sprang out to a 17-9 start. Since then, they're 14-23, even as the rotation has finally found some better health and stability. The reasons for that have been on display over the last week, as Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad have each been bitten by the regression bug; Taillon has continued to fail at the crucial task of stemming the tide when opponents start a rally within a given inning; and Steele searches for the next step in his evolution after a peculiar ace-caliber 2023.

For weeks, the Cubs struggled to score, and the thin leads handed off by the rotation to an often-shaky bullpen always seemed to disappear, irretrievably. Now, the offense has revved up its engine, but the starters are unable to deliver larger leads (or often any lead at all), and the bullpen is struggling as much as ever. Thursday night in Cincinnati, Assad got hit a bit, and when Craig Counsell was forced to turn to Luke Little and Porter Hodge in high-leverage situations, they both failed to keep the lid on the game. Kyle Hendricks, still admirably trying it, couldn't even keep the game close when he was brought in to try and clean up Hodge's mess.

Though they're now making a habit of calling up impressive-looking, hard-throwing homegrown relievers, the Cubs still haven't had much success developing them into actually useful pitchers. Jeremiah Estrada is having a marvelous season, but only after having been waived by Chicago and picked up by the Padres. Meanwhile, Keegan Thompson remains in the wilderness. Daniel Palencia and Adbert Alzolay both got sidetracked by injuries early on this year, but Palencia's inconsistency and unreliability pre-date the flareup that now has him shelved. Hodge and Little look like the latest in a parade of talented throwers who aren't going to translate that into skilled, productive pitching--at least in the short term, and perhaps not until they're wearing another uniform in a few years.

That's what makes Wicks so important. He's on the cusp of a return, be it this weekend or after one more rehab appearance with Triple-A Iowa. Based on his performance before landing on the injured list, there are reasons for both optimism and caution. Yes, he's throwing harder and has a revised arsenal this year, but he wasn't actually piling up outs or keeping opponents off the board all that effectively before he got hurt.

Given that fact, maybe it makes the most sense to insert him right into the bullpen. He could be a direct replacement for Little, in the short term, able to give the team more length when needed and certainly more capable of getting people out, for however long he's asked to do so. Having an actual lefty for medium-leverage situations--one more trustworthy than Drew Smyly and Little--would take some pressure off Mark Leiter Jr., who's been overworked and overexposed again this year.

One could make an equally compelling case, of course, for unplugging Assad and plugging him back in, via a bullpen reset. The portly starboard slinger has run into some issues lately, and given his stuff, that's not a huge surprise. At the same time, Assad is a competitor and a command artist, and he's likely to get back on track soon. It might just make sense to let him slide into relief and pare down his arsenal for a few weeks, before bringing him back to the rotation when next a slot opens up.

The most logical, obvious move, though, is to move Brown into high-leverage relief and set Wicks up as the fifth starter for the long term. Brown is a risk as a back-end reliever; he's going to give up home runs. He's also racked up strikeouts at an awesome rate early in his big-league career, though, and given the combination of his fastball velocity and the unique traits of his curveball, that doesn't figure to abate any time soon. Sliding him into the pen--with the mandate being that he keep exploring ways of locating and mixing his two great pitches to minimize the risk of giving up power--is the natural move. He could finish this season as the team's closer, and even in the meantime, the fit of skill sets and roles that would result from Wicks being the fifth starter and Brown taking Hodge's place in the bullpen is too good to ignore.

None of this needs to be permanent. As we've previously reported here, Hendricks will reach 10 years of MLB service on June 26, at which point the Cubs can release him without interfering with his chance to claim full MLB pension and other benefits for the rest of his life. Given the way things have gone for him this year, that seems almost certain to happen, so another place in the staff will open. For the next two or three weeks, though, Wicks will be an important part of the team's plan, as they try to work around two highly-paid low-leverage long men they can't trust; a rotation full of players doing daily battle with the regression monster; and a deficient back end of the pen. They have to survive this tough stretch to advance into July as a serious contender, and Wicks might be the help they need to do so.

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[matto1233]

2 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Not really and I’m glad you got away from this! It’s just much more obvious to bump Brown or Assad than the org’s best SP prospect. Wicks has shown the widest set of skills and highest ceiling at the position throughout  their respective careers. 

Article idea: Jordan Wicks has a perceived ceiling “problem.” Something about how perceived SP ceilings should be a little more complicated than throwing hard with a swing and miss breaking ball, but also for cover he does throw harder with a better breaking ball than Assad 

I think this is really interesting. Personally, I think that everyone wants every starting pitcher to be an “ace,” when in reality, there are maybe 10-15 of those in MLB at any given time. The fact is that a starting pitcher that can consistently post 3ish WAR seasons, a guy one would traditionally call a mid-rotation starter, is still one of the 30 or so best pitchers in baseball. Case in point - Marcus Stroman is 31st in fWAR for pitchers over the past five years. 

[Guest234]

If this is the offense hitting its stride it is offensive!

[Billy62]

     When the team broke camp and started reeling off a steady stream of victories in April and early May, like some of you I thought we had turned the corner a little bit, and while I wasn't thinking we had a championship team, I was pretty sure we had a competitive team that would keep things real into the playoffs. I suspected an early playoff exit when the team ran into one of the elite teams in a scenario similar to 1998. But watching this team now concerns me. Was the earlier success of this team coming from an overachieving ball club and this is who we really are. To be real, if your starting pitching has turned into average at best, and sometimes your bullpen tries to put out a fire with a can of gasoline, and your hitting has been suspect, your not going to win many ball games. This team seems to have many issues. One being a lights out closer. We don't seem to have one. Nerris to his credit tries to bring these games home, but its a rollercoaster. You get that feeling that you need a 3-run lead going into the ninth, because most times a clean inning seems to be out of his reach. Some of the bats are just ice cold, especially Michael Busch, so electric early in the season, and now quiet as a Church mouse. I think bringing Bote up is a good move. I suspect that he will bring more consistency to the lineup. Ecouraged by the fact that Morel and Swanson seem to be warming up a little. Arguably Tauchman has been our best hitter during this stretch, with even Bellinger kind of just lurking in the shadows. Imonaga has been belted around a bit in his last two starts, Justin Steele does not appear to be on track yet, Hendricks might be just done, with Javier Assad and Ben Brown both showing the promise of excellence that this team definitely needs. I really hope that Jordan Wicks can be plugged into this rotation and produce similar results. All this said, I think this team needs some new blood. Did we miss the boat on Candelaria? Did we expect too much out of Bellinger? Is Suzuki starting to hit his stride? and what about Patrick Wisdom? So many questions. I can't help but think about the team when Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, and Schwarber were leading the charge. When they were hitting you might score 15-16 runs, when not you might push across a run or two or even get shutout. This team is doing the same thing. Tons of swing and miss and not many productive outs (advancing runners). This has to be fixed or this team will fall far short of expectations. I am hoping that when Imonaga takes the hill this afternoon, that he reverts back to the April version of himself, maybe a couple of bombs from our regulars or even maybe from one of our plug-ins can help right this ship. I love our team and I pray for them to be more competitive.

 

Edited June 9, 2024 by Billy62