The Chicago Cubs have the potential to be great this season and that could happen with a strong starting rotation.
The Chicago Cubs have made great acquisitions this offseason with adding Kyle Tucker to the roster being the biggest move they’ve thus far. Kyle Tuckers acquisition along with the other moves the Cubs have made and the potential moves to be made when the season starts put the Cubs in the conversation of possibly being a playoff team this season. That dream will hinge on one key element of the Chicago Cubs roster that will give them the best shot to do that.
An emerging monster of at the top of the starting rotation
The Chicago Cubs have the potential to have one of the best starting rotations in the National League this season. With emerging stars and potential Cy Young award winners Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele leading the way that has a real possibility of happening.
According to FanGraphs they project the Cubs to possible incorporate a six-man rotation for this season. The Cubs will have rookie phenom and All-Star Shota Imanaga be there Ace for this season. Imanaga getting crowned the moniker of Ace in just his second season in Major League Baseball is impressive to say the least and it’s all thanks to a stellar rookie season. Imanaga in his rookie year went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA with 174 strikeouts in 173.1 innings. For 2025 Baseball Reference projects that in 2025 Imanaga will pitch 147 innings and finish with a record of 11-5 and strike out 144 batters.
Following Imanaga in the rotation will be Justin Steele who Baseball Reference projects to go 8-6 with a 3.29 ERA in 145 innings. Steele also has the potential to be great this season as well and possibly be in the Cy Young race, like he was for the 2023 season in which he finished fifth.
The three four spots in the rotation
For the third spot in the rotation the Cubs will have the 33-year-old Jameson Taillon who had a solid season for the Chicago Cubs in 2024. In 28 starts Taillon had a 12-8 record with 125 strikeouts with a 1.131 WHIP in 165.1 innings of work. Taillon enters into his third year of a four-year $68 million deal, and he will look to replicate the season had in 2024 and bring it to 2025 which Baseball Reference projecting Taillon to go 10-8 with a 3.93 ERA in 158 innings.
In the fourth spot of the rotation the Chicago Cubs will use left-hander Matt Boyd who the Cubs signed two-year $29 million with a mutual option for 2027 of $15 million. The 34-year-old is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and made just a handful of starts for the Cleveland Guardians in 2024. For 2025 Matt Boyd is projected to 5-5 with a respectable 4.06 ERA in 82 innings pitched.
The backend and potential swing men
Leading the way for the fifth spot is the 27-year-old Tijuana, Mexico native Javier Assad. Assad in my opinion is an under the radar pitcher to watch for the Chicago Cubs this season. Since debuting with the Chicago Cubs back in 2022 Assad has career ERA of 3.40 in 294 innings. In 2024 for the Cubs Assad had a really solid year for his development with making 29 starts going 7-6 with a 3.73 ERA with 124 strikeouts in 147 innings of work. Assad is projected to throw 135 innings with an ERA of 3.60 and a record of 7-6.
Potential bids for the sixth spot for the Cubs rotation are recent signee Colin Rea who signed a one-year deal and the 25-year-old Ben Brown who is coming back from an injury that had him miss most of last season. If the Chicago Cubs could add one more top of the rotation pitcher to pair with Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele to give them a solid one, two, three. And if the tandem of Taillon, Boyd, Assad, Rea, and Brown can all just give decent levels of production, the Chicago Cubs can certainly be looking at a playoff berth this season.
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