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Ben Brown's Chances of Making the Opening Day Rotation
He's got a shot! Plus; the Cubs are one of the teams that have inquired on Dylan Cease's availability.
If you’ll allow me to ignore the recent slate of starting pitcher rumors — Cubs negotiating with Lance Lynn and/or considering a trade for Dylan Cease? — I’d like to talk about the starting rotation — specifically, who is taking the final spot when the Cubs finally break camp after Tokyo. Because according to the latest reporting, Ben Brown might have a better shot than we initially realized.
As we know, the first four spots in the rotation (Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd) are fully locked down, with no battles or question marks outside of health/availability. Beyond those four, however, there’s been a bit of a battle.
At the outset of the spring, the two front-runners for that final spot were Javier Assad, who’s had success out of the rotation over his first two years in MLB, and Colin Rea, whom the Cubs signed over the offseason. There are certainly others in that mix, but those two felt like the safest bets, especially because most of the alternatives have minor league options remaining.
But since then, Assad has suffered a mild oblique strain (delaying the start to his season), and Rea has always been a potential swing man, regardless of which “fifth” starter is chosen. So maybe that race is a little more open now than it was a few weeks ago.
FULL STORY: Ben Brown for the Cubs Rotation?
