Ben Brown – Picture by Iowa Cubs

Welcome to the final affiliate sneak peek for this off-season.

When it comes to the Iowa Cubs, I have already looked at their infield and their bullpen. Today is going to be all about Iowa’s starting rotation. It is going to be an interesting mix with mostly prospects for the first time in a long time. Usually, the Cubs go out and get some starting pitching depth for the major leagues and stash them in Iowa. But this year, most of the names are going to be very familiar.

Leftovers from Chicago

Who does not make the big league club as a starter or a bullpen piece is going to be stashed in Iowa to provide depth. That’s going to be worked out over the next couple of weeks. It could be Jordan Wicks. It might even Ben Brown or even Hayden Wesneski. The Cubs are not going to have room for all three in Chicago, at least not at this point in the year. I could see Wicks and Brown being in the bullpen in Chicago. As well, the Cubs might decide to roll with six starters in April.

For me, I’d really like to see Brown get a shot in the bullpen in Chicago and Wicks in the rotation. I’m not sure what to do with Wesneski as he really hasn’t shown the consistency from outing to outing. There’s no question that he has the goods in terms of pitches. It’s a matter of what he can bring each day and what he can do to get by.

As of today, I am pulling for Brown and Wicks to make the opening day roster in Chicago.

The Wild Card in All of This

It was announced yesterday that Caleb Kilian will be out until around the all star break with a tight shoulder injury. His stuff looked crisp and he was locating his pitches well while changing speeds the spring. Will he keep that up when he returns? Not sure. Will he end up in the pen? Not sure either. WIll he eventually make the rotation in Chicago later in the season? LIkely not. However, the bullpen is an option and that could be where he ends up. It’s even more of an uphill battle than it already was for Kilian, but let’s hope his healing and rehab goes as smoothly as possible.

As for the Free Agents

Thomas Pannone is a journeyman left-hander who probably will be a guy the Cubs could would like to keep stretched out as a starter, just in case. Whether he pitches well is another story for another day.

The Question Marks

Right now, I’m not sure what the role is going to be for Chris Clarke and Riley Thompson this year. Both of them could end up in the bullpen or both of them could end up as starters. After working on some things in the off-season, Spring training is going to determine what their role is going to be. Both have been around the system a while, and both are starting to run out of time to get to Chicago. Like many pitchers in the organization, getting over that AAA bump is hard. Both have shown the ability to throw in the upper 90s to go along with a plus off speed pitch. 

Other question marks are whether Kohl Franklin and Cade Horton are both coming up later this summer from Tennessee to start at Iowa. I would like to see what both can do at this level as neither have pitched at AAA. With the depth the Cubs currently have, odds are they both should end up starting in Tennessee. However, Horton is probably not going to take that long to get to Iowa, and I would not be surprised to see him in Iowa in May if he does start the year in Tennessee.

Seeing who is in the rotation in July and August might be of more interesting than who is in the rotation on April 1. Will Brandon Birdsell get there along with Horton and Franklin? Is Brody McCullough good enough to get there? Could Devers, Noland, or Gallardo break out and end up at Iowa? August is a long ways away, but it will get here quickly to answer a lot of questions.