Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez injury proves how valuable team’s depth is

Darvish, Lester, Hendricks, Quintana, Chatwood – you could do worse

That headline says it all. After bolstering the starting rotation with Yu Darvish, the Cubs are set up for the long-haul in almost every regard. At least for the next few years.

And as dreamy and wonderful as this group seems now, the very real question of where Chicago turns if they lose one (or God forbid two) of these arms lingers over everything. Mike Montgomery is the obvious choice in the interim. He split time between the rotation and bullpen last season and expressed the desire to start in 2018 this offseason.

After that? There are a lot of options that don’t make me feel all that great inside.

Jen-Ho Tseng, perhaps. Eddie Butler might get the ball here and there. Simply put, as good as the Cubs’ rotation is, they lack substantive insurance past Montgomery. And while I wouldn’t consider it likely to lose more than one starter for any real length of time, if it were to happen, things could go sideways in a hurry.

Next: Early spring performances cause for optimism in Chicago

At the end of the day, Chicago still boasts more positional depth than the overwhelming majority of Major League clubs. But if the right combinations of players fell to injury, the talents of Theo, Jed and Joe could be put to the test this year.