Chicago Cubs: Potential rotation outlook with a Yu Darvish return

The Chicago Cubs adding Cole Hamels to the mix made manager Joe Maddon tinker the rotation a bit. While set for now, there will likely have to be more changes made when Yu Darvish is ready to go.

On Saturday, the Chicago Cubs announced the team would stick with a five-man rotation for the time being. Tyler Chatwood heads to the pen and Cole Hamels takes his place. The rotation will now consist of Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Cole Hamels and Mike Montgomery.

Now the question is, when will Yu Darvish be back? And what will Joe Maddon do when he returns? Right now Darvish has been throwing, but is not close to coming back. GM Jed Hoyer said in an interview with 670 the Score that expecting him back soon is probably not happening. However, they expect him to pitch in 2018.

When asked how realistic is is the Cubs get a significant contribution from Darvish this season, Hoyer offered this response:

"“It’s realistic … Expecting him back imminently is probably not realistic.”"

Right now the rotation is set, but what happens when/if Darvish returns? There are several scenarios to play out, which include remainder of the regular season and postseason if they get there.