Chicago Cubs: Examining an unusual distribution of innings this season

Chicago Cubs: Tough outings costing the Cubs weekly

Tyler Chatwood‘s starts has put even more stress on the bullpen. Not only has he thrown the fewest innings (94.0) out of anyone who has been in the starting rotation the whole season. He has rarely left with even a decent size lead.

So, in most of his starts he is either coming out of the game early, or with a small lead or the Cubs are playing from behind. Those scenario’s lead to more innings pitched by the bullpen and a lot of those innings are high leverage innings. Its a credit to the Cubs offense that they have scored so many runs on days that he starts, so that Chatwood doesn’t have more losses on his Cubs record (4-5 in 19 starts).

So far this year Montgomery has thrown 87 innings. Last year he threw 130 2/3 frames. Depending on how much longer he stays in the starting rotation, Montgomery might surpass last year’s total. The front office has openly worried about Montgomery throwing too many innings.

His starts haven’t been long and recently his results have not been as good as they were when he first joined the rotation. So once again his starts haven’t done anything to relieve pressure on the bullpen.