With the Chicago Cubs pitching nightmare, others getting a chance

After this disastrous start for the Chicago Cubs pitching staff, guys who started the season in Triple-A are now getting a chance to fix some problems.

Seven games into the Chicago Cubs 2019 season and moves are already being made. The 1-6 Cubs have sent Carl Edwards Jr. down to Triple-Aand moved Mike Montgomery to the Injured List and called up Allen Webster and Kyle Ryan to take their places. News reported by The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma.

As of Saturday morning, the Cubs have the worst ERA in the majors (8.32), FIP (7.01) and highest BB/9 (7.22). Among this staff was Edwards, who sports a 32.40 ERA and 27 BB/9 and Montgomery who sports a 16.88 ERA. The story of Edwards is odd as his new delivery has been deemed illegal and he seems to have taken another step backward. As for Montgomery, he probably should not have made the club out of spring because of the shoulder issues he had.

As for their replacements, Webster and Ryan have pretty much the same amount of MLB experience in terms of innings; 123 1/2 for Webster and 128 for Ryan. Stories are a bit different as Webster has been up and down throughout the years and Ryan has two seasons pitching 50+ innings in the majors (2015, 2016).

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Allen Webster’s resume

One may look at his resume and not see much. He pitched for the Cubs last year but only in three innings and gave up two runs and struck out three. Most of last year for him was spent in Tennessee and Iowa Overall he is a career 6.13 MLB pitcher between Boston, Arizona and the Cubs.

If there is a reason to be optimistic, it is that he had an excellent spring training. In 12 innings he posted a 1.50 ERA with 11 strikeouts and three walks. It may end up meaning nothing considering it is spring training, but any adjustments he may have made may help the team. Also probably safe to assume he is not going to be in a closer or late-inning situation if the game is close.

Unfortunately, it seems like nobody can get those important outs right now, but at this point, they have to try something. If Webster has anything positive to give the club, now is the time to do it. Same with Kyle Ryan, who did have a nice 2016 season in Detroit pitching to a 3.07 ERA and 3.33 FIP in 55 2/3 innings.

Getting it together

If the Cubs gets swept again, they’ll be 1-8 before they play a game at the corner of Clark and Addison. That puts them in a massive hole which they are 5 1/2 back already. Okay yeah, it is April 6 and normally the first week of the season does not determine anything. It is just not ideal at all to have to spend much of the season climbing out of a hole.

Being 5.5 back early is not the end of the world, but reaching a double-digit deficit early in a tough division makes the rest of the season so much more stressful and makes little room for error. The offense is doing its job, and it is amazing the Cubs have lost their last two games which they scored double-digit runs. They’ve done that three times and are 1-6.

There may be more changes along the way to this bullpen. Others down in Triple-A like Dillon Maples, Alec Mills and Dakota Mekkes will likely see some time sooner or later. Still does not seem likely that one of these options will be Craig Kimbrel.