Cubs and the three different ways they can spice up the squad

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Jon Lester (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Looking at the starting rotation & bullpen

Looking ahead to the starting pitchers who are going to be free agents after this year, there are some former Cubs that could be available for them to bring back and help the squad. A lot of us remember what Jake Arrieta did as a member of the team.

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He pitched, not just one but two no-hitters wearing the blue uni. He also was a force back in 2016 when the Cubs won it all. How many of you guys remember the name Jeff Samardzija? He hasn’t been a Cub since 2014. During his time in the Windy City, the 6’5” right-hander punched out 639 batters and had a quite high 3.97 ERA.

One of the fears many of us have is Jon Lester leaving us to return to Boston. Lester spent eight seasons in Boston, so you can imagine he wants to end his career where it all began. He signed a six-year $155 million deal with the team back in 2015.

If he leaves, do the Cubs pursue some younger talent like Taijuan Walker of the Seattle Mariners and Robbie Ray of the Diamondbacks? Can we count on Tyler Chatwood and Jose Quintana to carry the load along with Kyle Hendricks? Or do we look ahead to the talent in our minor league system?

As for the bullpen, with departures of Strop and others, The team needs to pursue talent that can help in late situations. Most of the Cubs losses last year came by only one or two runs giving up late by our bullpen.

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A couple of big names that stand out more than others are Oliver Perez and Sergio Romo. Both of these men have an excellent reputation when it comes to late-game situations. Like Kipnis, Perez is a longtime Cleveland Indian while Romo has won multiple championships with the San Francisco Giants.

Who would you like to see come back to join the Cubs? Would you want Arrieta, Samardzija again? Let me know down in the comments below.