3 internal options for the Chicago Cubs rotation after Justin Steele's injury

The reaction to the Chicago Cubs taking two of three from the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers felt subdued on the heels of learning ace left-hander Justin Steele would miss the rest of the year due to season-ending elbow surgery.

Chicago heads into the workweek at 11-7, a near-identical record to the Dodgers (11-6) - a testament to just how well the Cubs have played since getting swept by Los Angeles in the Tokyo Series nearly a month ago. But to survive the coming weeks - not to mention the next five months - they're going to need to swing a big-time arm or, at the very least, have some guys on the 40-man step up in a big way.

Here are 3 internal candidates to replace Steele in the rotation moving forward.

Colin Rea

Veteran swingman Colin Rea started in the place of Steele on Sunday, holding the powerful Dodgers offense in check, striking out five and allowing just one run on four hits over 3 2/3 innings of work. The bullpen took it from there, with six pitchers closing out the game in a 4-2 series clincher.

Rea tossed a career-high 167 2/3 innings for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024 but definitely wasn't a top-of-the-rotation presence for the NL Central champs. He's an inning-eater, not someone you (at least in an ideal world) count on every five days to take the spot of someone like Steele.

He's been solid this season for Chicago (0.00 ERA, 0.938 WHIP, 5.1 IP) - but he's a pitch-to-contact arm and this rotation already has more than enough of that. What it needs it a power arm, but that's not something they're going to find internally.

Javier Assad

Initially penciled into the team's Opening Day starting rotation, Javier Assad is yet to throw a big-league inning due to an oblique injury he suffered early in spring training. The good news is the right-hander is nearing a return at a perfect time as the Cubs keep grinding their way through a brutal April schedule.

The 27-year-old has made 47 starts over the last three seasons - as well as 23 relief appearances - and he's defied the odds (not to mention many of the metrics) putting up respectable baseball card numbers: a career 3.40 ERA in just under 300 innings of work.

Given his reliance on outperforming the metrics, the bubble feels likely to burst at some point. Like Rea, Assad is a back-end starter/depth arm, not somebody you can ask for 170+ innings in what amounts to a must-win season for the Cubs.

Jordan Wicks

Left-hander Jordan Wicks was pulled from his scheduled start at Iowa - but returned to the mound for the I-Cubs on Sunday in relief, hitting pause on his return to Chicago, at least for the time being.

Last year was a letdown, of sorts, for Wicks, who made 10 starts and one relief appearance, working to a 1.630 WHIP and 5.48 ERA. He reported to camp having lost weight over the offseason, ready to show why the Cubs selected him in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

The name you all want to see on this list in Wicks' Iowa teammate Cade Horton, but given the organization's publicly stated goal of slow-playing things with its top pitching prospect, it's highly unlikely we see the hard-throwing right-hander make his big-league debut any time soon. Could he make the jump this summer? Perhaps. But until then, it's stopgap, keep-the-ship-afloat options like Assad, Rea and Wicks.