The Cubs outrighted Sonnanstine to the minors yesterday. That opens a spot on the 40 man roster. That foretells how the Cubs will construct their pitching staff. Lopez, the veteran who has pitched well, we lose out on the starting rotation, but will be the long reliever/spot starter candidate. He came to camp only with a minor league contract, so to make the team, he has to be promoted to the 40 man roster by opening day.
The starting rotation battle appears to have settled on two players, Volstad and Wells, for the 5th slot. Samardzija has won the 4th spot. The Cubs want a power pitcher in the rotation, especially one to follow a finesse pitcher like Maholm in a series.
Volstad has the inside track because he was the return for the Zambrano deal. Zambrano has a good season in Miami, fans will cringe unless they see something tangible in return. Besides, Volstad has been pitching as well as Samardzija.
That leaves Wells, who has one option year left, can be sent to the minors to stay stretched out in case a starter goes down. He is too valuable as a starter to be demoted to the bullpen at this point. But not too valuable to other teams to be a trade candidate.
So we can pretty well pencil in Garza, Dempster, Maholm, Samardzija and Volstad as the Cubs rotation.
The bullpen shapes up as Lopez, Russell, K. Wood, Marmol and probably Dolis and Mateo. Mateo is out of options. Dolis has the inside track based on Sveum's recent comments. But the GM may want another left hander in the bullpen to help with match-ups.
