PITCHING AHEAD

Gordon Wittenmyer had a good column in regard to the state of the Cubs pitching. The team has a lot of young arms being showcased this September. But as staff, are they any good? No one really knows.

He compares the current Cubs to the pitching wealth of the competitive Pirates:

Hard-throwing Gerrit Cole, 24, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft is quickly becoming a staff ace.  He is followed by 2013 All-Star Jeff Locke, 26, a second-rounder who has won five of his last six decisions.

Wittenmyer notes that the Cubs had starters with great ERAs this season:

Jeff Samardzija (2.83 ERA), Jason Hammel (2.98), Jake Arrieta (2.82), Kyle Hendricks (2.38) and Tsuyoshi Wada (2.95) giving the Cubs exceptional performances in more than half (78) of the team’s starts this season. But the Cubs still rank near the bottom of the National League in starting pitching (4.05 ERA). Only the Marlins, Diamondbacks and Rockies are worse.

With Samardzija and Hammel off the roster, and Wada, who turns 34 next spring, won’t have his $5 million option picked up and likely will seek greener offers as opposed to a bargain renegotiation, the Cubs will be stuck with these pitching options for 2015:

1. Former All-Stars Travis Wood and Edwin Jackson who have seen much better days.

2. Pitchers who have not thrown a full major league season in Arrieta and Hendricks.

3. And a possible rotation of 5th starters in the reclamation projects of Jacob Turner and Felix Doubront.