While Cubs fans have been gassing up the huge playoff bandwagon, the team itself is slowly getting stuck in the mud by the weight of anticipation.
Jake Arrieta has been good, Jason Hammel has been okay and Jon Lester has been really good or meh. With Edwin Jackson and Travis Wood demoted to the bullpen, the Cubs actually now have a shortage of starters now that Ysuyoshi Wada turned up lame.
The Cubs at 38-30, in third place 6.5 games behind the Cardinals, are still in the hunt. Pursuing an serviceable starting pitcher certainly seems a reasonable strategy, but every team has that same strategy. Wood may get the call by default, since Jacob Turner is still on the DL and he is working his way back to health and could soon be available, but he has much to prove at this stage of his career.
There may be better arms at Iowa. Don Roach is 7-1, 2.29 ERA in 14 games started. Carlos Pimentel is 5-4, 3.45 ERA in 12 GS. Dallas Beeler is 1-5, 7.35 in 11 GS. And Eric Jokisch is 3-3, 4.40 ERA in 9 GS. There is a problem with Roach and Pimentel: they are not on the active 40 man roster. Someone current would have to go, and probably another when Neil Ramirez is ready to return to the bullpen.
It may come down to moving up another reliever to the pen, and have Jackson and Wood do a spring training split game (3 innings each) as a short term solution.
