The Cubs are still in decision-making mode with Jon Lester and Mike Montgomery, listing Saturday’s starter at Wrigley Field as “TBD.” This much is clear: Both left-handers match up well against the Atlanta Braves; all signs point to Lester’s left shoulder fatigue/lat muscle tightness being a relatively minor injury; and Montgomery creates so much value by moving so easily between the bullpen and the rotation.
Whatever happens in the second half of Lester’s $155 million megadeal – and whether or not Montgomery becomes part of the 2018 Opening Day rotation – the Cubs will have to develop more and more pitching.
That made Oscar De La Cruz a headliner on Tuesday when the Arizona Fall League unveiled its rosters. De La Cruz – who entered this season as the organization’s fifth-best prospect on the Baseball America list – illustrates why Theo Epstein’s front office invested so heavily in hitters and built a team that won a seven-game World Series without a homegrown player throwing a single pitch.
Since signing as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic in October 2012, De La Cruz has shown flashes of becoming a frontline starter – while appearing in just 51 games and throwing only 250.1 innings in his professional career. But there is enough in his right arm and 6-foot-4-inch frame to project – and performances as a Northwest League All-Star in 2015 and this season’s run at advanced Class-A Myrtle Beach (4-2, 3.58 ERA in 10 starts).
The Cubs are also assigning three more pitchers to the Mesa Solar Sox – Alec Mills, Pedro Araujo and Jake Stinnett – along with catcher Ian Rice, outfielder Charcer Burks and infielders David Bote and Jason Vosler.
Where De La Cruz needs to catch up on development time, Mills actually pitched for the Kansas City Royals last season and had trouble staying healthy this year at Triple-A Iowa (three starts), where the Cubs hoped he would become one of their change-of-scenery projects. Stinnett – who was taken as a college senior in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Maryland – is 25 years old and recently moved up to the Double-A Tennessee bullpen.