Report: Cubs shopping for starter with 6-man rotation in mind
The World Series champion Chicago Cubs showed an incredible amount of depth in not only their lineup, but their organization last season en route to the franchise's first World Series title since 1908, and they plan to continue to add to their deep squad before spring training gets underway.
Chicago is shopping for another starting pitcher with the idea of moving to a six-man rotation at some points next season to lessen the burden on some of their starters who logged a lot of innings during their strenuous run to the World Series, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Cubs starters logged a National League-leading 989 innings of work during the regular season, as well as an additional 93 1/3 of postseason work, last year. Most of the innings were courtesy of Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, and Kyle Hendricks.
| PITCHER | IP* | AGE |
|---|---|---|
| Jon Lester | 235.1 | 32 |
| Jake Arrieta | 219.2 | 30 |
| John Lackey | 201.1 | 38 |
| Kyle Hendricks | 213.1 | 27 |
| *postseason combined |
Left-hander Mike Montgomery is currently slated to fill the fifth spot in the Cubs' rotation, but he's never pitched more than 100 innings during one MLB season in his career.
The Cubs have reportedly been one of the favorites to land free-agent right-hander Tyson Ross, but could also turn their attention to re-signing Travis Wood, or taking a look at trade acquisition Caleb Smith for the role, according to Sherman.