Rotation Woes

I envision two possible scenarios playing out on Saturday for the newly promoted Doug Davis:

1.  He gets shelled and only lasts an inning and a third
2.  He goes six strong but takes 3.5 paint-drying hours to get there.

I hope I'm wrong but I'm going to go with my gut and choose door #1. Davis, signed as a free agent by the Cubs last month, posted a 7.51 ERA with the Brewers last year in eight games started. The soft-tossing lefty tops out at about 85 mph with his fastball and uses a cutter in the low 80's as well. These numbers wouldn't worry me at all if we're talking about Greg Maddux, but we're definitely not talking about Greg Maddux. The Cubs are scraping the bottom of the free agent market for starting pitchers with this one.


As long as the Cubs are digging for has-been lefties may I suggest some other options?

Denny Neagle

Kirk Rueter

                                                                                   

Glendon Rusch

Sean Estes

   

Remember this past off-season when the Cubs actually thought they had too many starting pitchers? Randy Well and Carlos Silva were vying for spots, Tom Gorzelanny was coming off a surprisingly productive season, and newbies Andrew Cashner and Casey Coleman were expected to compete as well. What an awful problem to have. I always hate it when I have too much of a good thing, especially when it completely backfires:

• Gorzelanny: TRADED - he's currently 2-2 with a sub 3.0 ERA this year for the Nationals. 
• Silva: RELEASED
• Wells: INJURED
• Cashner: INJURED
• Coleman: 1 win in 5 starts and a very impressive 6.29 ERA. Yikes.

There was never a question who the top three starting pitchers would be, but filling the void of those last two rotation spots has proven to be quite the task. Doug Davis is the latest contestant in what is sure to be a year-long battle to see which pitcher can hold the job the longest.