The Short Porch is short on starting pitching

We’re still in small sample size territory as the calendar turns to tax day, but the Cubs are just a titch under 10 percent of the way through their season. The results have been disappointing to say the least, even though it’s early. While there are signs of optimism, the scoreboard doesn’t lie and neither do the standings, which you can see here:

The word that comes to mind immediately is “yikes.”

Admittedly, there are some close losses in those nine early contests and some of the Cubs bullpen arms haven’t gotten off to a great start. Additionally, there are a number of key hitters for the Cubs who should be performing better off to slow starts, I mean, just look at this table sorted by wRC+ for Cubs hitters with at least five plate appearances (not including Tuesday’s game):

Again, every small sample size caveat in the world applies to these stats, but the Cubs absolutely need Alex Bregman, Matt Shaw, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch to right the ship and get their wRC+ above 100 ASAP. That’s a Short Porch for another day, though. Today we’re talking about starting pitching.

The Cubs started the season with a rotation that included Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon. Seventeen games into the season Cade Horton is out for the rest of the year after they found damage to his UCL, Matthew Boyd is on the injured list due to a biceps issue and the rotation is Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea and Javier Assad.

Life comes at you fast.

Despite Monday night’s shellacking of Assad, who gave up 11 hits and nine runs over 4.1 innings pitched at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, that’s honestly a better state of affairs than most teams could muster being down two starters less than a month into the season. There is also reason for some cautious optimism with the expectations that Boyd will be back soon. And Justin Steele should return before the All Star break.

But the bench of pitchers is basically depleted. The next man up would likely be Ben Brown who was moved to the bullpen this season after struggling as a starting pitcher. While fans may be clamoring to see top prospect Jaxon Wiggins, he’s dealing with unspecified “soreness” at the moment. In case you’re wondering how the front office is feeling about this pitching situation, reporting from The Athletic yesterday indicated the Cubs are one of the teams checking in on Lucas Giolito, who managed to piece together a season with a 3.41 ERA in 2025 over 145 innings pitched, despite a FIP of 4.17 and an xERA of 5.01.

The bottom line is that the Cubs’ depth is being tested early and it doesn’t look like the current 40-man or farm system have adequate answers for a team who fancies itself as being much better than their current record.