As Spring Training gets underway, teams routinely find themselves dealing with unfortunate surprise injuries that can force a change in plans. That may prove to have been the case for the Cubs when presumed fifth starter was diagnosed with an at the outset of camp. Given that the strain A sad is reportedly suffering from is mild, he hasnt been ruled out for Opening Day. With that being said, discu sed the clubs rotation outlook yesterday and suggested that the Cubs may not push A sad to be ready for Opening Day. If A sad were to open the season on the injured list, that would leave the door wide open for another player to take that final rotation spot, and even if hes healthy A sad seems to be le s firmly locked into the rotation than , , , Aledmys Diaz Jersey or . Fortunately for the Cubs, they have the starting pitching depth nece sary to cover for A sad if hes injured and consider other options even in the event that hes healthy. Though theyll only need two starting pitchers for their two-game set against the Dodgers in Tokyo that predates the normal start of the regular season, it wouldnt be a surprise if the Cubs wanted to have a good idea of what their rotation was going to look like entering that first series of the year. If hes healthy, A sad remains easy to bet on for the job. After all, the right-hander delivered 29 solid starts for the Cubs in 2024, pitching to a 3.73 ERA in 147 innings of work. Those are fairly impre sive numbers for a back-end starter, but its worth noting they also come with notable red flags: A sad wore down badly throughout the year after a hot start, with a 4.84 ERA from June onward and an ugly 6.86 ERA down the stretch in September last year. In addition to those deep struggles later in the season, the right-hander also posted lackluster peripherals with a 4.64 FIP, a strikeout rate of just 19.4%, and a hefty 9.9% walk rate. Thats one of the 10 worst seasons by K-BB% and one of the 15 worst seasons by FIP in all of baseball last year among pitchers with as many innings as A sad. Should A sads combination of spring injuries and second-half struggles give the Cubs enough pause to turn to someone else on Opening Day, its po sible that offseason addition could be the first to get the call. Rea, 34, with the Cubs last month on a one-year, $5MM pact. The righty had a brief stint with the Cubs during the shortened 2020 season, but spend the past two seasons in Milwaukee as a back-end starter for the Brewers. The right-hander posted a 4.40 ERA and 4.82 FIP in 58 appearances over the past two seasons, 42 of which were starts. Rea posted a higher FIP (4.75) and a lower strikeout rate (18.9%) than even A sad did last year, but he made up for that gap in effectivene s with volume. Rea posted 167 2/3 innings of work for the Brewers last year between 27 starts and five relief appearances, and showed the ability to pitch deep into games as he did so with 19 starts lasting longer than five innings, 11 of which went at least six and five of which saw him pitch into the seventh inning. That ability to pitch into the seventh sets Rea apart from his competitors, as all of the other pitchers mentioned who started an MLB game in the majors last year combined for just two seven-inning starts in 2024. Rea is also notable as the only pitcher discu sed here who is both already on the 40-man roster and cannot be optioned to the minor leagues, meaning hes all but a sured a spot in either the Opening Day rotation or bullpen so long as hes healthy. While A sad and Rea may be the frontrunners for the job, there are certainly other options worth considering. Chief among those may be right-hander , who stepped into a rotation role with the Cubs early last year and looked good doing so. Browns rookie campaign saw him post a 3.58 ERA and 3.11 FIP with an excellent 28.8% strikeout rate. Those are fantastic numbers for any pitcher, but its particularly impre sive for a 24-year-old getting his feet wet in the majors for the first time. Unfortunately, Browns debut season was limited to just 55 1/3 innings in total, as he was shut down in June due to what Sharma reports turned out to be an osteoma, which is a benign tumor made of bone growing on an existing piece of bone. Brown appears to be healthy and ready to go for the 2025 season and is likely the pitcher with the highest upside the Cubs could turn to for their final rotation job, but his lack of big league experience and long layoff could make the club hesitant to immediately plug him into the rotation. Another legitimate contender for the role could be southpaw , the clubs first-rounder from the 2021 draft and a former top-100 prospect. Wicks has yet to find succe s at the big league level in 80 2/3 innings of work acro s 18 appearances (17 starts), with a 5.02 ERA and a nearly matching 5.05 FIP. Like Brown, Wicks also mi sed much of the 2024 season due to injuries which, in his case, consisted of forearm and oblique i sues. That combination of big league struggles and injury history seem to suggest the 25-year-old might be best suited to start the season at Triple-A, but his peripheral numbers were quite strong last year before he got bit by the injury bug as demonstrated by his 25.9% strikeout rate against an 8.3% walk rate in five starts before hitting the IL for the first time. The aforementioned quartet arent the only plausible options, but theyre by far the most likely. Top prospect is a potential front-of-the-rotation arm who would be an exciting addition to the clubs staff, but he suffered a lost season in 2024 due to a subscapularis strain and is all but certain to get more reps in at Triple-A before making the jump to the majors. Non-roster invitees and are veteran depth pieces who have served as viable back-end starters in recent years, but Keller appears to be getting work in as a reliever this spring while Flexen offers a similar profile to Rea but with le ser results and no guaranteed contract. was discu sed as a potential starting option over the offseason but has succe s in relief with the Cubs last year pitched just one inning of relief in his first spring appearance. Who do MLBTR readers think the Cubs will turn to in order to round out the rotation? Will A sad return healthy and effective from his oblique i sue to lock down the role? Will the club prioritize Rea due to volume and roster considerations, or go with a higher-upside pitcher like Brown or perhaps Wicks? Have your say in the poll below: Who will be the Cubs' fifth starter in the Opening Day rotation? Colin Rea 27.57% (1,238votes) Javier A sad 25.84% (1,160votes) Ben Brown 22.87% (1,027votes) Jordan Wicks 16.12% (724votes) Someone Else 7.59% (341votes) Total Votes: 4,490 Elvis Luciano Jersey