In 2024, Javier Assad ascended from swingman to the Cub rotation and made 29 starts in a very effective season. Between injuries and other options emerging in 2025 he was an afterthought. Tuesday night, he was summoned from Iowa to fill one big hole in the Cub rotation.
In 2025, Colin Rea was signed for a swingman role but filled a large hole in the Cub rotation that arose when Justin Steele was lost to an elbow injury. In 2026, the Cubs obtained even more depth and on top of Assad starting in Iowa,
Rea was relegated to long reliever. Another elbow injury and a (hopefully) much less significant injury to 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd opened two spots in the rotation.
Assad re-emerged on Tuesday and gave the Cubs a huge lift with a very strong start, just missing six innings and a quality start (by definition). On Wednesday it was Rea’s turn to re-emerge. And re-emerge he did. He followed Assad’s script and pitched what felt like a real quality start. At just five innings, it doesn’t meet the accepted statistical definition. With two hits, two walks and just one run, it was an awfully effective one.
It can never be said enough. You just can’t ever have too much pitching depth. Hopefully, Matthew Boyd comes back strong and Justin Steele also finds his way back to being an effective pitcher for this team. None of us are ever going to be fully comfortable with a rotation that includes Rea and Assad as well as Jameson Taillon and Shōta Imanaga. Each of them has been a mixed bag in the early going. Never quit adding. In some bizarro world where there aren’t enough innings to go around, there are always at least half a dozen teams willing to part with real talent for a quality pitcher.
On the other side of the ball, this is the best the Cub offense has looked over a two-day period. It isn’t just 15 runs in two games (just one better than they had in games 1 and 2). It was 15 runs in two days that felt like maybe it could have been 20 or more. They still left a number of runners on base and had a handful of fly balls that died at the warning track.
On Tuesday, the primary weapons were Alex Bregman and Pete Crow-Armstrong with three hits apiece. On Wednesday, it was Nico Hoerner with three hits and two more by Carson Kelly. Even Michael Conforto chipped in a timely double that scored three runs. On Friday, Seiya Suzuki should return to the lineup and make the lineup a little bit deeper.
It’ll be interesting to see who heads out with Seiya back. Scott Kingery has gotten just two appearances and no plate appearances so far, but is the most obvious player to play center field if/when you finally rest Pete Crow-Armstrong. Kingery hasn’t had regular playing time since the 2020 season and at 32, isn’t particularly a valuable piece. Dylan Carlson has four plate appearances over three games. I can’t see anyone other than the two of them going. I know a lot of people will expect Conforto to go. While I do wonder how productive his bat will be when it gets much less playing time, he has shown a bit of value at the plate in this series. I’d drop Kingery and figure out center when you need it later on. Conforto is the left-handed bench bat at this time.
It was good to see Conforto produce while Ian Happ was out of the lineup a couple of days. It was so rare to get any production out of the bench in 2025. Maybe he and the non-playing catcher give the Cubs a couple of good bench options, at least at the plate, as well as Matt Shaw who should head to the bench.
Hello .500, old friend. It’s been, what? Three days since we last saw you?
Let’s look at the results from this one.
Three Positives:
- Nico Hoerner. Three hits, two runs, two runs driven in. Professional hitter. Team leader in RBI? Who’d believe?
- Colin Rea. Another big lift for the pitching staff. Quietly, the Cubs starters are putting together a decent run of games and providing some length. He didn’t get run support until the fifth inning.
- Carson Kelly had a pair of hits, one a double, and scored a run.
Game 12, April 8: Cubs 6, Rays 2 (6-6)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Michael Conforto (.156). 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R
- Hero: Colin Rea (.123). 5 IP, 20 BF, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 2 K (W 1-0)
- Sidekick: Nico Hoerner (.109). 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Alex Bregman (-.039). 0-3, BB
- Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.035). 0-4, DP
- Kid: Matt Shaw (-.023). 1-3, BB, CS
WPA Play of the Game: Michael Conforto batted with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth inning, the game tied at one. He hit a double into the right center field gap, not missing a homer by much. The throw back to the infield was wild as was the throw to the plate and the Cubs netted three runs and a runner on third. (.183)
*Rays Play of the Game: Jonny DeLuca led off the third inning with a single while the Rays were down only one. (.044)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 11 Winner: Javier Assad received 178 out of 190 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Edward Cabrera +6
- Nico Hoerner +5 (+1 this game)
- Hoby Milner/Ian Happ/Colin Rea +4 (Rea +2 this game)
- Matt Shaw -6 (-1)
- Phil Maton -6
- Alex Bregman -7 (-3)
Up Next: An off day Thursday and then the Cubs return to Wrigley Field to face the Pirates. The Pirates have been a bit of an early surprise and have won seven of 10 after dropping the first two games of the season and looking sloppy doing it. The Pirates are 4-2 at home and 3-0 against teams under .500. So they are still needing to show that they can win away from home and against good teams. I still think the Cubs are ultimately one of the good ones.
Shōta Imanaga (0-1, 4.50, 10 IP) gets the start for the Cubs. He looked better on Sunday in his second start of the year. He’s 2-0 with 0.35 ERA in four career starts against the Pirates. 27-year-old Carmen Mlodzinski will start for the Pirates. I can’t help shedding a tear for a future game between Carmen and Milwaukee’s opening day starter. Keyboards will be broken. Carmen was a compensatory pick for the Pirates in the 2020 draft (31st overall) out of South Carolina. Carmen has no decisions yet and a 4.00 ERA in nine innings of work. In parts of four seasons, he’s made 111 appearances, 19 of them starts with a 3.28 ERA.
How about three straight for the first time?
