Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but this decision did not make any sense from the second David Ross left his press conference following a win against the Colorado Rockies and said that Marcus Stroman was going to be back in the starting rotation. It was questionable then and now that decision has blown up in the Cubs’ face in the final week of the regular season.
Stroman started against the Cincinnati Reds on July 31, and then missed six weeks with at first inflammation in his right hip and then a mysterious rib fracture days before he was slated to return in mid-August. The right-handed pitcher made back-to-back relief appearances against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 15 and 16, pitching a total of three innings. Then, the Cubs decided to replace Javier Assad with Stroman in the rotation.
At that point, the Cubs knew, Stroman knew, fans knew, everyone knew, that Stroman was not going to be able to pitch more than a few innings when he was on the mound. I commend Stroman’s work ethic and drive to put in the work to come back after a long layoff and try to help out, but he simply was not capable of pitching to his best ability and in turn the Cubs decided to boot one of their most consistent starting pitchers out of the rotation.
Assad came up in 2022, and pitched well in his rookie campaign. The right-hander shined in the World Baseball Classic, thriving as a multi-inning reliever for Team Mexico that helped him earn a spot on the Cubs Opening Day roster. He had his struggles early in the season, but when the Cubs needed someone to step up in the midst of a playoff chase, Assad did that and more.
After Stroman landed on the injured list, Assad stepped into the starting rotation and from Aug. 5-Sept. 19, Assad made 9 starts and posted a 2.84 ERA in 50.2 IP. He allowed more than 3 earned runs one time, while pitching 5+ innings 7 times.
The decision to move Assad to the bullpen then led to a domino effect because Stroman was only able to pitch three innings last Saturday against the Rockies. Assad had to come in afterward and to his credit tossed four shutout innings. However, because of his success and the lack of trust Ross has in other relievers, Assad was used a few days later in Tuesday’s series opener against the Braves.
In one week, Assad started and pitched five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates, pitched four more innings of relief four days later and then three days later came out of the bullpen in the seventh inning. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a two-run homer off Assad before the Braves scored two more runs the next inning on Seiya Suzuki’s error.
On Thursday, Stroman only lasted two innings, allowing four runs, two earned after Ian Happ botched a sliding catch in left field. Still, it was evident Stroman wasn’t fooling anyone, as 5 of the 9 balls hit in play by the Braves were hit at least 98mph against Stroman.
Assad was used again after Stroman, allowing one run in two innings of work. The Cubs lost 5-3 and were swept by the Braves, leaving them behind the Miami Marlins and out of a Wild Card spot heading into the final series in the regular season.
Stroman struggled for several weeks before his stay on the injured list, then returned after missing six weeks of game action, and for some reason the Cubs decided to give him the ball to start games when he was not ready. It backfired in the most pivotable part of the season.
