No Such Thing as 'Too Many Lefties' for Chicago Cubs Starting Rotation

The Chicago Cubs have one of the most lopsided lefty/righty rotations in baseball for 2025, but that is not the problem many think that it is.

Sep 16, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga (18) throws the ball against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images / David Banks-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs are one of the more interesting organizations in the sport this offseason. They ended 2024 with an 83-79 record, identical to their 2023 record, but one game farther back in the race for the National League Central Title.

Their offense consists of many players considered "above average," but none currently stand out as superstars or guys who can have a massive impact on a game. The middling offense had an equally middling showing as a whole, posting a .710 OPS, good enough for 13th in Major League Baseball.

The bullpen tells the same story as the offense, a staff consisting of middling pitchers that produced a middling effort in 2024. Their 3.81 ERA from relievers ranked 12th in MLB.

For the starting rotation, things look much different. While it is top-heavy with Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele as the one and two, the drop-off in production was not as drastic as some teams, and their 3.77 starter's ERA ranked sixth in MLB.

Veteran Kyle Hendricks has shipped off to the Los Angeles Angels in free agency, and Matthew Boyd has filled his place in the rotation. That gives the Cubs' rotation one less right-handed pitcher, and one more left-handed pitcher, for a total of three lefties.

Chicago was recently rumored to be one of the teams heavily in the mix for Chicago White Sox trade piece Garrett Crochet, another lefty. With the currently projected rotation from Fangraphs, adding Crochet would push Javier Assad to the bullpen, giving the Cubs four lefties in their rotation.

Many balk at the idea of having such a left-handed heavy rotation, but it may not be as big an issue as some would think. Especially when you consider the possibility of extending the rotation to six pitchers instead of five.

A six-man rotation is quickly becoming a more frequent trend in MLB, and it could be something that becomes the norm in the near future to help teams keep their starters healthy. It could also see starters go longer in their outings, with more days of rest between them.

Pitchers that come to MLB from Japan like Imanaga are more used to pitching on more rest than they get in the States, as they are scheduled to start just once a week. For those international free agents, it is hard to change the routines that they are so accustomed to, and you often see pitchers like the Los Angeles Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the New York Mets' Kodai Senga succumb to injury early in their Major League tenure.

Should Chicago add Crochet through trade, a six-man rotation would be their best course of action to keep their rotation healthy. Crochet has only pitched in four Major League campaigns to this point in his career and has been oft-injured, missing all of 2022 after needing Tommy John surgery. He has also just transitioned to starting, 2024 being his first year in the role, and he pitched only 146 innings across 32 starts, less than five innings per start, though he did pitch seven innings three times, all coming June 30 or earlier.

Boyd is another pitcher that the six-man rotation would serve as beneficial, as he returned from Tommy John surgery late in 2024, and made only eight starts. With a six-man rotation, the Cubs could better limit his innings in 2025 without needing to flex him in and out of the bullpen.

Having a plethora of lefties in the rotation would also help alleviate Chicago's struggles against left-handed batters they faced in 2024. Against righties, their pitching staff (as a whole; starters and relievers) allowed a .233 batting average (sixth best in MLB), and a 1.20 WHIP (seventh). Against lefties, they allowed a .248 batting average (18th) and a 1.34 WHIP (18th).

Steele allowed lefties to hit only .188 with a 0.93 WHIP, and Imanaga allowed a .212 average with a 0.91 WHIP. Boyd saw a much smaller sample size but allowed only a .143 average against lefties with a 0.84 WHIP.

There are many beneficial reasons to have as many lefties in the rotation as the Cubs look to employ. While many may think it a negative, with the right implementation, Chicago can easily turn it into a positive and use it in their favor as they work toward playoff contention.