Cubs Pitching Staff Will be Leaned on Heavily in 2013

After careful consideration, maybe the Chicago Cubs pitching staff isn’t so bad, after all. At least, that’s if the bottom of the starting rotation can play a bit past their potential and the front end of the bullpen doesn’t absolutely derail in 2013. The top three of the staff and the end of the bullpen may take this team a little farther than we thought, though.

With Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson and Jeff Samardzija leading the helm from the rotation and Kyuji Fujikawa, Carlos Villanueva and Carlos Marmol at the end of the bullpen, it could be a lot worse. Granted, it isn’t the 2001 Arizona team that yielded Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, but it’s a start.

Unfortunately, we never know what we’re going to get from Marmol, and Garza has to stay healthy to be worth anything for the team, but Samardzija is starting to develop as a starter and fans can’t wait to see how Fujikawa will do in his first season in the United States. If the team can get a little bit of run support for these guys, then it could make the team look really good for the future.

No one that I mentioned on the Cubs is old. Far from it, actually. Fujikawa is 32-years-old and that makes him the elder statesman, so there is an opportunity there for the team to develop that pitching staff for the next few years while they add a couple of pieces to put the team over the top.

So it shouldn’t be the pitching you worry about in 2013, it should be the hitting, because the guys on the mound aren’t that bad.

Korey Beckett is a Baseball Writer for www.RantSports.com and can be reached at [email protected] for questions or comments.