SO rate, velocity, and 2 years of cost control left are my guesses, but he can't stay healthy, including a suspicious flexor issue in 2024. He's a UCL waiting to happen.
The point is certainly elite arm talent. When he’s right, he’s absolutely nasty. Jed has really changed focus over the last year or so and shifted from out-getters to guys with velo and swing & miss stuff. I could see a real steady flow this year between the rotation and the bullpen, leveraging guys where the matchups are.
Let’s assume for a second that the Cubs get Luzardo without giving up a pitcher currently on the 40-man. The Cubs would have starter candidates in Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Luzardo, Boyd, Assad, Wicks, Brown and Kilian, plus Cade Horton and Brandon Birdsell who aren’t on the 40, but could debut this year. As of today, only Steele, Shota and Taillon could be fully expected to give 150 innings and make 30 starts. Assad threw 147 innings, but struggles to get deep into games given some fundamental inefficiency and the rest (except Birdsell) all missed at least 2 months last season. The Cubs would be deep in power arms with the ability to run guys in and out of the bullpen, stack piggyback outings, etc. Brown only threw 55 innings last year, Horton 35, Wicks 46, Boyd 40, Kilian 58, Luzardo 66. A lot of guys are going to need to be built up slowly, but there’s a lot of potential there in that group.
Will be interesting to see this roster come together. This definitely tracks with what the Dodgers are doing in terms of not worrying about 5 starters, but stacking up a lot of guys who can start games and get outs because in 2024 you know you need to have serious depth to get through a full season and playoffs.
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