when Justin Steele Last month, under the UCL's revised surgery knife, ended his 2025 season as early as possible, with the pressure of carrying loads on the front of the Cubs spinning from sharing between the two All-Star Southpaws to completely falling on shota imanaga. Imanaga's first eight games of the year are usually already good, although his perimeter hits 2.82 ERA (4.52 FIP, 4.69 Siera) relative to last year's major rookie sport.
Unfortunately, when Chicago put him on the injury list due to a nervous left hamstring, his own season was at least temporarily derailed. Fortunately, Bear and Imannaga seem to see this strain as a rather mild one. manager Craig Counsell The results suggested in yesterday's post-match interview were “Good news” At least, Imanaga may not take a minimum amount of time to recover. Even so, another beginner is needed to join Jameson Taillon,,,,, Matthew Boyd,,,,, Ben Brownand Colin Rea In rotation.
Maybe the Cubs just need to look at Triple-A’s shots, who was already the same as Imanaga before being injured. The highest pitching prospect Cade Hortonselected in the first round of the 2022 draft, has been dominant so far this year. Holden had the prospect of a top 50 in the sport, with Holden winning six starts for the club’s Iowa branch this year and struck out at 30.6% at that time, a shimmering 1.24 ERA. This dominance will naturally lead fans to call for major league debuts, and the calls are getting louder and louder after Imanaga was injured. It's hard to say that any pitcher currently in the major league roster has a higher ceiling than Holden, his mid-90s fastball hits 98 and plus sliders, which is part of a powerful four-line combo.
Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee from Chicago's Sun Age) “Options” Replace the spinning imanaga. Having said that, Kusel also pointed out that the veteran Chris Flexen His contract was recently extended after he selected the contract from Triple-A on May 1. Flexen threw 54 balls in three points-free relief innings last week and took a 23 1/3 contract choice in Triple-A, 1.16 ERA with 22.3% 3-point shooting percentage in 23 1/3 innings. Flexen is an eight Major League Baseball season veteran who also provided short pitches for the KBO League Doosan Bears, and he has usually been the average average swingman since he returned from South Korea to work with a 4.56 ERA (90 ERA+) in 582 2/3 innings.
His figures have dropped dramatically over the past two years, but it’s hard to deny that he has looked impressive since joining Chicago for a minor league deal. Still, there is no doubt that Holden is a more talented pitcher, rising higher. It seems likely that Holden has a very successful career with the Cubs in the coming years, but there are other considerations that could tilt the scope to Flexen. The Cubs' bullpen with 4.37 ERA top-ranked bullpen in the Grand Slam has stretched a bit in the short start of the year's Rea and Brown. Holden will add another bowler who can't expect to spin the game deeper, as he has only 78 goals this year. Meanwhile, Flexen scored the biggest with a 95-goal lead and entered the sixth inning in three of Iowa’s four full-length starts.
Horton's injury has been in a woe for years, from Tommy John's college surgery to the supscapularis' pressure to lose most of his 2024 season, making the Cubs' position so they need to carefully manage the talented right-handed inning this year. For a team with a playoffs, it's fair to call early May when it's possible that his electric arm may be needed in October. However, on the other hand, it is worth noting that Holden did not pitch after May 29 last year. The healthy pitcher can never be guaranteed, so in the best case, the best puppies in the case of Horton, he pitches well and figure out how to close him or move him to a bullpen sometime this year to figure out his situation.
How do MLBTR readers think that the Bear should handle vacancy in rotation when Imanaga fails? Should they turn to the high prospects, knock on the door while he is healthy and well pitched, or choose to use Flexen to manage Horton's innings and keep the bullpen? There is a say in the following polls:
