Chicago Cubs News: Brett Anderson to be named fifth starter
The growing consensus is that veteran starting pitcher Brett Anderson will be the Chicago Cubs’ fifth starter to begin the season.
The Chicago Cubs do not have many position battles this Spring Training with the main competition being for the fifth starter’s spot in the starting rotation.
After the 2016 season, there was a belief that Mike Montgomery would be the Cubs’ fifth starter to begin the 2017 season. Montgomery, who recorded the final out for the Cubs in Game 7 of the World Series, was acquired by the team in a July trade with the Seattle Mariners.
This past off-season, the Cubs added veteran pitcher Brett Anderson to their pitching staff. Unlike Montgomery, Anderson has earned his billing in Major League Baseball as a starting pitcher. Even Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon acknowledged while speaking with reporters on Monday that Anderson may have a difficult transition if he were to start the 2017 season in the bullpen.
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"“It’d be more difficult, there’s no question,” Maddon said. “I can’t deny that. You look at the makeup of the player, the pitchers themselves, it’s pretty obvious the one guy’s more suited to start and the other guy’s more of a hybrid.“We wanted to give it a fair look all camp, and we’ve been doing that. And we’re getting close to having to make that final decision.”"
When healthy, Anderson has proved to be a productive starting pitcher. Anderson has a career 3.85 ERA as a starting pitcher with a 3.57 xFIP and 1.31 WHIP. Also as a starting pitcher, Anderson has a career ground-ball percentage of 58.2 percent. Given Anderson’s proneness for inducing ground balls, the veteran is an ideal fit to join the Cubs’ rotation.
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With Anderson in the rotation, Montgomery figures to continue in his role as the swing-man in the Cubs’ bullpen. Montgomery thrived in that role for the Cubs towards the end of last season and figures to find success once more this season.