Chicago Cubs: Mike Montgomery makes Tyler Chatwood expendable

Should the Chicago Cubs replace Tyler Chatwood with Mike Montgomery in the starting rotation on a permanent basis?

When the Chicago Cubs decided to sign Yu Darvish and gave Tyler Chatwood the fifth starter spot coming into this season, it couldn’t have felt good for Mike Montgomery.

Of course, he’s been as professional as you can be about the situation, maintaining (and showing) that he will do anything the Cubs ask him to do in hopes of making the team better. And in Joe Maddon‘s plan, that has primarily involved him being a left-handed middle or long reliever this season.

But Montgomery hasn’t been shy about wanting to start. And though the Cubs publicly stated that he could easily win 10+ games as a starter if given the chance, it didn’t seem like they were going to give him the chance to prove himself.

Now, with Yu Darvish injured and Tyler Chatwood bad, Montgomery has once again filled in where needed and done so admirably.

In fact, he’s done it so well this time that the Cubs might need to consider allowing him to stay in the starting rotation.

Over three spot starts in place of Darvish, Montgomery has allowed just two runs in 17-2/3 innings with 11 hits surrendered, 10 strikeouts and only two walks, including two quality starts in a row against the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s 2-0 in that span, and the Cubs have won all three games he’s started.

Obviously, more goes into a win for a ballclub than just hurling a quality start. But thinking about this: Darvish (3-of-8) and Chatwood (3-of-12) together combine for just six of them. Montgomery, albeit in a small sample size, already has thrown two in three starts. And his non-quality start was a scoreless, two-hit outing with five strikeouts and no walks.

Now that the Chicago Cubs are back near the top of the National League Central where they belong (8-2 in their last 10 games), why screw up the momentum if you don’t have to? When Darvish returns, it’s time to end the Chatwood Experiment and insert Montgomery into the rotation permanently.

While Darvish has been pretty bad — his -0.3 WAR is second-worst on the Cubs’ staff — Chatwood has been little better. He currently has nearly as many walks (56) as innings pitched (58-1/3) and has racked up more free passes than strikeouts (53).

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For perspective, Chatwood has only walked fewer than five batters in three of his 12 starts. He’s walked seven hitters in a game twice. When games start to matter more later in the season, you cannot pitch this man if he’s going to do that.

Montgomery is no Clayton Kershaw, but there’s no doubt that he offers your team a better chance to win right now than Chatwood (and arguably Darvish) does. And with the way the left-handers Randy Rosario and Justin Wilson (yes, that Justin Wilson) have been pitching in the bullpen, they don’t absolutely need Montgomery in a relief role.

The Chicago Cubs have a good thing going right now and are building toward a strong summer. If they really want to maximize the damage they do, they need to use Montgomery as their fifth starter even when Darvish returns.

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Chatwood may have promise, but he’s not a real fifth starter on a team trying to win a division. Montgomery might not wow anyone, but you don’t spectacular from your pitchers all the time. You just need guys to throw strikes and get people out. And Montgomery is simply better than Chatwood at that.

If Chatwood isn’t on this team past July 31, that will likely be the reason.