Justin Steele injury exposes an obvious Cubs offseason mistake

The Chicago Cubs are a team expecting to compete in what will likely be a lackluster NL Central division. There are several teams capable of hovering around or even a little bit over .500, but no clear frontrunner is expected to come close to or surpass the 90-win mark.

The Cubs were arguably the favorites to win the NL Central after re-signing Cody Bellinger, but they've been bitten hard by the injury bug. First, it was Patrick Wisdom and Jameson Taillon who went down in Spring Training with injuries and began the season on the IL. Then, on Opening Day, their ace, Justin Steele, joined them on the IL with a hamstring injury.

Losing a pitcher as good as Steele would be a big blow for any team, but for this Cubs team in particular it's quite bad considering where their starting pitching depth is. That Steele injury has exposed a major Cubs offseason mistake.

Justin Steele injury exposes Cubs' lack of starting pitching depth

The Cubs rotation was set to be pretty good when healthy, but couldn't afford a major injury, let alone two.

Taillon's injury forced Javier Assad, a pitcher who was initially supposed to be in the bullpen, back into the rotation. That's not the end of the world, but with Steele also going down the Cubs don't have a clear answer.

The man they called up to replace Steele on the active roster was Ben Brown, one of their top 10 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. It would've made sense for him to replace Steele in the rotation, but Brown allowed six earned runs while recording only five outs in his MLB debut on Saturday against the Rangers. Perhaps they let him start in Steele's spot anyway even after that debacle, but things don't look super promising on that front.

If it's not Brown, perhaps the Cubs can turn to Drew Smyly, another member of the bullpen. Smyly has a history of being a productive starting pitcher, but he had a 5.63 ERA in his 23 starts last season and is not fully stretched out. They could turn to Hayden Wesneski in the minors, but he had a 5.51 ERA in 11 starts in 2023.

The X-Factor here is Cade Horton, Chicago's top pitching prospect, but his lack of experience in the upper minors makes him an unlikely call-up, at least right now. The lack of appealing options makes this Steele injury so brutal. The Cubs will have to find a way to tread water until Steele returns, but it'll be very hard to do without quality starting pitching depth.