MESA, Ariz. — When it became a possibility that Jameson Taillon could start the season on the IL, the Cubs faced an interesting question — would they turn to a rotation with four lefties in it? 

Opening Day starter Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga are rotation locks and Drew Smyly and Jordan Wicks are competing with righties Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski for the final two spots. 

“I guess that’s a lot of lefties,” Smyly said with a laugh.

But the Cubs aren’t looking at it as a handedness situation.

“I think one thing that [manager Craig] Counsell’s talked about is we want to take the guys that are going to give us the best chance to win, and we’ll figure out the ways that we can piece that together and move guys around accordingly,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “We’re going to need 8 to 10, 12 guys to make starts for us throughout the year. I think it’s important that how you start is definitely not going to be how you finish.”

If Counsell and the Cubs feel that their best avenue to success is down southpaw street, then that’s the path they’ll take. Wicks has looked solid in spring, posting a 2.60 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 17.1 innings across 5 games (4 starts). Spring numbers aren’t always the perfect gauges for players, especially pitchers, but they give a good indication that they could be on the right path, especially in Wicks’ case.

“At times he was trying to do too much too early into the delivery and he took that into his drill work in his offseason work and he’s been really sharp and really clean mechanically this offseason,” Hottovy said. “And we’ve seen it trend in pitch shapes, pitch, data velocity, all those things and command so he feels like he’s a better version of himself right now even than he was when he got called up to the end of the year which is pretty fun to see.”

Smyly allowed 5 runs on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work in the Cubs’ 7-6 win over the Royals on Saturday at Sloan Park. The numbers aren’t the most appealing, but like with Wicks, they won’t be the only guiding factor in what the Cubs decide to do with him.

The 34-year-old has been working on implementing a few new pitches into his repertoire and in focusing on doing that, he’s not always going to be attacking hitters or even game planning like he would in season.

“As the game went on, I kind of lost feel for some off-speed pitches and started focusing a little more on that and maybe got out of my mechanics a little bit and was trying to force it and gave up you know, a couple big hits,” Smyly said.

He provides an interesting option overall for the Cubs’ pitching staff. He’s likely to open the year in the rotation and as a starter but has shown the ability to thrive in a variety of roles. That flexibility could prove invaluable for the Cubs. They can shift him between roles to cover innings from a short start, keep him in the rotation or use him as a lefty reliever — Luke Little is the lone southpaw reliever on the 40-man roster.

“Like I’ve been saying all spring, I’m not worried about the role I’m gonna be pitching in,” Smyly said. “I don’t know what role I’m gonna be pitching in, but I’m more concerned with just trying to dial in my craft, my pitches and feel confident, comfortable going into the season.”

Suzuki continues hot spring

It’s the point at Spring Training where starters are playing deeper into games, spending more time on their feet and taking more plate appearances.

So, when Seiya Suzuki left after the 4^th inning and his second home run of the day, it was a noteworthy exit for the right fielder — but it ended up being nothing to worry about for Cubs fans.

“So Couns literally just said [I’m] done after the second home run,” Suzuki said with a laugh through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “[I’m] really lucky. Call it a day.”

Suzuki has been absolutely locked in this spring. The two homers were sandwiched around a single, raising his spring average to .440 and his OPS to 1.401.

“I feel like I’m getting better day by day after every Spring Training game that I play,” Suzuki said. “I have some reflections after each game and I feel like I’ve been able to make those adjustments.”

Cubs sweep split squad                                                                                                                                  

Over in Tempe, the Cubs beat the Angles 4-3. Christopher Morel had a 2-run home run in the 3^rd inning and David Peralta added an RBI single.

Ben Brown got the start, allowing 3 hits and a walk with 4 strikeouts in 4 innings of work.

Next Up

The Cubs will host the Texas Rangers Sunday at Sloan Park with Assad getting the start at 3 p.m. on Marquee Sports Network.