Among myriad individual decisions and outcomes we could all point out, the broader failure to develop homegrown pitching was a faulty cornerstone of the Cubs’ championship foundation that eroded far faster than anyone predicted. The plan was to have a bunch of young arms coming up to offset the increasing cost of position players who needed to be extended or paid increasing arbitration salaries.
Better late than never, right?
With all due respect to Javier Assad, who deserves his own feature and will likely get one if and when I ever slow down enough to give him his proper due, I want to look specifically at Justin Steele and Adbert Alzolay.