FanPost

Koronka to start Wed., and the rationale behind it

Check the article out here.

(Also notable in the article is steady progress from both Wood, who threw 30 pitches from the mound today, and Prior, who has seen the swelling in his elbow go down.)

Why Koronka? It all has to do with roster space. The Cubs' current 40 man roster has the following Cubs pitchers...

Aardsma (not ready... yet)
Bartosh (in bullpen)
Borowski (pen)
Crouthers (retired, this is holding a spot for a player the Orioles will send us to take his place)
Dempster (pen)
Fox (injured)
Guzman (injured)
Koronka (hello!)
Leicester (pen)
Maddux (#2 starter)
Mitre (#4 starter)
Novoa (pen)
Ohman (pen)
Pinto (unavailable from a Sunday start and struggled mightily in Iowa)
Prior (injured)
Remlinger (injured)
Rohlicek (AAA pen)
Rusch (#3 starter)
Wellemeyer (pen)
Williams (not ready)
Williamson (injured)
Wood (injured)
Wuertz (pen)
Zambrano (ace)

The next best options on the 40 man roster after Koronka appear to be either newly acquired Jerome Williams or AA starter Renyel Pinto, who has pitched well since his demotion and is a solid prospect. Other than that the only choice would be to bring someone onto the 40 man roster that isn't currently on it (such as Rich Hill or Raul Valdez). So it looks like we'll see Koronka, by process of elimination if nothing else.

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