{"id":166702,"date":"2026-03-20T01:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166702"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:42:37","slug":"cubs-all-star-pitcher-facing-doubts-analysts-have-pessimistic-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166702","title":{"rendered":"Cubs All-Star pitcher facing doubts: Analysts have &#8216;pessimistic&#8217; outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/en\/the_sporting_news_articles_584\/433e4f1226d471e7cae7e7cd2b2c06b4\" alt=\"Cubs All-Star pitcher facing doubts: Analysts have 'pessimistic' outlook -  Yahoo Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<section id=\"article-body\">\n<div>\n<p>For the Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central, they will need standout performances and healthy seasons from their starting rotation.<\/p>\n<p>Losing Justin Steele for the year badly hurt their depth in 2025, but starters like Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd stepped up in his absence.<\/p>\n<p>Boyd, a first-time All-Star last year, is entering the second season of a two-year, $29 million contract with the Cubs. He&#8217;s made 30 or more starts just three times in 11 big league seasons, mostly due to injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Panelists from The Athletic are hesitant about Boyd repeating the success he had during his first season with the Cubs, after he posted a 3.21 ERA with a 5.8 walk percentage and 154 strikeouts in 31 starts.<\/p>\n<h2>Why there&#8217;s a &#8216;pessimistic&#8217; outlook for Boyd in 2026<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dupvhm5r1oaxt.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2025\/07\/matthew-boyd-all-star-game.jpg\" alt=\"Why MLB All-Star Game means so much to Matthew Boyd even though he won't  pitch | Marquee Sports Network - Home of the Cubs, Bears, Red Stars and Sky  Chicago Cubs News\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood for a solid, back-end arm,\u201d one executive told The Athletic about Boyd.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But many of our panelists were pessimistic about Boyd putting together a repeat,&#8221; wrote a trio of journalists from The Athletic, including Andy McCullough, Will Sammon, and Sahadev Sharma.<\/p>\n<p>Health has been a significant issue for Boyd, and there&#8217;s cause for concern after he threw 179.2 innings, the second-highest total of his career. Tommy John Surgery in 2023 limited the lefty to just eight starts with the Cleveland Guardians in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery good 2025,\u201d one scout told The Athletic, \u201cbut that was his first healthy year since 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central, they will need standout performances and healthy seasons from their starting rotation. Losing Justin Steele for the year&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cubs All-Star pitcher facing doubts: Analysts have &#039;pessimistic&#039; outlook - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166702\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubs All-Star pitcher facing doubts: Analysts have &#039;pessimistic&#039; outlook - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the Chicago Cubs to win the NL Central, they will need standout performances and healthy seasons from their starting rotation. 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