Cubs' Silva, Wells confident they'll claim rotation spots

MESA, Ariz. — Let the competition begin. Or not.

The talk between now and the end of spring training for the Cubs will be the competition for the fourth and fifth spots in the starting rotation.

The front-runners are veterans Randy Wells and Carlos Silva.

Charging hard is fireballing right-hander Andrew Cashner.

In the mix are lefty James Russell, right-hander Casey Coleman and nonroster man Braden Looper.

But according to Silva, everybody's got the numbers wrong.

“For them, it's still open and for whoever is competing, it's open,” Silva said Tuesday. “But for me, there's maybe only one spot open because I am one of the starters. Whatever they think, they think that. Not me.”

Well, now.

Manager Mike Quade, who has the ultimate say, offered his thoughts on “competition.”

“I probably am of the mindset, right or wrong, that everybody's got something to prove,” Quade said. “There's a few guarantees in this game, but I'm not sure that the back end of this rotation's got anybody guaranteed anything. He (Silva) does have the experience. I can expect that to be a prominent consideration as far as that goes, but we'll see.”

Based on the experience of both pitchers, Wells and Silva look to have the edge.

“It means I have a much better idea of what to expect from them,” Quade said. “But then you factor in taking a look at a young kid like Cashner, who's a pretty exciting young kid. A decision to look at him seriously in the rotation affects everybody, including those guys we know what to expect out of. Difficult decisions. Lots of different things in play.”

Both Silva and Wells had interesting seasons last year. Silva began 8-0 with a 2.93 ERA. A heart ailment, for which he says he needs no other treatment, and elbow tendinitis helped end his season early as he finished 10-6 with a 4.22 ERA.

Wells, coming off a solid rookie season (12-10, 3.05 ERA), fell back to 8-14 with a 4.26 ERA last year.

“I said earlier at the Cubs convention I lost my focus last year,” Wells said. “It wasn't anything off the field like it was attributed. When things are going rough, you think you can just go back out there the next time and everything will be fine. Go back to the basics. Study film. Work on my slider on the side.

“A lot of the trouble I went through last year in the first innings or in the middle of ballgames where I let things get away from me, you're not proud of yourself when that happens. So this year, if I get into a situation like that, hopefully I can take those past mistakes and turn them into positives.”

Wells did make 32 starts last season, and he received the fourth-lowest run support among National League pitchers, at 3.4 runs per start. A 2-inning, 7-run start at Pittsburgh on May 6 and a 5-run first inning against the Cardinals later that month worked to kill Wells' numbers.

“I put together a pretty solid year last year, I thought,” he said. “Obviously, you want to win more ballgames and lose less. You've just got to keep going about your business.

“I got my tapes and I watched every single game about six or seven times. The good ones are easy ones to watch. It's the bad ones you've really got to pay attention to and learn from. You've got to look at it a couple different ways. Yeah, I won more games in '09. Everything just kind of came.”

Quade seemed to stand behind Wells.

“Wellsie did fine last year,” the manager said. “He wants to see better. I want to see better. And I believe that's entirely possible.”

While Wells heard about the “sophomore jinx,” Silva has heard some things, too, in his career. The most weighty topic always has been his weight.

Silva addressed that with a bit of humor.

“When you're going good, it's good,” he said. “When you're going bad, everything's bad. I know how this works. The only thing you need to do is put zeros on the board, and everybody's going to be happy. When you put zeros on the board, you're going to have perfect weight. You are the perfect guy, you know what I mean?

“I spent two and a half months like that. I was the best guy. Everybody was cheering for Carlos. Something bad happens, boom, you need to lose weight, you need to do this, you need to, like, be blond.”

On top of that, Silva says his heart and elbow problems of a year ago shouldn't be held against him and that he should be considered as having a spot.

“Should be, because it's like whatever happened after the first half, with my heart and then with my elbow, I don't think it's a reason to take me out of the rotation,” he said. “They're the boss. They're the ones making the decision. If I have to win my spot, I'll do it. I don't have any problems with that.

“Competition's always good. If they put me to compete again, that's the only thing I've got to do: compete. Like I said, I don't have to prove (anything), I don't have to show them. I showed them what I can do.”