The Chicago Cubs have had a starting pitcher problem for a decent part of the year. It looks like the big club is thinking about turning to one of the few top prospects it still has left to solve that problem. As Bleacher Nation points out, rumors have started swirling that young phenom Adbert Alzolay could make his big league debut on Saturday (May 19). The team has a doubleheader on Saturday and is going to be short an arm because of that matchup. The Cubs already tried to give one farm hand a shot in Jen-Ho Tseng, but he was able to go just two innings in his start.

Considering Tseng had similar outings in his other call-ups to the show, it appears Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Joe Maddon want to go in another direction. With so few options, the Alzolay watch has officially begun.

Chicago Cubs have few prized prospects left

Pennant runs the last few years have spurred Hoyer and Epstein to trade away quite a few of the players that were slated to be "next up." The Cubs' front office has been going for major league players that could help the team get back to, and win the World Series, rather than waiting on those young players to turn into the next big thing. Quite a few of the team's former prospects are also playing in the everyday lineup. Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, and Ian Happ were all once making up one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball.

Happ is the most recent call-up, having made his MLB debut last season. He hit 20 homers in that rookie year.

Players like reliever Justin Wilson and starting pitcher Carlos Quintana were brought to Chicago in trades for some of the club's best prospects as well. Aroldis Chapman, the fireballing closer who came in as a one-year rental and helped the team win it's first World Series in over 100 years, also cost the Cubs a massive prospect.

Adbert Alzolay and how he might help the Cubs

Because so much is riding on Alzolary actually being good, the Chicago Cubs are likely going to play it slow, even if he does make a Saturday start. It seems unlikely he's going to be on the big league roster for long should he be called up. While Alzolay has been specular at times, he hasn't had a fantastic start to the season for the Iowa Cubs.

After five starts, he's 2-2 with a 4.10 earned run average and a 1.25 WHIP. That's a career-high. His strikeouts per nine innings are also sitting at just 6.5. That's a career-low. Despite his not having a fantastic start to the year, it's a safe bet that Chicago Cubs fans everywhere are going to be watching Adbert Alzolay's Major League debut closely.
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