Mike Montgomery has been vocal this offseason about his desire to start, but we’ve assumed this whole time that adding another starter would relegate him to the bullpen once again. Based on what Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon had to say at Tuesday’s press conference (skip to 1:01:00 mark for this specific portion), however, the Cubs plan to work Montgomery out as a starter this spring.
“We’re approaching spring training as if we have a six-man starting staff, and Mike Montgomery is part of those six,” Epstein said. “So if everyone stays healthy and we decide looking at the schedule that we want to go with five, then we’ll whittle it down to to five and Mike will join the bullpen.