Cubs bullpen is hanging on |
It was a hard pill to swallow on Monday night when the Cubs fell 9-8 to the San Diego Padres after squandering the 8-0 lead they were able to jump out to.
The Cubs' offense was one of the best in baseball early in 2024, and Craig Counsell’s starters have been relatively dependable thus far. However, the biggest and most glaring issue the Cubs have faced early on is their bullpen… or lack thereof. The Cubs broke camp with Jameson Taillon on the injured list and placed Justin Steele on the injured list one game into the season. The Cubs bullpen out of the gate was: Jose Cuas Yency Almonte Mark Leiter Jr. Hector Neris When Steele went down with his hamstring injury, the Cubs brought top-prospect Ben Brown up to the big leagues. Brown has been excellent and pushing to stay in the big leagues when the Cubs are at full strength. Without Steele and Taillon in the rotation, Javier Assad — who many expected to pitch from the bullpen, where pitched to the tune of a 3.07 ERA in 55.2 innings in 2023 — was pegged to be the Cubs’ fifth starter. He has been good thus far, but without him in the bullpen, the Cubs have had to lean on some of the players above to eat innings. Jose Cuas has easily been the Cubs’ reliever who struggled the most early on. In 27 games down the stretch in 2023, Cuas had a 3.04 ERA. In just four games this year, he has given up over half the amount of runs he did for the Cubs in almost 30 appearances last year. His stuff has been erratic, and the contact he has allowed has been extremely hard-hit. In the Cubs’ 8-0 The lead was blown to San Diego on Monday, and Cuas was the main reason the Cubs couldn’t maintain that advantage. He has surrendered runs in three of his four outings to begin the year — and frankly, does not look like a major league pitcher thus far. Cuas was sent down to the minor leagues last week, and Keegan Thompson came up to replace him. Thompson has tossed four scoreless innings since returning to the big league club and looks excellent. Yency Almonte, similar to Cuas, is a guy who forces the Cubs to hold their breaths. Almonte had rough outings early but has pieced together five straight scoreless outings. He is a guy that Craig Counsell would love to get into more high-leverage situations, but, at the very least, appears to be turning a corner. Luke Little earned the last spot in the Cubs’ bullpen in Spring Training and was influential early. Little has only allowed one run in five innings thus far, which is fantastic to see from the rookie, but he has been thrown out in only low-leverage situations early on. The only run allowed by Little was during the Cubs’ blown 8-0 lead, and he has not pitched since. Drew Smyly has spent a large part of his career, even with the Cubs, as a starter but has only appeared out of the bullpen in 2024, a role he assumed late in 2023 and excelled in. In four out of Smyly’s five outings, he has been used for more than one inning — including an impressive 2.2 inning against the Dodgers and a strong piggyback behind Ben Brown in his first career start. Smyly won’t overpower anybody, but if used in the right spots, he can be a valuable tool in Counsell’s bullpen. Hector Neris was the Cubs’ big bullpen addition in the offseason. He was anticipated to slide right into the 8th inning and continue his success (1.71 ERA in 71 games in 2023), but his performance has been shaky at best. Neris has not thrown a clean inning yet and has been bailed out by some defensive plays that have prevented runs. He has allowed 12 baserunners in 6 innings, something a good set-up guy should NOT do. That brings up Julian Merryweather, one of David Ross’ most reliable receivers in 2023, and continued with that confidence to open 2024. Merryweather allowed just one run the season and struck out six hitters before falling on the 15-day injured list with a rib fracture that could sideline him for up to eight weeks. Merryweather is part of a select few who were trusted and effective out of the gate, and Daniel Palencia has been called up in his place — who has a 5.40 ERA in two appearances thus far. Palencia has some good velocity but has struggled with command in his young MLB career. Then there is Mark Leiter Jr., the Cubs’ bright spot in the bullpen. He has been called upon eight times and has not allowed an earned run in nine innings of work — striking out 10. His 0.00 ERA will not hold, but the Cubs’ confidence in him is aptly applied. Finally, Adbert Alzolay emerged as the Cubs’ closer in 2023 and was pegged to fill that role again in 2024. It hasn’t been electric so far from Alzolay, who has saved three games and blown two saves in the early going. The right-hander has only allowed two runs, but his stuff has not looked as sharp as it did a year ago. However, three straight scoreless outings from Alzolay appear to be seeing the groundwork for a return to form for the 29-year-old. Even after three straight wins where the bullpen has been solid, the Cubs have the 12th-worst bullpen ERA in MLB and the 7th-worst in the NL. Once Steele and Taillon return and solidify the starting rotation, the bullpen should get a boost — as it will once Merryweather returns, but for now…it is a bit messy.
