The Chicago Cubs had a bullpen meltdown early last year and the team never quite climbed out of the hole that made for them. Some will even argue that that early-season bullpen collapse cost them a shot at the playoffs.
This offseason, the front office worked to stockpile arms so that backup bullpen options were plentiful and the same kind of relief corps disaster wouldn’t happen this year.
The Cubs whiffed on signing elite closer Tanner Scott and settled on Ryan Pressly in a trade with the Houston Astros. Pressly is one in a virtual legion of arms the team has acquired– and continues to acquire– to fortify their relief game.
Numbers Don’t Tell The Full Story
A casual look at the season stats so far may lead one to believe that the bullpen efforts have failed. After all, the numbers rank them among the weaker teams in the league in that area. But numbers can sometimes mislead.
The Cubs current bullpen may be much more of a positive than a negative.
Brian Kelder of North Side Baseball recently crunched the numbers and put things in proper perspective to give a more accurate idea of how good Chicago’s bullpen is right now.
Per Kelder:
“Just looking at the National League, the Cubs rank 12th in these areas: ERA, WHIP, and walks per nine innings. They are 14th in bullpen strikeout rate, and 11th in wild pitches. In terms of season-long performance, the Cubs are the bottom team of contenders in the NL.
We can confidently say the Cubs outpace the Nationals (7.13 bullpen ERA), Diamondbacks (5.02 ERA, missing both of their closers due to injury), and the Marlins (don’t care about baseball), even by looking at the big picture. But fans may be missing the mark on the bullpen.
When the Nate Pearson, Eli Morgan, and Luke Little types are removed, the picture is much rosier. The current members of the bullpen are providing a 3.76 ERA, which would place them seventh in the league, smack dab between the Dodgers and the Cardinals. But then, let’s get really fun and take out the Ryan Pressly Disaster Inning. When those nine earned runs are deleted, the current members sport a 2.95 ERA, as of May 13. That’s second-best in the National League.
Not bad! Obviously, you can’t just undo the loss that outing inflicted on the club, but it’s telling that it makes such a large difference.
The Giants, as we saw, have an elite bullpen. The current Cubs pen is second only to that group.”
Chicago Cubs Have Reason To Be Optimistic
The overall raw numbers may show a bullpen that has struggled to find consistency and efficiency over the course of the young season, but the current numbers give cause for optimism.
Even with closer Pressly, setup man Porter Hodge, and middle reliever Julian Merryweather struggling of late, there seems to be no panic setting in. That’s likely because relievers Brad Keller, Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Chris Flexen, and Caleb Thielbar have not given up an earned run in all of May so far.
Craig Counsell Deserves Some Credit
A good deal of the credit for stabilizing the bullpen has to go to manager Craig Counsell, who has a reputation for being good with pitchers. He also managed to stabilize a chaotic bullpen situation last season, turning a liability into an asset by the very end of the campaign.
Counsell’s ability to keep his relievers sharp and positive is a function of his people skills and it falls in line with his sharp baseball acumen as he shuffles through arms, using the right pitchers at the right times.
None of this is to say that the Cubs wouldn’t benefit from a sharper Pressly/Hodge/Merryweather or from a big acquisition (or two) at the trade deadline. It’s just that, right now, the bullpen is not as much of a pressing concern as it was before.
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