The Chicago Cubs finished the weekend with another gut punch.
Closer Daniel Palencia, who had been an absolute revelation this season, stepping in as the closer after a mid-April call-up, got crushed in a 6-3 loss to the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field on Sunday, allowing 5 earned runs in the ninth inning without retiring a batter. Worst of all, though, he had to leave the game due to injury.
“Danny felt some tightness in his posterior right shoulder,” manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com. “Docs have looked at him. That’s all we have right now. Probably let him just kind of calm down a little bit and see how we are in a couple days, a day or so.”
Fans, media enraged over Chicago Cubs trade deadline fail
Of course, losing the team’s closer so close to the playoffs has pushed media and fandom into an absolute meltdown. Fingers have already started pointing at Cubs president Jed Hoyer and the front office over their inability or unwillingness to acquire a more established closer as insurance at the July 31 trade deadline.
Per David Kaplan on his REKAP podcast, post-game:
“And that’s what happens when, at the deadline, you prospect hoard to the degree that you don’t get an established closer on a team at that point that knew ‘we’re probably going to the postseason.’
…You decide, according to your general manager Carter Hawkins, ‘we have to worry about the 2025 Cubs as much as the 2032 Cubs.’ And that’s what happens when Philly goes and gets Jhoan Duran from Minnesota or Helsley from the Cardinals goes out east or the Yankees add a bunch of guys and you don’t. That’s what happens. And, today, it came back to bite you yet again.
…That’s what happens when you don’t push your chips in when you have a chance to win. And as a fan, you should be furious. Just keep packing the ballpark. Just keep spending your money. But, guess what? When you got a chance to win, they’re not gonna push the chips all in. And that sucks as a fan.”
“I told you so.”
The fall of Palencia has provided a real “I told you so” moment for those concerned over the 25-year-old’s lack of any experience as a full-time closer at the big league level, especially late in the season in a pennant race. To support the doubts, the right-hander came into Sunday’s game with a 4.38 ERA since August 1 with several shaky outings along the way.
Moving forward
Matthew Trueblood of North Side Baseball has offered his belief that Palencia’s injury might be the real deal and require a quick restructuring of the bullpen ahead of postseason play.
Per Trueblood:
“That could be a lat issue, something in his teres major, or one of the major shoulder structures (labrum and rotator cuff) we think of more readily, but whatever the case, it’d be a minor miracle if he avoids the injured list.
These do not tend to be false alarms, and even mild versions of such injuries tend to take weeks, rather than days, to heal. The Cubs should plan not to have Palencia available at least until the Wild Card Series, and even then, it’s not a sure thing. Counsell will have to make a new plan for his pen, on the fly—and then, perhaps, he might get lucky and get Palencia back quite soon, after all.”
The Cubs and “getting lucky” don’t seem to be going hand-in-hand this season, as injuries and odd setbacks have tossed obstacle after obstacle on their path to the playoffs.
For now, expect Brad Keller to be moved to the top of a closer-by-committee arrangement as the team assesses Palencia’s injury and marches towards the postseason.
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