Chicago Cubs: Is the end near for $14 million veteran pitcher?

The Chicago Cubs wanted a high-end closer this past offseason

They made a serious play at free agent reliever Tanner Scott, reportedly offering a 4-year, $66 million contract before losing out to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who offered 4 years at $72 million, with deferred money.

(The Cubs, by the way, may have dodged a bullet there as Scott has wildly underperformed in LA, so far posting a 4.56 ERA with a league-leading 5 blown saves.)

With Scott lost and potential go-to runner up, Kirby Yates, also going to the Dodgers, the Cubs pivoted to a plan B.

That plan B was a trade for Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros.

The 36-year-old was acquired for minor league pitcher Juan Bello, with Houston agreeing to eat $5.5 million of the veteran’s $14 million contract.

Bringing Ryan Pressly To The Chicago Cubs

Fans and some media voices celebrated the trade and rejoiced in the fact that the Cubs would, indeed, have their “real” closer as they headed into a much-anticipated 2025 campaign.

But there was a reason the Astros removed Pressly from the closer role the year prior, opening up their bank vault to bring in free agent Josh Hader. The feeling was that Pressly was past-prime, on the rapid decline and that what he did have left was not enough to keep him in a high-leverage bullpen role as the team’s closer.

Chicago’s hope was that the 13-year major leaguer could turn things around, fueled by this new opportunity with a new team and by the fact that he’d be heading into his contract year, looking for lucrative closer money as a free agent in 2026.

Things haven’t panned out as anyone had hoped, except for, maybe, the Astros.

Off To A Bad Start

Pressly started the season off poorly with 3 total earned runs in his first 3 innings pitched, allowing 6 hits and 4 walks. He’s never really hit any sort of stride since then.

His now infamous 8-earned run outing against the San Francisco Giants on May 6 officially ended his run as Cubs closer, but the writing was on the wall before that. Even when not allowing runs, he was giving up too many hits, too many walks and his stuff was just clearly not there.

Although he hasn’t allowed an earned run since that disastrous Giants game, he’s given up 7 hits in 8 innings (9 appearances), with 3 walks.

Meanwhile, mid-April call-up Daniel Palencia has moved on to take the Cubs closer gig and is so far excelling in the role.

All of this is leading to the reality that it might be time to consider cutting Pressly loose.

Is The End Near?

Right now, with Porter Hodge injured, Pressly’s existence as a possible setup man for Palencia may be keeping him on the team. But he’s not even really being used like that. And, although a case could be made that his veteran presence could be helpful in postseason play, it’s clear that he’s no longer in manager Craig Counsell’s bullpen circle of trust.

Rich Eberwein of Cubbies Crib recently wrote about the idea of moving on from Pressly:

“Ryan Pressly has been one of the more disappointing members of the 2025 roster. The Cubs struck a trade with the Houston Astros to acquire Pressly in the offseason with the intention that he would be the team’s closer this year.

But Pressly lost the ninth-inning job at the beginning of May after an eight-run meltdown against the San Francisco Giants. Daniel Palencia has now claimed the ninth inning, with Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz and Caleb Thielbar getting the bulk of the work in high-leverage situations. Porter Hodge is on the injured list, but he is also expected to be another trusted arm when he returns. That means Pressly’s margin of error is shrinking as the season goes on.”

It’s hard to see a scenario where the veteran keeps his role as superfluous and often shaky one-inning reliever in an ever-improving bullpen on a team with deep playoff aspirations. By the trade deadline, at the very latest, the Cubs will have likely moved on from Pressly. That decision, though, could come even sooner.

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