The Chicago Cubs have had one of their better offseasons in recent memory with making deals upon deals upon deals.
The biggest move the Cubs made so far was when they went out and acquired superstar outfield Kyle Tucker.
The Cubs then needed to address the starting rotation which they did with adding Colin Rea to a one-year deal, as well as finding a lockdown closer to lead the backend of the bullpen.
The Cubs didn’t disappoint with finding the man for the job by making another trade with the Houston Astros to acquire their closer Ryan Pressly.
With the acquisition of Pressly, the Cubs are looking to have one of the more dominant bullpens in the National League.
The Chicago Cubs needed to address the backend of the bullpen
One of the Cub’s main missions this off-season was to upgrade the bullpen as a whole, but more specifically go and find a lockdown closer. Last year the Cubs had Hector Neries as their closer who collected 17 saves in 44.0 innings for the Cubs before being released.
The Cubs then turned to right-hander Porter Hodge to fill in where he had a solid showing collecting nine saves of his own with having a 1.88 ERA in 43.0 innings pitched. Hodge was going to be a feature somewhere in the backend of the Cubs bullpen for this season it was just a matter of if he’d be the closer or not. That question was finally answered when the Cubs completed their deal to acquire Pressly.
Getting a lockdown closer in Ryan Pressly
Pressly who has 112 career saves has been one of the better closers in baseball and one of the best postseason closers in recent memory ranking 5th all-time with 14 saves in 45.1 career innings in the postseason.
Pressly showed a lot of poise when facing pressure situations having a .230 average against runners in scoring position and .200 when the bases are loaded. In 220 at-bats against him where faced hitters for the first time Pressly has allowed a .264 average, 4 HRS, and 23 RBI, and struck out 58 batters.
Pressly while with the Astros last season was primarily used as their setup man after they signed Josh Hader. According to Ken Rosenthal on a recent episode of Foul Territory Pressly had “his pride wounded” when Hader was signed.
A potential for a three-headed monster
The Cubs have the potential to have a three-headed monster in the backend of their bullpen with Pressly, Hodge, and Tyson Miller being their main options. Hodge who as I said already has nine saves under his belt and proved he is capable of handling high-pressure situations should slide into the setup roll with ease and the same goes for Miller.
Miller was originally drafted by the Cubs in the fourth round of the 2016 amateur draft. Miller has spent time in the Texas Rangers organization, Dodgers, Mets, and most recently the Seattle Mariners who traded Miller back to the Cubs on May 14 of last year.
Miller was outstanding after coming over to the Cubs pitching in 49 games (50.1 innings) with a 5-1 record with a 2.15 ERA. When looking at Millers Baseball Savant page he looks even better ranking in the 85th and 84th percentile for his pitching and fast run values, as well as ranking in the 83rd percentile for chase percentage. Miller was also in the 94th and 97th percentiles for his walk percentage and extension at 7.3 feet.
Having such a long extension with his fastball velocity averaging around 89.6 mph gives the perception to the hitter that it’s in the mid-90s. A five-pitch pitcher but mainly using a fastball/sweeper combination Miller will sometimes show hitters an 89.8-mph sinker, a 78.8-mph curveball, and an 85.3-mph changeup to keep hitters honest.
This will be exciting
The Cubs already have one of the better top two pitchers in their starting rotation in Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele who are capable of going 7+ innings and can hand things off to their new three-headed monster to lock things down.
The Cubs are primed to win the National League Central, but also possibly make a deep position run.
Adding Pressly certainly helps in that endeavor and with only a few weeks till spring training starts things are getting exciting.
Chicago Cubs still need left-handed bullpen help after trading for their closer
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