beckdawg
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People know I'm a stats guy. So, I was digging into them just looking at bullpen guys and suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised. Historically the cubs under theo and company haven't been that obsessed with k/9. That seems to have changed in the past year or two because jesus they have brought in a lot of really high k/9 guys. They also appear to love SD pitchers. After 2018, they traded Vosler to SD to nab Wick who was gonna be left off their 40 man for the rule 5. Wick wasn't a huge k/9 guy prior(high 8's). However, cubs apparently saw something and fixed his grip on a pitch. That netted a 11.31 k/9 in 35 innings at AAA last year and earned him a call up where he was fantastic albeit with his k/9 dropping to 9.45.
At the deadline they traded Edwards in what kind of appears to be a salary dump for Nick/giving up on edwards. At the time I was kinda down on it as the return was just another reliever. But as I dug into the stats a but I noticed Wieck had killer k/9's and was a lefty where the cubs have struggled to find in the bullpen. He had a 45/9 k/bb ratio in AAA in 23.1 innings split between SD and chicago's AAA affiliates. That's a 17.36 k/9 a 3.47 bb/9. His main issue has been HRs. In his 24.2 IP in SD he had a 2.55 HR/9 rate. However in his 10 innings in chicago that dropped to 0.90. So, it's plausible that they figured something out but that 16.20 k/9 he also had in chicago is FILTHY. I'm sure it will come down some but there's only 5 lefties in the majors over 13 k/9(Hader, Chapman, Will Smith, Felipe Vazquez, and Brad Hand). He's a guy who could break out big next year.
This offseason, they drafted Trevor Megill in the rule 5 draft from SD. He had a 12.70 k/9 in 50.1 innings in AAA. He appears to have been unlucky with a .411 BABIP hurting his ERA but looks like he was also their high leverage guy in AAA as he had near the top in saves for them. He looks to me like he might be a better version of Wick based on the stats he's posted.
On top of raiding SD's upper minor relievers, they've also re-signed Morrow. I mean I don't need to say much here. If Morrow is healthy he's been dominant. So, he could be a really big set up guy which is also interesting because if the cubs do go through trading Bryant or whoever, they might be in a trade position in july in which case Morrow could be a really interesting cheap dominant reliever for someone to give up some prospects for.
Like Morrow, they re-signed Hultzen today. A lot of what I said about Wieck applies to him. Thing with Hultzen is had injuries not derailed him he probably would have been an ace level starter based on his minor numbers. It wouldn't shock me at all if those to make the lefty side of the bullpen really interesting in ST.
So, those are 5 guys the cubs pretty much paid nothing for who are very interesting. You add in Kyle Ryan who was a dependable lefty specialist last year and you're at 6. Kimbrel makes 7. Your long guy is still open. For my money I'm hoping they trade Chatwood to a starter needy team and clear some cap room and have Alzolay/Mills fight for #5/long reliever spots respectively. If that happens you're at 8 guys.
Given the uncertainty of some of these guys it'd be nice to bring back a dependable guy like Cishek with the money you can hopefully save on Chatwood. But, the main thing i want to get across here is while it's not the most glamorous offseason thus far for relievers, the cubs have a lot of interesting bullpen talent.
At the deadline they traded Edwards in what kind of appears to be a salary dump for Nick/giving up on edwards. At the time I was kinda down on it as the return was just another reliever. But as I dug into the stats a but I noticed Wieck had killer k/9's and was a lefty where the cubs have struggled to find in the bullpen. He had a 45/9 k/bb ratio in AAA in 23.1 innings split between SD and chicago's AAA affiliates. That's a 17.36 k/9 a 3.47 bb/9. His main issue has been HRs. In his 24.2 IP in SD he had a 2.55 HR/9 rate. However in his 10 innings in chicago that dropped to 0.90. So, it's plausible that they figured something out but that 16.20 k/9 he also had in chicago is FILTHY. I'm sure it will come down some but there's only 5 lefties in the majors over 13 k/9(Hader, Chapman, Will Smith, Felipe Vazquez, and Brad Hand). He's a guy who could break out big next year.
This offseason, they drafted Trevor Megill in the rule 5 draft from SD. He had a 12.70 k/9 in 50.1 innings in AAA. He appears to have been unlucky with a .411 BABIP hurting his ERA but looks like he was also their high leverage guy in AAA as he had near the top in saves for them. He looks to me like he might be a better version of Wick based on the stats he's posted.
On top of raiding SD's upper minor relievers, they've also re-signed Morrow. I mean I don't need to say much here. If Morrow is healthy he's been dominant. So, he could be a really big set up guy which is also interesting because if the cubs do go through trading Bryant or whoever, they might be in a trade position in july in which case Morrow could be a really interesting cheap dominant reliever for someone to give up some prospects for.
Like Morrow, they re-signed Hultzen today. A lot of what I said about Wieck applies to him. Thing with Hultzen is had injuries not derailed him he probably would have been an ace level starter based on his minor numbers. It wouldn't shock me at all if those to make the lefty side of the bullpen really interesting in ST.
So, those are 5 guys the cubs pretty much paid nothing for who are very interesting. You add in Kyle Ryan who was a dependable lefty specialist last year and you're at 6. Kimbrel makes 7. Your long guy is still open. For my money I'm hoping they trade Chatwood to a starter needy team and clear some cap room and have Alzolay/Mills fight for #5/long reliever spots respectively. If that happens you're at 8 guys.
Given the uncertainty of some of these guys it'd be nice to bring back a dependable guy like Cishek with the money you can hopefully save on Chatwood. But, the main thing i want to get across here is while it's not the most glamorous offseason thus far for relievers, the cubs have a lot of interesting bullpen talent.
