As Cubs manager Craig Counsell took questions before Wednesday\u2019s 8-6 loss to the Brewers, the focus was obvious: the bullpen. It\u2019s on everyone\u2019s mind. The expected best relievers have not been getting the job done, and few seem on the verge of getting back on track.<\/p>\n
Everyone has suggestions on what to do next, and frankly, Counsell seems ready to listen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m open to everything, yeah,\u201d Counsell said when asked about Colin Rea working in bigger moments.<\/p>\n
Rea has largely been in mop-up duty since moving out of the rotation. The veteran righty has a 4.47 ERA and a 17.4 percent strikeout rate this season. Those numbers hardly scream that he needs high-leverage usage, and they aren\u2019t different when he\u2019s been used out of the bullpen. Javier Assad, also currently in the bullpen, struggles to miss bats as well, but he has a knack for getting outs, so maybe he deserves more opportunities in big moments.<\/p>\n
This is where the Cubs are right now. All ideas have to be considered.<\/p>\n
Jacob Webb is in a rut \u2014 at least, the Cubs have to hope that\u2019s all it is. Daniel Palencia is struggling to miss bats and find consistency since returning from the injured list. His swinging-strike rate is 7.5 percent over those seven appearances, much lower than his 12.9 percent career rate, and his overall strikeout rate is just 20.7 percent. The Cubs must hope that\u2019s largely due to facing the Brewers three times, a team that strikes out the least in baseball, but that also doesn\u2019t bode well if they meet in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Ryan Zeferjahn has shown signs he\u2019s turning a corner since incorporating his sinker, correcting his sweeper and leaning less on his four-seamer. He hasn\u2019t been perfect, but his strikeout rate is starting to jump again, and his batted-ball numbers look better.<\/p>\n
Those are the guys the team needs to step up. Counsell won\u2019t focus on the veterans at Triple A, but they could become options soon. Shelby Miller will likely be the next to arrive. If he can show that his stuff is on par with previous seasons, he could quickly earn Counsell\u2019s trust. How he recovers and how often he can be used is another question.<\/p>\n
Perhaps one wild card in all this is Aaron Civale. The Cubs picked up Civale in a minor trade with the Athletics in mid-July when they were searching for any help they could find with the pitching staff. At one point, he seemed like a placeholder, a pitcher who would eventually lose his spot on the roster as others got healthy. Instead, his performance earned him more high-leverage opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAaron\u2019s pitching great for us,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWe gotta get 27 outs in the game. Aaron\u2019s doing a fabulous job getting a lot of outs. He got the last nine outs we won the other day by not a big margin. He got six outs in a tie game (Tuesday). Regardless of where they pitch, we need the outs. I don\u2019t really care what the order is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Civale has a 1.27 ERA and a 25.2 percent strikeout rate in 28 1\/3 innings with the Cubs. That\u2019s as effective as anyone in the bullpen.<\/p>\n
Could Civale maybe be used in shorter bursts, meaning he could be used more often?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take the mound whenever they ask me to,\u201d Civale said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s for as many outs as I can or a short outing. I\u2019ve done both since I\u2019ve been here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counsell seemed less enthused by the idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a pitcher that\u2019s pitching really effectively and in a really good role for him,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting important outs. The ability to get more than three outs is a valuable commodity. He\u2019s in a good role right now. He\u2019s been pitching in big innings, and he\u2019s going to continue to.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a fair assessment. While Counsell doesn\u2019t say it, it\u2019s important that he said this is a good role for Civale. It\u2019s unknown how well he could bounce back the next day. Could he pitch two out of three games? Or even back-to-backs? That may not be possible for him, or he may not be as effective. Civale said that\u2019s something he hasn\u2019t done since college, over a decade ago, but that he tests his body every day and is willing to try it if the Cubs asked.<\/p>\n
When a bullpen struggles as mightily as the Cubs\u2019 has of late, these questions have to be asked. As Counsell said, every option has to be considered. It\u2019s not April or May, months when it\u2019s acceptable to filter through options to figure out who works best in the bullpen. The Cubs haven\u2019t had set roles all season, but somehow, for the most part, they made it work.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, there aren\u2019t any solid answers. Everywhere Counsell looks in his bullpen, there are more questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some talented pitchers out there,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThe end of the season is about those guys being successful and being in a good place. I have confidence that they\u2019re going to get the job done because I think they\u2019re talented guys. So they are going to be the group that you\u2019re going to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Cubs manager Craig Counsell took questions before Wednesday\u2019s 8-6 loss to the Brewers, the focus was obvious:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5158,591,85],"class_list":["post-888202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}