Is the Cubs Bullpen that big of a problem?

Would you rather have a bullpen:
A. Give up lots of runs in a couple of games
B. Give up slightly fewer runs, but spread that out across multiple games

If trying to maximize victories, especially in close games, I would argue that A is the better option. Which is exactly what we’ve seen from the Cubs bullpen this year.

But there have been lots of complaints by the fanbase that the front office did not do enough during the offseason, and things would be better if they would have added a couple more proven arms.

The ERA is not pretty at the moment, at 5.14. They’ve given up 54 runs in 94 innings, which is really not great. But if we drill into the numbers, an amazing 32 of those 54 runs have come in only 4 games…and in only 5 innings! And the other amazing state is that the Cubs won 2 of those games.

If you remove those 5 bad innings, the bullpen ERA drops all the way down to 2.22, which we would certainly take.

In a previous post, I detailed the struggles of the bullpen early in 2024:
https://cubsin7.blog/2025/04/01/a-tale-of-two-games/

But this season does not feel as dire. Hodge and Keller had hiccups, but have otherwise been solid. Merryweather looks like he has returned to the form of 2023. Pressly struggled in his first few outing, but looks to be back on track. Thielbar has been solid against righties and lefties. Palencia looks like he might be the guy we’ve been waiting for. And when there have been guys who did not seem ready (Pearson, Morgan, Little and Wicks) the Cubs have quickly made moves to replace them. And this year, there have been much better alternatives. And they have gone out a picked up additional arms, like Pomeranz, Fulmer and Almonte who might be able to help immediately or down the road.

So the criticism about an inability to build a better bullpen in the offseason has some validity, I feel like the problem may be overblown so far. Persaonally, I’m far more concerned about the early failures of the Shaw experience and the contingency plans at 3rd Base (Workman, Berti, Brujan and now Lopez), as well as the lack of another top of the rotation starter.