Bullpen Confidence Rankings – 5/3

So many changes and moves in the last couple of weeks.

Red means a player has dropped
Green a player has moved up
Blue a player stayed the same
Orange the player is new

No gray hair (extremely high confidence):
No one yet, but Hodge is close.

Wisps of gray hair (high confidence):
–Porter Hodge – had one really bad inning that blew up his ERA. He still has occasional wildness with his fastball, but I still feel confident when he enters the game.
–Ryan Pressley – He seems to have a much better feel for his breaking ball, and had looked solid his last several outing. Current concerns are his knee that was drained and his relatively high FIP.
–Julian Merryweather – Continues to get outs, and is someone I trust in the 7th.
–Brad Keller – His ERA is 4.97, but FIP is 2.19. So he’s pitched much better than his results so far.

Some gray hair (medium confidence):
–Caleb Thielbar – Very close to moving up a level before having a bit of a rough outing against the Pirates. Although he was not helped by a Berti error. He’s been excellent against left handed hitters.
–Daniel Palencia – Another guy very close to moving up. Just needs to tighten up his control a bit, and continue to hit the right spots with his fastball.
–Drew Pomeranz – Another lefty, more depth. 3 games, 3.1 innings, zero hits, 1 walk. It’s an extremely small sample size, but another low risk player. The Cubs will need lots of innings and outs this season. If he’s DFA’s, he might stick around in the minors for the chance at another call-up.
–Chris Flexen – I predict he will have a short leash with the Cubs. They had to promote him or lose him this week, so they brought him up. But there are so many arms available, plus Miller and Brasier coming back, that leaves very little room. All moves will be subject to potential injuries, but he will fill the role of a long reliever – and will be subject to DFA. But pitching three shutout innings against the Brewers, saving th rest of the bullpen in a blowout, was a great start.

Lots of gray hair (low confidence)
No one here who is on the active roster

No hair left (no confidence)

Not Applicable (minors or injured):
-Colin Rea – Now in the rotation
-Jordan Wicks – AAA – Only had a couple of opportunities, and did not do well. Allowed 3 base runners in the 10-run inning
–Ethan Roberts – AAA – Had one bad outing against Philadelphia, and was an odd man out when the Cubs brought in Pomeranz and Cosgrove. He will likely be back at some point, as the Cubs cycle through relievers with options to make sure they have enough fresh arms.
-Gavin Holloway – AAA – Was good in his one outing with the Cubs. Like ROberts, I expect we will see him back with the MLB team at some point.
-Tom Cosgrove – AAA – A brief, but effective 1-game with the Cubs, after being acquired from the Padres. They had to send him down, or risk losing Chris Flexen. He has options, but the Padres needed room on their 40-man roster.
-Luke Little – AAA – He’ll be back, assuming he doesn’t walk everyone in AAA.
-Nate Pearson – AAA – he has carried over his struggles to Iowa, so right now, he’s low on the list of guys who will gut a call-up
-Eli Morgan – IL – An elbow impingement could explain his struggles this season, and inability to have the same success as last year with the Guardians. He and Pearson are good examples of the desire for more depth in the bullpen, as Roberts, Palencia and Little have already come up, with Ryan Brasier and Tyson Miller set to return from injury at some poin
-Ryan Brasier – IL
-Tyson Miller – IL, but close to returning. He can’t be options to AAA, so unless he suffers another injury, his return will limit some of the flexibility the Cubs have.

Depth seems to be the theme of Cubs pitching this season. The had it, and they have continued to get more as other teams have been forced to make roster moves.