3 Relievers The Cubs Must Let Go
Struggling veterans and inconsistent trade acquisitions are jeopardizing Chicago's postseason aspirations. Cutting ties with these three erratic arms could stabilize the bullpen before the October hunt begins.
Video Transcript
What is up, Cubs fans?
And welcome back to Cubs Roundtable.
I'm Joey Polizzi, talking about all things Cubs.
And the Cubs bullpen has been very up and down this season because of you so many different pitchers, and they've kind of had to rotate through a lot of different arms in the bullpen this season.
But after Tuesday's loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, it's clear that the Cubs need to make some bullpen changes for the stretch run.
The first one is just simply getting rid of Caleb Thielbar.
The Thielbar experiment is just not working this year.
Obviously, last year, really, really good for the Cub, but this year, not really consistent for this Cubs team.
Over a 5 ERA, gave up another run here on Tuesday.
And Thielbar has really been a major liability for this Cubs bullpen for most of the year.
Yeah, the swing and miss stuff, the chase rate, whiff rate, strike rate are all good at this point in the season, but he is just not producing on the mound this season.
And especially against left-handed pitchers, and that's supposed to be his MO, lefty, lefty, but opposing lefties have a 277 batting average against Thielbar this season.
So Thielbar experiment needs to end.
Maybe when Justin Steele is ready in mid-September, you kind of make that switch.
The second is Ryan Zephyr John.
And when the Cubs traded for z- Ryan Zephyr John, it was, it, it was really easy to see how much potential he does have in this Cubs bullpen.
He had over a 33% strikeout rate with the Angels, a 3.66 ERA, really good numbers.
But since arriving to Chicago, strikeout rate is down and ERA is over 7 in his first 10 appearances.
If you're the Cubs, it might be a smart idea to send Zephyr John down to the minors in Triple-A so he can kind of get his confidence back.
And the last one is Tyler Ferguson.
Ferguson was called up when rosters expanded on Tuesday, and he's been kind of hit or miss, but he has over a 4.50 ERA over his last 11 appearances since the beginning of July.
I think it just, there's better options for the Cubs to go to in the bullpen down the stretch than Ferguson.
Hopefully, the Cubs make the smart decision by bringing up Assad when he is first eligible to come up with the organization here on September 5th.
And hopefully it's an easy, true, smooth transition for Assad and Ferguson, and kind of bring those two up and down.
But let me know what you guys think about these three.
Is it time to get rid of these three relievers?
Let me know down below.
And as always, guys, go Cubs go.
