Chicago Cubs: Someone needs to step up before its too late

Every Game is important in the dogfight that is the NL Central.  If the Chicago Cubs don’t have a number of guys step up, they will put themselves in the same position as last year or risk missing the postseason.

The Chicago Cubs had themselves an interesting weekend in Milwaukee.  Despite playing in Wrigley North, they managed to squander a gem of a start from Jon Lester and couldn’t get the job done despite leading late in the game despite a 2-0 lead from a David Bote blast.

This caused the Cubs to temporarily fall out of first place before Kyle Schwarber put the whole team on his back today. The Cubs drew even in the division to the Cardinals with the Brewers close on their tail.

Despite the victory, this is the lasting memory of the weekend and provides a singular view of the issues facing the Cubs at the very moment.

Now, Keston Hiura is no slouch of a hitter, but when it comes off the Cubs big free agent midseason acquisition, that’s going to raise eyebrows.

It’s easy to blame the bullpen and while they don’t get a free pass (get it), those two games the Cubs offense only managed 2 and 3 runs. That puts extra pressure on all the pitcher and gives them no margin for error so there is plenty of blame to go around.

Simply put, the Chicago Cubs need guys to step up.

Remember, they lost the division to the Brewers in a 1 game playoff and then lost to the Rockies the next day in the Wild Card game.  EVERY GAME MATTERS and every blown lead means there’s an opportunity to end up in a playoff or worse, out of the postseason.

The Chicago Cubs Bullpen

Pedro Strop

Pedro Strop arrived in Chicago as the other piece in the Scott Feldman for Jake Arrieta trade, one that I can emphatically say the Cubs won.  He has been a solid yet unheralded reliever for the Cubs throughout his tenure.

His time to shine came last season after Brandon Morrow went down and Strop assumed the closer role, Strop flourished and rarely bowed to the pressure of the 9th.  Between injuries and underperformance, he hasn’t hit his stride yet in 2019.

The good news for Strop is that he does the things you want a reliever to do.  He strikes out nearly 26% of the batters he faces and he generates ground balls 55% of the time.

With Kimbrel on board, he doesn’t have to be a 9th inning guy, just a bridge to get there.  If Strop can avoid the long ball and manage some hard contact, he will be an impact guy in a bullpen and we can get back to seeing more of this.

That brings me to:

Rowan Wick

For the past few seasons, the slot for a guy in the minors with plus stuff has been reserved for Carl Edwards Jr. or more recently Dillon Maples but they’ve lost Joe Maddon‘s confidence.

Enter Roman Wick, who was acquired by the Padres.  He boasts a fastball that clocks in at 95.6 MPH and features curveball and slider as out pitches.

Like the other relievers, Wick has struggled with walks in his short time in the big leagues but has shown previous promise in the minors.  The good news is Wick has prime time stuff and has struck out 25% of the hitters he’s faced.  Relief pitching is volatile in both directions and if Wick gets hot, he could become a critical bridge piece to get the ball to Kimbrel.