Rookie reliever Daniel Palencia handed a baseball and pen to Ian Happ in the Brewers’ visiting clubhouse before the last game of the 2023 season.
Palencia started this tradition at the beginning of his professional career. He collected baseballs signed by his teammates each year as he climbed through the farm system. But this one marked a special season, his first in the major leagues.
“A lot of moments: my debut, throwing the ninth [inning] in St. Louis, my first game at Wrigley Field,” he said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “It’s amazing. First season for me is a big deal. I got a [Double-A Southern League championship] ring with Tennessee. A lot of goals accomplished.”
Palencia, who debuted in July, is among the young Cubs relievers whose development this year could help raise the team’s potential. But the Cubs will have to continue adding to the bullpen this offseason to ensure a trip to the playoffs.
So far the Cubs have acquired reliever Yency Almonte from the Dodgers, along with infielder Michael Busch. And some of the relievers they’ve signed to minor-league deals with invitations to major-league spring training could contribute this season.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at Cubs Convention earlier this month that the Cubs had offered “some” multi-year deals to established relievers this offseason. None have come to fruition.
“It’s not my not my favorite thing in general,” Hoyer said. “But certainly the bullpen is an area of priority. … There’s a lot of ways to skin the bullpen cat. But we do need to focus on it. It was an Achilles heel last year.”
The depth of the bullpen was an obvious issue at the end of the season last year. Coinciding with the Cubs’ late-September collapse, the Cubs lost closer Adbert Alzolay and veteran right-hander Michael Fulmer to forearm strains. Around the same time, setup man Mark Leiter Jr. was battling back spasms.
So, late inning reliever Julian Merryweather shouldered extra high-leverage responsibility. And rookies Palencia and Luke Little, who the Cubs called up in September, were called upon during a playoff pursuit that fell one game short.
“The biggest advice Fulmer gave me was just don’t think about anything, just go out there and play your game” Palencia said through team interpreter Fredy Quevedo. “So, I’d say the biggest thing is just to keep being the same person regardless of good or bad days.”
Both Palencia and Little have that experience to build off this winter. They’re both hard-throwers, and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Sun-Times that both are playing around with adding splitters to their repertoires this offseason. (For Little, the process began last season.) And they’ll have Leiter and rotation addition Shōta Imanaga with whom to share trade secrets.
The Cubs, after revamping their player development several years ago, have more pitching prospects on the 40-man roster awaiting their debuts. Even those who are poised to become starters in the long run could break into the majors as short-term relievers.
Craig Breslow, who is now the Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer, headed the pitching infrastructure’s overhaul. But Ryan Otero, who worked closely with Breslow, is the Cubs’ new director of pitching. He’ll bring his own personality and ideas to the job, but he has the tools to continue the vision Breslow put in place.
“He’s a guy that has gone under the radar and done so many good things for this organization,” Hottovy said. “And it’s good to see him get that recognition.”
Young pitching is key to Hoyer’s long-term plans for the bullpen. But until the Cubs have developed enough pitching to mostly fill out a bullpen, it won’t be enough.
Though teams can continue to add during spring training, the Feb. 14 report date for Cubs pitchers and catchers is fast approaching.