Chicago Cubs: Cody Allen could be a buy-low bullpen option

With a glaring need in the pen, the Chicago Cubs could be pigeon-holed into the likes of reclamation projects, such as free agent Cody Allen, this winter.

It’s not time to blindly accept the Chicago Cubs won’t make any significant addition this winter – not yet. But, with the clock ticking and less than a month until pitchers and catchers report to Sloan Park in Mesa, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are clearly on borrowed time at this point.

While the elusive, pseudo-substantive pursuit of Bryce Harper grabbing the lion’s share of headlines this offseason, people are continually overlooking what this team truly needs. What’s that, you ask? Arms. Not starting pitchers (although age could certainly play a role in 2019) – but rather in the bullpen, where there are more questions than answers.

Right now there are exactly two guys I trust who will aren’t fighting injury issues. Two. In the entire bullpen. And those two are side-arming right-hander Steve Cishek and setup man-closer hybrid Pedro Strop, who triumphantly returned from a severe hamstring injury to pitch in the NL Wild Card game to close out the 2018 campaign.

Chicago Cubs: Big questions at the back end of the pen

The Cubs’ biggest bullpen addition last offseason, Brandon Morrow, pitched masterfully – that is, when he was physically able to pitch, something that proved to not be the case in the entire second half of the season. On the year, he notched a 1.47 ERA, 1.076 WHIP and 1.4 WAR, according to Baseball Reference.

His biggest issue, quite simply, is that he couldn’t stay on the field to help the team close out games. And once Strop went down with injury in the season’s final month, getting the final outs of a ballgame became rather interesting, to put it mildly.

The right-hander went under the knife in December and could be out until May – leaving a hole at the back of the Chicago bullpen. Now, Strop proved he’s capable of handling ninth-inning duties last year – but I personally like employing him as a fireman, to be used whenever the need is most dire. His swing-and-miss stuff ranks among the best in the staff and I’d hate to have to hold him back for the ninth.

Which brings us back to this offseason, one in which the Cubs’ front office has been woefully absent from any major moves (sorry, Daniel Descalso). But with time running out, Epstein has to add to the pen if the team has any shot at returning to the top of the National League Central in 2019.

Chicago Cubs: A perfect match for both sides?

His fastball velocity ticked in the wrong direction and as a two-pitch guy, losing any degree of separation between those can prove costly. He allowed a career-worst 11 home runs and very quickly, he went from a premier free agent to be to a guy stuck waiting out a free agent market that’s moving at a snail’s pace for the second-straight winter.

I’m not proposing the Cubs give him three or four years. But if Allen, who was one of baseball’s best late-inning arms for a half-decade, wants to re-establish his value on a one-year deal and re-test the waters next winter (it’s not like his value will go much lower) – the Cubs could be a perfect fit.

He could shore up the ninth with Morrow sidelined, allowing manager Joe Maddon to somewhat preserve the bridge to the closer, using Cishek and Strop (along with Carl Edwards, Brandon Kintzler and Brian Duensing) in the mid-to-late frames as needed.

This is far from a sure thing – but it could be a match made in heaven.