Chicago Cubs: Terrible start to the season, much because of the bullpen

The Chicago Cubs are off to a terrible start this season, and much of it can be placed on the bullpen. Last season, they led the league in bullpen ERA. Wouldn’t expect the same from this group.

It’s been a start so bad for the Chicago Cubs that we don’t think it can be sustainable. There’s no way. While the offense hasn’t been consistent, they are doing a better job than last year’s squad. But the bullpen? There’s no way they can be this bad all the time, is there? The only bright spot for the Cubs has been the two starts of Jon Lester–the guy who might be starting to fade on the tail end of his career. So even if the Cubs don’t have many options to make changes, it simply has to get better. It just has to.

After using his new ‘toe-tap’ delivery for the entire spring, Carl Edwards Jr. seemed to be having some success with it. And through the entire spring, no one from Major League Baseball ever let he or the Cubs know that it was illegal. After his first regular season appearance against the Rangers, MLB finally sent word to the Cubs that it was indeed illegal. This is a terrible oversight on the part of the rules by MLB. Maybe instead of concerning yourself with adding more, you should enforce the ones you have before the start of the season. Now Edwards has needed to go back to his old delivery–which clearly isn’t working as well.

Randy Rosario was the last addition to the Cubs’ bullpen this season. While he seemed to defy the metrics last season, his numbers weren’t bad. But this year, he’s very likely to be thrown into higher-leverage situations. He was already thrown into a bases-loaded jam with no one out that Steve Cishek created. That didn’t end well for him, although the runs were charged to Cishek; it wasn’t the start he hoped for. But with that, Rosario is going to be needed–and called upon often–in the Cubs pen this year.

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These and other stories you might have missed:

‘Cubs off to an unsustainably bad start to 2019’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Edwards forced back to his old delivery’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Rosario could be the lynchpin in the Cubs bullpen’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Five teams that could make impact moves at midseason’ – MLB.com

‘O’s Davis booed as the drought continues’ – ESPN

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