Can the Chicago Cubs thrive with a dangerously shorthanded bullpen?

Chicago Cubs have no solid answers in the ninth inning

The Cubs came into the 2019 campaign knowing full well they’d be without the guy who was supposed to hold down the closer’s job in Brandon Morrow. He missed the entire second half of last year and went under the knife this offseason.

The latest update has Morrow out until at least July, meaning by the time he comes back, it could very well have been a full calendar year since he pitched in a big league game. There’s little concern over what he’s capable of when healthy. The problem is just that – he’s never healthy, at least not with any degree of regularity.

“The bounceback after the last time out wasn’t as good, so we gotta back off him once again and just slow things down,” Maddon told NBC Sports Chicago in mid-April. “It’s just where he’s at. It’s not unlike what had been going on earlier.

Knowing that, the ninth-inning job fell to Pedro Strop, who filled in admirably for Morrow last year, recording a 1.42 ERA and 3.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the ninth inning down the stretch. After suffering a late-season hamstring injury that cost him the rest of the regular season, the right-hander returned in the team’s Wild Card game loss to thet Colorado Rockies.

This year, he’s had some rocky outings, to say the least. Strop has blown a pair of saves and is headed to the IL with another hamstring issue. He’ll take his 5.06 ERA and 4.2 BB/9 with him, hoping that full health helps get him back on track for a sixth consecutive sub-3.00 ERA season.

Can the Chicago Cubs keep rolling with a closer by committee approach?

So who will close for the Chicago Cubs in the meantime? Not even Maddon knows.

“It’s wide open. It is the wild, wild west. I’m not going in with any preconceived ideas except: ‘Who are our guys for tonight?’ And then I’ve got to build out the plan from that pregame and then game in progress, make the adjustments.”

Nothing makes you feel warm and fuzzy like your skipper labeling your pen as the ‘wild, wild west’, right? Still, there have been plenty of pleasant surprises out there so far in 2019. Maybe, just maybe there’s enough depth there to help the team weather the storm – at least in the short-term.

Veteran Brandon Kintzler, who could safely be labeled a complete bust after the team acquired him last summer, has bounced back nicely. Chicago declined his $10 million option for 2019, only to have the right-hander utilize his $5 million player option. So far, he’s been worth every penny, making 15 appearances to the tune of a bullpen-best 2.16 ERA.

One of the new faces, Brad Brach, has also been effective, although there’s more than a little cause for concern given his 16:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio through his first 15 innings of work. He’ll have to get that under control before Maddon can consider him as a legitimate late-inning answer in Strop’s absence.

The rest of the group have been solid, but far from exciting. Kyle Ryan, Tim Collins, Allen Webster and Steve Cishek have gotten the job done more often than not, but I wouldn’t consider any of them to be a legitimate ninth-inning option at this point. They’re your bridge guys – not your stopper.

Is this the moment Chicago Cubs fans have waited for?

For years, Carl Edwards Jr. has been one of those arms you can’t help but get excited about because when he’s on, he’s dirty. This year has been a roller coaster for the 27-year-old, who spent most of the last month with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs after several ineffective outings to open the season.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

Since rejoining the big league club this week, Edwards has a pair of scoreless appearances under his belt – which, given how the year opened, we’ll all take gladly. Now you might think I’m absolutely insane suggesting we hand the ninth inning to a guy with a 14.73 ERA this year, but I think the stuff is there.

It’s 100 percent about whether or not the lanky hurler can handle the role mentally.

When he returned to the team, Maddon noted a change in his young fireballer.

‘‘As he walked in the door, I just felt a different presence,’’ he said this week. ‘‘I just thought, ‘He’s ready to go.’ He seems very focused. And I’m really curious to watch this whole thing.’’

We all know how Maddon can be with ‘his’ guys – loyal to a fault. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest to see him go to Edwards in a critical spot this weekend against the rival Brewers. And, really, who can blame him? The righty has a 2.81 ERA to go along with 12.2 K/9 over the last two seasons, where he’s been one of the team’s best relievers.

This year didn’t start the way Edwards or the Cubs had hoped. But given the team’s lack of impact arms heading into the second half of the month, this may very well prove to be the breakout moment we’ve been hoping for since he first broke onto the scene.