Chicago Cubs: Bullpen can still improve following Craig Kimbrel signing

The Chicago Cubs significantly improved their bullpen with the signing of All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. But they shouldn’t stop there as there’s more work to do.

With the acquisition of Craig Kimbrel, the Chicago Cubs sent a message across the league saying they believe they can contend for a World Series. Kimbrel certainly gives the Cubs and their bullpen a huge boost but there is still work to be done.

The Cubs are still lacking that lockdown left-handed reliever. They don’t have a dominant lefty that can come in during a high leverage situation and get the team out of a jam. In fact, they really haven’t a left-handed reliever of that caliber since Aroldis Chapman in 2016.

This year, the bullpen has struggled when it comes to lefty-lefty match-ups. In said situations, the Cubs have pitched 18 innings and have an ERA of 6.00 which is the eighth-worst in baseball. As a unit, they’ve surrendered 30 hits and walked 12 batters. They just don’t dominate left-handed batters like they should as they’ve struck out 20 batters, which is middle of the pack in the league.