Chicago Cubs: Free agent relievers the team could look at

One of the biggest needs for the Chicago Cubs going forward is revamping the bullpen. The free agent market might have some answers for the team.

There is not a single Chicago Cubs fan who does not realize the bullpen is going to be one of the focus areas of this offseason. Least year the Cubs were among the leaders in blown saves and saw things get ugly right off the bat. Problems are easy to identify but solutions are not always so simple.

This is when Theo Epstein and company look at their options. Fixing the bullpen will require a combination of signings, trades and relying on some farm assets. Again, a very broad solution which will require a lot of work. Arguably one of the toughest jobs for a front office in baseball is building reliable bullpens every year because of how fickle relievers can be.

With that said there are some names on the market that could be brought in to help solidify the bullpen. One of the obvious goals for finding relievers should be getting some guys with more swing-and-miss stuff and/or better control. Both things that lacked last year. While some of the names are not particularly exciting there is reason to believe they could be potentially useful.

Chicago  Cubs: This experienced reliever would be a perfect fit

Will Harris has had himself a pretty solid run in his career. Since joining the league in 2012 he sports a career 2.84 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 1.1 WHIP, 9.6 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 in 419 games. He was an All Star in 2016 and is coming off a career-low 1.50 ERA season.

Harris is a cutter/curveball kind of guy that can generate some swings-and-misses and a good number of groundballs, which has worked well for him with the Astros infield defense. What is also nice about him is that he has been able to make 60+ appearances consistently without missing a whole lot of time due to injuries in his career.

As stated in previous articles, he fits a lot of what the Cubs would want to get. He may rely on some groundball contact but he gets a healthy number of strikeouts as well. Not to mention he has pitched a healthy number of postseason innings so he does not lack in experience in that department.

The Astros would certainly love to bring him back as other teams would like to have him. It seems like a long shot, but a shot worth taking.

Chicago Cubs: This lefty excelled after moving to the bullpen

One might look at Drew Pomeranz and go “meh”, which is probably justified, however there could be some value in the veteran lefty. Pomeranz has had a very up and down career, much of the time being a starter. He would have a few good seasons and a few not-so-good ones.

Last season he split between the Giants and Brewers and it was a tale of two pitchers. With the Giants he appeared in 21 games while starting 17 of them and pitched to a 5.68 ERA and 5.24 FIP with 36 walks and 17 homers surrendered. When he was traded to the Brewers he pitched in 25 games (reliever in all but one) and put up a 2.39 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 0.911 WHIP and 15.4 K/9.

Pomeranz has 824 career strikeouts in 814 innings which equates to a 9.1 K/9. His career ERA is 4.04 and FIP at 4.20. So overall he has been a bit above average while having the ability to put a solid number of Ks on the board. Last season he made $1.5 million on a one-year deal and will be another affordable arm available on the market. It could be a nice reward to take a chance on a guy who could potentially be a solid lefty addition to the pen.

Again there is no easy fix to the pen. Even signing one of these guys is not going to fix the issue completely. However you have to start somewhere and you can never build enough depth.