4 pitching injuries that derailed the 2024 Chicago Cubs season

3. Yency Almonte

The other offseason acquisition who figured to be a main cog in the bullpen was Yency Almonte, who came to the North Side from the Los Angeles Dodgers along with first baseman Michael Busch.

The 6'5 right-hander struggled early but looked like he was settling into a set-up-man role after his first 17 outings with the Cubs. Unfortunately, Almonte met the same fate as Alzolay, and was placed on the injured list in May and did not return. He elected to have season-ending shoulder surgery in June that is projected to sideline him until the middle of 2025. Almonte will likely be rehabbing with another team, though, as the Cubs released him on November 4 along with Colten Brewer.

Almonte has the tools and velocity for high-leverage situations and he would have gotten save opportunities if he didn't get hurt. It's also unfortunate that the Cubs won't get any value out of Almonte in 2025 given he was a solid addition to the Busch trade. But given the Cubs outrighted Almonte to the minors, the team likely did not want to use a roster spot on him since they need to make additions this offseason.

4. Julian Merryweather

Julian Merryweather was one of the other main pieces of the 2023 bullpen, alongside Alzolay and Mark Leiter Jr. Merryweather was nothing short of fantastic that season, posting career numbers across the board in categories like strikeouts (98), innings pitched (72) and ERA (3.38).

However, one of the reasons that 2023 was Merryweather's career year is his extensive injury history. For three straight seasons from 2020-2022, Merryweather missed significant time with the Toronto Blue Jays before the Cubs took a flyer on him in 2023. The injury bug again hit Merryweather in 2024, where he missed more than four months because of shoulder and knee issues.

Merryweather was the first domino to fall in early April with Alzolay and Almonte following in May. Before the Cubs were even close to the halfway point in the season, the team had lost most of its relief weapons. Credit to Hoyer, who went out and acquired Tyson Miller, Nate Pearson and Jorge Lopez mid-season, who all became trusted arms down the stretch. To be fair, there was a bit of luck involved because all three of them outperformed expectations along with rookie Porter Hodge.