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Thursday felt like that should have been the last day that Ryan Brasier pitched for the Chicago Cubs in any inning of consequence. During the Cubs' 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Brasier was tagged for 2 runs on 3 hits while walking 1 in an inning of work. Brasier was the first Cubs' reliever to enter the game after Shota Imanaga tossed 7 innings while giving up 2 runs, and it feels like the veteran relief pitcher should no longer be a part of the bullpen circle of trust.
Through 28 appearances this season, Brasier is sitting with an ERA of 4.50 while striking out 19 percent of the hitters he has faced. Not terrible numbers, but they don't fully tell the story of how bad the veteran has been.
Over his last 12 and 1/3 innings pitched, Brasier is carrying an ERA of 8.03, and his strikeout rate has fallen to under 17 percent. With the Cubs in the middle of the race for the top spot in the wild-card race, relying on Brasier feels like a misguided practice.
Cubs’ quiet offseason misfire is now their bullpen’s biggest weakness
The easiest move for the Cubs would be to designate Brasier for assignment and bring back Javier Assad. Assad was optioned to Triple-A Iowa before the Cubs' five-game series against the Brewers, and it feels like that was only done to give the team some fresh arms for the week. Assad has proved in the past that he is capable of being successful at the bullpen, and it feels like now is the time to end the experiment with Brasier.
Overall, Brasier's failure speaks to a larger issue with Jed Hoyer's approach to building the bullpen. Hoyer seems to love the idea of squinting and potentially seeing that a veteran could be good with the Cubs' infrastructure behind him, but that has failed in recent years. Nothing should be left to chance when building the bullpen, but that is where Hoyer lives. Hopefully, the struggles of Brasier and Ryan Pressly earlier this season force Hoyer to change his approach this offseason.