Cubs' bullpen picture won't come into focus until the season gets underway

Every spring, my grandmother - who is in her 80s - calls me after watching Cubs spring training action, trying to figure out why there are so many names she's unfamiliar with. Well, I hate to break it to you, grandma, but that trend might last longer than just Cactus League action this year.

As part of a highly-praised offseason, Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins essentially rebuily the Chicago bullpen from the ground up after watching Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz and others depart via free agency. One familiar face, Caleb Thielbar, returned to the Cubs after testing the open market, and Daniel Palencia, who was a breakout piece for the club in 2025, also returns, looking to build on his success from a year ago.

But if you're someone who likes predetermined bullpen roles, you're going to need to practice some patience - because Craig Counsell is going to take his time putting the pieces into place.

“The bullpen is where the team has turned over the most and looks different the most,” Counsell told MLB.com last month. “Also, we know that’s an area of volatility on all teams. So, I don’t think we’ll have solid answers on that for a while ... I think we’ve brought what we think is a talented group to form a really good unit. But, like roles? It’s going to be into the season before we kind of probably establish some things.”

Cubs have a ton of depth, new faces in the bullpen mix this season

And, frankly, who can blame the guy? With the amount of new faces in this bullpen, he's going to need name tags for everyone when they're out of uniform. The newcomers are headlined by Phil Maton, the team's first multi-year relief signing in years, Hunter Harvey, Hoby Milner and Jacob Webb. There are a handful of minor-league signings who could force their way into the conversation, too, but these are the 'need-to-know' names.

A betting man likely has Palencia has the presumptive closer after the hard-throwing right-hander notched 22 saves a year ago. But roles from there are anybody's guess. Thielbar's success against lefties, in particular, make him a likely candidate in those matchups and Harvey brings some real velocity to the mix.

In the swing man role, the Cubs have options - thanks to a rotation mix that, even without Justin Steele, features six viable options (Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Cade Horton and Edward Cabrera). That's not to mention depth pieces including Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad and Ben Brown - all of whom have experience both starting and coming out of the pen.

How that rotation shakes out - and overall health - will be a huge factor in roles and what this staff, as a whole, looks like this year. But you need depth to weather the grind of a season and there's no doubt the Cubs have checked that box coming off a busy offseason.