Daniel Palencia's injury timeline adds pressing need to Cubs' trade deadline shopping list

As the trade deadline approaches, the Chicago Cubs' rotation remains the primary concern after a hamstring strain for Edward Cabrera and a stress fracture in Ben Brown's neck thinned a staff already held together with Scotch tape and prayers. However, the bullpen is increasingly alarming. While the relief corps was able to pitch well enough for a while, they, too, have been forced to weather an ungodly storm of injuries, capped off this weekend with Hoby Milner getting struck down by appendicitis. High leverage, especially, has been a problem.

Not only have all of Hunter Harvey, Caleb Thielbar, and Phil Maton spent time on the IL (or are still there), but just about all of the guys brought in to lock down games late have underperformed expectations. They've had some key arms step up, like Ryan Rolison (1.82 ERA) and Jacob Webb (3.57 ERA), but that's a lot of absence or underperformance to deal with. Yet, none of that stings quite like losing Daniel Palencia not once, but twice this season. Nobody within the Cubs organization can replace the closer, and unfortunately, his return is still a ways away.

Palencia went on the 15-day IL two weeks ago for a mild right flexor strain with plans to keep him shut down through their series in Milwaukee over the weekend. According to Craig Counsell, that's still the plan, but that's where the good news ends. Given that he still needs to ramp up and will require a rehab assignment, there's no chance he's getting back on the mound with the Cubs before the All-Star break.

How long after the Midsummer Classic Palencia stays out will depend on how he progresses, but that's already another three weeks, likely more, the Cubs will be without their closer. That hurts with a crucial stretch coming up between their Wild Card rivals, the Padres, and the Cardinals. As Sunday's narrow win over Milwaukee showed, few leads feel particularly safe for a group that is regularly relying on guys like Webb, Ethan Roberts, and Trent Thornton to get big outs. Palencia wasn't exactly getting a ton of chances to save games thanks to the Cubs' slumping offense, but when he was, he looked about as good as last year, with a 2.70 ERA, 3.47 FIP, and a fastball averaging 99.5 mph.

Another closer should be on the Chicago Cubs trade deadline wish list

In June, the Cubs could've used Palencia at full capacity. They've blown seven saves this month, which is good for second-worst in baseball, and none of them were tied to their fireballing righty. Additionally, their bullpen has ranked 20th overall in baseball with a collective 4.96 ERA. Like with all of their pitchers of late, the damage keeps coming via the long ball, with 22 home runs given up also ranking second-worst in MLB behind only the Nationals.

All this time off for Palencia this early in the year should have the Cubs considering targeting a true back-of-the-bullpen ace if one becomes available at the right price. They need insurance with someone else capable of keeping the ball in the yard and, preferably, out of play reliably if they want to stack up to other contenders. At the very least, another arm with closing experience would give them a bit more flexibility with Palencia while adding a setup man who can more reliably get the ball to him with a lead. There's nobody who fits that bill right now, and that has to change.

It would be costly, but one option to kill two birds with one stone might be to approach the Red Sox for a package deal with Aroldis Chapman and Sonny Gray, giving the Cubs a solid rental starter and an old friend who's still pitching like one of the best relievers in the sport with a 1.90 ERA. Chapman's also likely to hit his $13 million vesting option, meaning they'd have him for another year at a reasonable cost. More likely, however, would be a bulk approach involving multiple solid relievers, with resources primarily going towards landing a controllable starter. Even a veteran workhorse type like Andrew Kittredge last year would do wonders for a group that needs some stability.

For now, they'll just have to survive using the myriad of minor league arms and waiver claims the front office has been hauling in. Jed Hoyer emphasized earlier this week that the recent David Peterson trade was more of a one-off to address what had become an emergency in the rotation. If it can be helped, the Cubs will wait until later in July to make their biggest moves, but they'll have a lot to do when that time comes.

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