3 amazing Chicago Cubs moves that worked out better than planned in 2023

The Chicago Cubs just finished a wild year. Although the sting of missing the playoffs is still fresh in everyone's mind, there is a lot to look back on and find encouragement from.

Cubs owner Tom Rickets has pointed out the failure of the season and expressed the need for more additions and development this winter, which should bring some confidence to the fanbase. Some of the moves the team made this year will put them in a good position to succeed in the future. Here are 3 moves that worked out better than planned in 2023.

1. Making Adbert Alzolay the closer

Going into the season. the Cubs did not have a clear answer for the closing role. In fact, the entire structure of the bullpen was up in the air for much of the first half of the season.

Michael Fulmer and Brad Boxberger were the major offseason additions and were thought of as the logical back-of-the-bullpen options. however, both men struggled and went down with injuries early on, forcing Manager David Ross to experiment with young and inexperienced relievers.

At the time, Adbert Alzolay was the clear choice in my mind for closing duties, but it took a long time for Ross to fully trust him in the ninth inning. Alzolay didn't get his first save opportunity until May 30th and he wasn't the full-time closer until July.

Even though it took half the season for Alzolay to secure the job, it was the right choice making him the closer. The 28-year-old converted 22 of his 25 save opportunities while turning in a 2.67 ERA over 64 innings pitched. More importantly, Alzolay flashed the confidence to handle the closing assignments, which are notoriously stress-inducing thanks to the extremely small margin of error.

Moving forward, it's reassuring to have Alzolay in the bullpen whether it be as the closer, or as the set-up man if the team pursues a better guy to handle the ninth inning.