3 candidates to replace Yency Almonte in the Cubs bullpen

3. Daniel Palencia

If the Cubs want to opt for more power, they could give Daniel Palencia another shot. The 24-year-old has a blistering fastball that we saw him collect 33 strikeouts with at the big league level last season. But Palencia's problems are in the control department as he also walked 14 batters in 28.1 innings. He only walked one batter in Spring Training this year, but he also gave up eight earned runs in 6.2 innings so it wasn't exactly encouraging.

From a roster standpoint, however, Palencia makes sense because he is already on the 40-man roster and he still has all three of his waiver options available. Meaning that he he comes up and struggles, the team can send him back down to Triple-A with little harm done. There has been a lot of hype around Palencia in recent years for his raw ability, but I feel like we're starting to get into the put-up or shut-up territory.

He needs to start showing progress with his control issues and whether he can consistently handle getting outs without issuing free passes. If the Cubs want to know whether Palencia has accomplished that yet, it could be time to throw him in the deep end of the pool and call him up to replace Almonte.

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